David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (pictured here), a film that was rescued by France's StudioCanal after being rejected as a pilot for US network TV, has been named this year's Best Picture by the New York Film Critics Circle - although the film didn't win a single other award during deliberations at Manhattan's Sardi's restaurant on Thursday.

Robert Altman beat Lynch to the best director prize for his latest ensemble the UK-financed Gosford Park, while Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek won the two key acting prizes for their performance in Todd Field's In The Bedroom.

Field, known until now as an actor, won best first film for his directorial debut with In The Bedroom, while Gosford Park also won prizes for supporting actress Helen Mirren and screenplay by Julian Fellowes.

Steve Buscemi was named best supporting actor for his role in another UK production, Granada Films' Ghost World. (Both Gosford Park and Ghost World were sold internationally through London-based Capitol Films.)

Wong Kar-wai's In The Mood For Love, which qualified for Oscar and Golden Globe consideration last year, was named best foreign language film and also won the cinematography prize (Chris Doyle & Pin Bing Lee). It was released in the US on Feb 2 this year by USA Films.

Meanwhile, Richard Linklater's independent Waking Life - eligible for the inaugural animated feature Academy Award next year - won the best animated film prize, beating out Oscar favourites Shrek and Monsters Inc.

A special award was presented to the re-released restored versions of Jacques Demy films Lola and Bay Of Angels, "restorations whose special charm keep alive director Jacques Demy's vision of movies intersecting life."

The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) was founded in 1935. Among its members are influential critics such as David Ansen (Newsweek), Richard Corliss & Richard Schickel (Time), David Denby (The New Yorker), Owen Glieberman & Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly), Stephen Holden, AO Scott & Elvis Mitchell (The New York Times), Amy Taubin & J Hoberman (The Village Voice), Rex Reed & Andrew Sarris (The New York Observer), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Joe Morgenstern (The Wall Street Journal).

The NYFCC is often viewed as being one of the key harbingers of the Oscar nominations and last year gave prizes to Steven Soderbergh, Benicio Del Toro and Marcia Gay Harden which were then duplicated by the Oscars.

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS 2001:

Best Picture
Mulholland Drive

Best Actor
Tom Wilkinson
In The Bedroom

Best Actress
Sissy Spacek
In the Bedroom

Best Supporting Actor
Steve Buscemi
Ghost World

Best Supporting Actress
Helen Mirren
Gosford Park

Best Director
Robert Altman
Gosford Park

Best Screenplay
Gosford Park
(written by Julian Fellowes, from an idea by Robert Altman and Bob Balaban)

Best Cinematographer
In the Mood For Love
(DoPs: Christopher Doyle & Pin Bing Lee)

Best Foreign Film
In the Mood For Love

Best Non-Fiction Film
The Gleaners And I
(dir: Agnes Varda)

Best Animated Film
Waking Life
(dir: Richard Linklater)

Best First Film
In The Bedroom
(dir: Todd Field)