Other winners include Jauja and Love at First Fight.

Winter Sleep

The International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) has named Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Winter Sleep as the best film in Competition at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

The director of the three-hour, Turkish film “managed to surprise and delight” the jury with “his in-depth soul-searching, put to us in great cinematic terms”.

Giving thanks to the critics for the prize, Ceylan said: “It was a challenging year, and, I want to say, without you and the audience, art films, but especially long art films, would be very lonesome.”

The Fipresci jury selected Argentine Lisandro Alonso’s Jauja as best film in Un Certain Regard.

After picking up awards in the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week sections, Love at First Fight from French director Thomas Cailley was honoured again by the Fipresci jury, which only considered debut features for this prize.

Abderrahmane Sissako’s Competition title Timbuktu won the Cannes’ Ecumenical jury prize. Wim Wenders’ The Salt of the Earth and Spaniard Jaime Rosales’ Beautiful Youth received commendations from the Ecumenical jury. Both screened in Un Certain Regard.

The jury was presided over by Esin Kücüktepepinar (Turkey) and comprised Jean-Michel Frodon (France), Pierre Pageau (Canada), Paola Casella (Italy), Tereza Brdeckova (Czech Republic), Olivier Pélisson (France), Alissa Simon (US), Richard Mowe (UK) and Frédéric Jaeger (Germany).