Continuing its award-nabbing festival tour, Chinese director Zhang Yang's Shower walked away with audience awards for Best Film and Best Director at the 26th Seattle International Film Festival, which wrapped on Sunday. The film has also yielded prizes at Toronto, San Sebastian, Thessaloniki and Rotterdam.

Dan Futterman, star of Urbania, took the Best Actor prize while French actress Nathalie Baye won jointly for French titles Venus Beauty Institute and An Affair Of Love (Un Liaison Pornographique).

Tony Barbieri's The Magic Of Marciano took the New American Cinema Award while Chuck And Buck screenwriter Mike White won the Writers Guild of America-sponsored Best Writer Award.

International filmmakers honoured included Portugal's Teresa Villaverde, whose The Mutants won her the New Directors Showcase Award, and France's Laurent Cantent who was recognised with a Special Jury Prize for Human Resources.

The New American Cinema jury also presented a "Citation of Excellence for Ensemble Cast Performance" to the cast of The Weekend; Deborah Kara Unger, D.B. Sweeney, Gena Rowlands, Brooke Shields, David Conrad, James Duval, Jared Harris and Gary Dourdan.