UK film-maker Carine Adler, who won critical raves for her first film Under The Skin, was the European winner of this year's Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award - presented at the Sundance Film Festival Awards Night on Saturday.

The prize, which includes $10,000 in cash and a licensing fee for Japanese broadcast rights from NHK, is given to four upcoming projects - one each from the US, Europe, Latin America and Japan. Started in 1996, it has kick-started projects such as Central Station, Smoke Signals and this year's star-studded Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her which was a premiere at Sundance last week.

Adler's project is Finding Out, a screenplay by Julie Rutterford following a shy young woman who becomes involved with a stranger in a coastal town.

Other winners are Randy Redroad (US) for his first feature Doe Boy, the story of a half-Cherokee haemophilic; Jyunichi Mori (Japan) for his laundry-set love story Laundry; and Dana Rotberg (Latin America) for her third film Otilia Rauda, a story of tragic love scripted by Jorge Goldenberg. Rotberg's previous pictures are Intimidad (1989) and Angel Of Fire (1992).

Last year's European winner was Pavarotti In Dad's Room, the second feature by the UK's Sara Sugarman which has subsequently been completed with backing from FilmFour and Le Studio Canal Plus. Rachel Griffiths and Jonathan Pryce star in the film, originally scheduled to premiere at this year's festival but replaced at the last minute.