Film on abortion wins at Cannes

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu accepts the Palme d'Or for his film 4

Cannes, France ? Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize Sunday with “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” a harrowing portrait of an illegal abortion in Communist-era Romania.

Winners at the 60th Cannes Film festival

¢ Palme d’Or (Golden Palm): “4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile” (“4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days”), Cristian Mungiu, Romania¢ Grand Prize: “Mogari No Mori” (The Mourning Forest), Naomi Kawase, Japan¢ Jury Prize:film festival “Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, Iran and France; and “Stellet Licht” (Silent Light), Carlos Reygadas, Mexico¢ Best Director: “Le Scaphandre et le papillon” (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,) Julian Schnabel, United States¢ 60th Anniversary Prize: Gus Van Sant, “Paranoid Park,” United States¢ Best Actor: Konstantin Lavronenko, “The Banishment,” Russia¢ Best Actress: Jeon Do-yeon, “Secret Sunshine,” South Korea¢ Best Screenplay: “The Edge of Heaven,” Fatih Akin, Germany¢ Golden Camera (first-time director): “Meduzot,” Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, Israel¢ Best short film: “Ver Llover,” (Watching it Rain), Elisa Miller, Mexico

The low-budget, naturalistic film about a student who goes through horrors to ensure that her friend can have a secret abortion beat out 21 other movies in competition for the Riviera festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

The grand prize, considered the festival’s No. 2 award, went to Japanese director Naomi Kawase’s “Mogari No Mori” (The Mourning Forest), a movie about two people – a retirement home resident and a caretaker at the center – struggling to overcome loss.

Best director went to American painter-director Julian Schnabel for his French-language film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” based on a memoir by a French magazine editor who became paralyzed after a stroke and learned to write again by blinking his eyelid into a sensor.

The jury awarded a special prize for Cannes’ 60th anniversary to Gus Van Sant, who already won the festival’s top prize in 2003 for “Elephant.” The American’s impressionistic “Paranoid Park” focuses on a teenage skateboarder whose life turns upside down when he accidentally kills a security guard.

Two films shared the jury prize: “Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi’s moving, funny adaptation of her graphic novel about growing up during and after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, which she co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud; and “Stellet Licht” (Silent Light), Carlos Reygadas’ tale of forbidden love set among Mennonite farmers of northern Mexico.

Acting honors went to Russia’s Konstantin Lavronenko, who played a troubled husband in “The Banishment,” a Russian drama about a couple whose marriage disintegrates during a stay in the country. The prize for best actress went to South Korea’s Jeon Do-yeon, who played a widow struggling to cope with her husband’s death in “Secret Sunshine.”

German director Fatih Akin’s “The Edge of Heaven,” a German-Turkish cross-cultural tale of loss, mourning and forgiveness, won the prize for best screenplay. Akin both wrote and directed the film.

Earlier this weekend, a Romanian director posthumously won a secondary competition called “Un Certain Regard.” Cristian Nemescu died in a car crash last year at age 27, leaving his “California Dreamin”‘ incomplete. Jurors had initially decided not to judge the film, about American soldiers in a small Romanian village, but changed their minds when they saw it.