Winter Sleep wins Cannes' Palme d'Or

24 May 2014 Last updated at 20:21 Nuri Bilge Ceylan directed domestic drama Winter Sleep Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan has won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his film Winter Sleep.

Briton Timothy Spall was named best actor for his portrayal of the British artist JMW Turner in Mr Turner.

Winter Sleep, a domestic drama telling the story of a family running a hotel in the snowy Turkish mountains, beat 17 other contenders to the top prize.

Ceylan dedicated the award to "the young people in Turkey and those who lost their lives in the last year".

A coal mine explosion in Soma in Turkey recently killed 301 workers.

Timothy Spall picked up his prize from actress Monica Bellucci

Mr Turner, directed by Mike Leigh, had been tipped for an award after being lauded by the critics at Cannes.

Spall has said he was ideally cast to play the artist because "he was a funny-looking, fat little man and so am I".

"I've spent a lot of time being a bridesmaid", he said, reading his speech from his mobile phone.

"This is the first time I've ever been a bride".

The best actress award went to Julianne Moore in David Cronenberg's Hollywood satire Maps to the Stars.

Leviathan, a Russian film about corruption, was named best screenplay, while Bennett Miller won the award for best director for his wrestling drama Foxcatcher.

Ceylan, who noted that his award came on the 100th anniversary of Turkish cinema, had previously won awards at Cannes for his films Uzak, Climates, Three Monkeys and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.

Winter Sleep, which runs for more than three hours, stars Haluk Bilginer - who once appeared in BBC One soap Eastenders - as a wealthy retired actor living with his younger wife and his recently-divorced sister.

Director Jane Campion, who led the jury, said the film was "masterful" and "ruthless".

The jury prize was shared by the oldest and youngest directors at the Cannes festival: Mommy, by 25-year-old Xavier Dolan, and 83-year-old Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language.

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Posted in: Cannes, Palme, Sleep, Winter