Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic - The disquieting family drama Un ange a la mer (Angel at Sea) from Belgian director Frederic Dumont on Saturday won the top prize at the 44th Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Presided over by Claudie Ossard, a leading French film producer, the festival's seven-member grand jury selected the movie for the festival's Crystal Globe from a total of
14 films, which formed the fest's main competition.

Set in Morocco and stunningly filmed, Angel at Sea tells the story of the relationship between a suicidal father and his 12-year old son.

Belgian-born Olivier Gourmet also picked up a best acting award at the festival for his role as the father struggling with the inner demons unleashed by severe mental depression.

In 2002 Gourmet won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in Le Fils (The Son) by Belgian directors Jean- Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

Held in the Czech Republic's historic spa town near the German border, Karlovy Vary is also one of the world's oldest film festivals.

A total of 226 films from 64 nations were screened in the eight- day festival, including 19 world premieres.

Iranian director Abdolreza Kahani won the special jury prize for his film Bist (Twenty), which is a moving story about the staff and owner of a dining hall in a nondescript Teheran suburb that to set to close in 20 days.

The festival's best director award went to leading German filmmaker Andreas Dresen for his movie Whisky mit Wodka (Whiskey with Vodka).

Dresen's film is a tragicomedy about a renowned actor called Otto who discovers a movie director has hired an understudy.

Indeed, movies about people suddenly finding their lives gripped by a sense of upheaval and change emerged as a major theme of the films shown at this year's festival.

The star power at the festival included Spanish-born Hollywood heart throb Antonio Banderas, who introduced his film Summer Rain at Karlovy Vary and was presented with a festival president's award.

Both top US actor John Malkovich and leading French film and theatre actress Isabelle Huppert were also honoured in Karlovy Vary with festival Crystal Globes for their contribution to world cinema.

The jury gave Danish-born Paprika Steen the best actress award for her role in the film Applause from Danish director Martin Pieter Zandvliet. The debut film was an evocative portrait of an actress whose life had been destroyed by alcohol.

Gourmet shared the best actor award with American actor Paul Giamatti for his role as an actor caught up in his own personal crisis in Cold Souls from French-born director Sophie Barthes.

The young Polish actor Filip Garbacz also won a special jury mention for his role in Robert Glinski Swinki (Piggies) about the bleak and often violent world of sex tourism on the border between Poland and Germany.

Karlovy Vary has emerged in recent years as a major showcase for movies from Central and Eastern Europe with the festival including a special east-of-the-west section in its programme.

In particular, this year's festival marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism across Central and Eastern Europe with a strong lineup of films from the region.

This year's east-of-the-west award went to Moscow-born director Andrey Khrzhanovsky for his film Room and Half, which is a portray the Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky.

The east-of-the-west jury also gave a special mention to Rysa (Scratch) from Polish director Michal Rosa about a woman who suddenly realizes that her husband of many years may have been collaborating with the secret police.(dpa)