WAYNE WANG - WANG'S MOVIE WINS TOP SAN SEBASTIAN AWARD

Hong Kong director WAYNE WANG's A THOUSAND YEARS OF GOOD PRAYERS walked away with the Best Film award at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Saturday (29Sep07). The movie, which follows the lives of Chinese citizens in China and the U.S., also won Best Actor for its star Henry O at the Spanish event. Elsewhere, documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield won Best Director for The Battle For Haditha, about the 2005 incident in which 24 Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. Marines. Best Actress went to Blanca Portillo for her role in Siete Mesas (De Billar Frances), whose writer/director Gracia Querejeta shared the Best Screenplay prize with John Sayles, who was honoured for Honeydripper. The festival's special jury prize went to 18-year-old Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf for his film Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame. Actor Richard Gere and actress/director Liv Ullmann were both honoured with lifetime achievement awards.