"Antichrist" honored

French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg poses next to Italian actor Stefano Accorsi (L) and director Paolo Sorrentino after winning the Best Actress award for her part in "Antichrist" by Danish director Lars Von Trier during the Closing Ceremony of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on May 24, 2009 in Cannes, southern France.

The most controversial film in Cannes was Danish director Lars von Trier's "Antichrist," which sharply divided critics and drew boos, as well as a handful of cheers, at screenings for its graphic portrayals of sex, violence and genital self-mutilation.

France's Charlotte Gainsbourg, who plays a wife mourning the death of her son and is involved in the most shocking scenes, was named best actress and thanked von Trier, who was not at the glittering closing gala in the Grand Theater Lumiere.

She said he had allowed her "the most intense, the most painful and also the most exciting experience up until now."

The best actor prize went to Austria's Christoph Waltz for his flamboyant performance as a SS officer in Quentin Tarantino's World War Two caper "Inglourious Basterds," which also starred Brad Pitt.

French director Alain Resnais, winner of the special prize award and French jury president Isabelle Huppert during the closing ceremony at the 62nd International Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 24 2009.

Among the other awards, best director went to Filipino Brillante Mendoza for grisly crime drama "Kinatay" while Mei Feng, the writer for Chinese director Lou Ye's "Spring Fever," was honored for best screenplay.

The jury prize was jointly awarded to British director Andrea Arnold for urban drama "Fish Tank" and South Korea's Park Chan-Wook for vampire romance "Thirst."

The Camera d'Or award for debut film went to Australian director Warwick Thornton for "Samson and Delilah."

The ceremony brings the curtain down on 12 days of screenings, interviews, photocalls and parties in Cannes, where the global economic crisis curbed the normal extravagance and limited the number of A-list actors and celebrities in town.

However, Pitt and his partner Angelina Jolie did walk the red carpet for Tarantino's world premiere, and Mariah Carey, Penelope Cruz and Kylie Minogue were among the stars who made it to the palm-lined Croisette waterfront this year.