The oldest director at Cannes also proved to have made the best film: surprise winner The Wind that Shakes The Barley from 69-year-old Brit Ken Loach has won the 2006 Palme d’or or Golden Palm for his tale of two brothers who fought during the Irish war of independence, a story with strong contemporary resonance that was liked by the critics but not given much chance to win the festival’s coveted top prize. It stars Cillian Murphey and Padraic Delaney as the two siblings.

The Best Actor and Best Actress prizes went to two whole casts; of Rachid Bouchareb’s Indigènes (Days of Glory), a look at the North-African soldiers that fought for France in WWII which stars amongst others comic actor Jamel Debouzze in his first serious role, and Pedro Almodóvar’s female melodrama Volver, whose cast includes Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo and Carmen Maura. The film also won Almodóvar, who both wrote and directed the film, the Best Screenplay Prize.

The Best Director Prize went to Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu for his cross-continent drama Babel. The runner-up for Best Film, the Grand Prix du Jury, went to Bruno Dumont’s Flandres (his earlier L’humanité also won at Cannes) and the Jury Prize went to the British-Scandinavian first film Red Road, from Andrea Arnold. The Best First Feature Prize or Caméra d’or went to Romanian newcomer Corneliu Porumboiu for his debut Fost sau n-a fost? (12:08, East of Bucharest).

The jury was headed by director and Cannes regular Wong Kar-Wai (In the Mood for Love, 2046) from China, and also consisted of the filmmakers Elia Suleiman, Lucrecia Martel and Patrice Leconte, the actresses Helena Bonham Carter, Monica Bellucci and Ziyi Zhang, actor Samuel L. Jackson and actor-director Tim Roth.