The 10-member Jury presided by director Regis Wargnier is to bestow the American Independent Film Grand Prize and Jury Prize as well as Short Film Prize.

The Ornano Prize, created in 1991 by the members of the Motion Picture Association, is dedicated to the memory of Michel d'Ornano, who was a minister, Deauville mayor and founder of the Deauville American Film Festival. Since 1992, the prize awards the best original screenplay brought to the screen. In the presence of Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association, Stephen Brizé was awarded this year's Ornano Prize on Sunday Sept 5 for his film Le Bleu des Villes, which was previously screened in the Director's Fortnight at Cannes 99.

Wednesday Sept 8, Kirk Douglas received the Literary Prize for his book "Climbing the Mountain : My Search for Meaning, " which is a continuation of his first memoir "The Ragman's Son : An Autobiography". Born Issur Danielovich into a poor family, his father - a Russian-Jewish immigrant - was a ragman by trade. Douglas through the two works tells of his difficult childhood and how it formed him into an actor, father and aging survivor.