With a record of more than 45,000 admissions and 500 press, the festival screened a total of 126 films - one third made by newcomers. Australian director Monica Pellizzari's first feature, Fistful of Flies, was awarded both as Best Directorial Debut and for Best Cinematography (Jane Castle), before it went on to take the Fipresci Prize.

French director Jacques Audiard and scriptwriter Alan Le Henry received the nod for Best Original Screenplay (Un héro tres discret), and the Best Actress award went to Lili Taylor for her performance in Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol. The international critics' jury chose Dane Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves as Best Nordic Film.

The festival's scholarship - a production kit comprising 1km of Kodak footage, a week's 16mm camera hire, development and SEK50,000 (US$7,200) costs - went to 28-year-old Geir Hansteen Jörgensen for his short film, Nöd (Need). Jörgensen will next year graduate as a director from Stockholm's Drama Institute.

The local audience's top five was 1) Steve Buscemi's Trees Lounge, 2) Ted Demme's Beautiful Girls, 3) Joel Coen's Fargo, 4) Isabel Coixet's Thing I never Told You, 5) Maurizio Ponzi's Italiana. But they voted Fargo Best Film in the Programme. This year's Stockholm outing is scheduled for 7-16 November. Jørn Rossing Jensen