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The 36th Ghent International Film Festival has named "Eyes Wide Open" by Israeli director Haim Tabakman as the Grand Prize for Best Film winner of the event, it was announced Wednesday.

"Eyes Wide Open" tells the story of a married Orthodox Jewish father who falls in love with a homeless Yeshiva student. When he hires him to work as his apprentice at his butcher shop, they form a close friendship which eventually develops into an emotional and sexual relationship. Being a devout religious man, he is torn between his family and devotion to God and his feelings for the student.

The film was chosen by the International Jury for this year, which includes Chairman Niki Reiser, Filip Peeters, Wang Quan'an, and Laszlo Nemes.

Other winners are: "Nathan Larson" for The Georges Delerue prize for Best Music; "Eran Merav (Zion and his Brother) for The Sabam prize for Best Script; and...

Berlin -- German, Turkish and Israeli cinema will have pride of place at the 36th Ghent International Film Festival (Oct. 6 -17), with films from the three countries accounting for half of the titles in competition.

Andreas Dresen's "Whiskey With Vodka" and Florian Gallenberger's German Film Prize winner "John Rabe", the Israeli films "Zion and his Brother" from Eran Merav and "Eyes Wide Open" by Haim Tabakman and both Miraz Bezar's "The Children Of Diyarbakir" and "There" from directors Hakki Kurtulus and Melik Saracoglu will compete for this year's Ghent Grand Prize.

Other titles in the competition lineup include "Applause" from Danish director Martin Pieter Zandvliet, and "Altiplano" from Belgians Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, Dutch director Ester Rots' drama "Can Go Through Skin," and Norwegian title "Troubled Water" by Erik Poppe.

Cyrus Nowrasteh's "The Stoning of Soraya M.," a drama set in 1980s Iran starring James Caviezel and Shohreh Aghdashloo,...

And on the fifth day of the Cannes Film Festival, it snowed (actually, part of a promotion for Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey, due out in November). Meanwhile, Rachel Weisz walked the red carpet and talked about her role as a fourth century astronomer, and Lars Von Trier's Antichrist provoked both boos and applause.

Key Screenings. Out of Competition: Alejandro Amenabar's Egyptian historical epic Agora (with the aforementioned Rachel Weisz). Press screening: Lars Von Trier's polarizing Antichrist. Competition: Johnny To's Vengeance (with Johnny Hallyday as a French chef with a murderous past), Brillante Mendoza's crime-themed drama Kinatay. Robert Guediguian's tale of Nazi resistance during World War II, The Army of Crime. Un Certain Regard: Pavel Lounguine's Russian historical drama Tzar. Directors' Fortnight: Denis Villeneuve's school shooting recreation Polytechnique, Riad Sattouf's teen coming of age flick Les Beaux Gosses.

Films Sold.

• Whenever I watch my Charlie Chaplin films on disc it is the MK2 logo that I see before I pull out the title from the DVD shelf. A staple in the French cinema their library is filled with auteurs – including last year's Cannes presented Paranoid Park (Van Sant), Zhang Ke Jia's 24 City and Belge director Dominique Abel's Rumba. This year Mk2 bring Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos's Dog tooth and Mathias Gokalp's Nothing Personal in the sidebars and they have Abdellatif Kechiche's next (Black Venus) in production (the director gave us brilliant The Secret of the Grain in 2007/08) and they also have Patrice Chereau's long awaited film – Persecution starring names like Romain Duris and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Black Venus by Abdellatif Kechiche - Production Certified Copy by Abbas Kiarostami - Production Diamond 13 (Diamant 13) by Gilles Beat - Completed Inferno (L'enfer D'Henri Georges Clouzot) by Serge Bromberg

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