Belgian 'Child' takes Cannes prize

CANNES, France — The Belgian film "The Child," about a young petty crook suddenly faced with the responsibilities of fatherhood, won top honors Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.

It was the second time a movie by sibling filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne won the prestigious Palme d'Or. Their teen drama "Rosetta" took the main Cannes prize six years ago.

The Dardenne brothers dedicated their award to the French journalist Florence Aubenas and her guide Hussein Hanoun, missing since their Jan. 5 kidnapping in Baghdad.

"Very humbly, with no pretentiousness whatsoever, maybe since the Cannes Film Festival is broadcast all over the world, it will be a little spark of news which will get through to them and maybe help them to go on hoping," said Jean-Pierre Dardenne. "And it will show their kidnappers too that we're just as obstinate as they are."

Like earlier films from the Dardennes, "The Child" deals with social issues involving Belgium's struggling poor.

The award was presented by Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman, who won Academy Awards in February for Clint Eastwood's boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby."

Receiving the second-place grand prize was U.S. director Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers," a droll drama starring Bill Murray as an aging Don Juan in pursuit of the son he never knew he had.

"I'm speechless," said Jarmusch, who proceeded to deliver by far the ceremony's longest speech. Jarmusch said he does not believe in competition among artists and said his true reward was to be in company of filmmakers such as David Cronenberg, Lars von Trier, Johnnie To, Gus Van Sant and Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

"I'm honored to have my film presented along with yours," Jarmusch said. "I would really like to accept this on behalf of all the filmmakers who follow their heart and make films in their own vision."

Tommy Lee Jones was honored as best actor for "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," his feature-film directing debut in which he plays a Texas ranch hand who forces his best friend's killer (Barry Pepper) to dig up the body and haul it for reburial in Mexico. The film also won the screenplay award for Mexican writer Guillermo Arriaga.

Hanna Laslo earned the best-actress prize for her role as a gabby cabdriver in Israeli director Amos Gitai's "Free Zone," a road-trip tale through the Middle East.

Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke received the directing award for "Hidden," his cryptic thriller about a couple menaced by a video stalker.