Meanwhile, Family Film by Slovenian Olmo Omerzu won the LIFFe FIPRESCI award by the International Federation of Film Critics.

Rams was selected for the Kingfisher Prize for a convincing and consistent directing and a strong and emotional story about a world that needs more understanding, dialogue and love, the three-member festival jury said.

The film tells the story of two brothers, Gummi and Kiddi, who live in a remote Icelandic valley, breeding sheep, but have not spoken to each other for 40 years. Now they have to work together to save their flocks from a deadly disease.

Accepting the award on behalf of the director was actor Theodor Juliusson, who plays the older brother Kiddi in the movie. He told the STA that the film includes a realistic portrayal of rural life.

The FIPRESCI jury picked Family Film, a Czech, Slovakian, Slovenian, German and French co-production, saying it was a masterfully created and sophisticated family drama about what is real and what is on the surface.

After accepting the honours, Omerzu told the STA that his goal was to create a complex presentation of family life going down the drain with as many non-scripted scenes as possible.

In the film married couple go on a cruise with their dog, leaving behind their two teenage children. After a while, there is no word from the parents, who seemed to have gone down with the ship in a devastating storm. The dog, however, appears fighting for survival on a deserted island.

The Dragon Award for best film as selected by the audience went to A Que Horas Ela Volta? (Second Mother) by Anna Muylaert. The drama tells the story of complicated relationship between a mother and her estranged daughter after they reunite.

The awards were presented at a ceremony on the penultimate day of the 11-day festival, which will see 99 feature and 16 short film screened. A total of 46 screening were sold out and the organisers estimate that 44,000 people turned up for the festival.