After eleven days of controversy, booing, applauding and the occasional screening of a film, the Cannes jury has made its decision and they’ve awarded Terence Malick’s Tree of Life with the prestigious Palme d’Or. More importantly, single mothers in Leeds can now look forward to seeing a Cannes Best Picture film in the near future.

After the somewhat mixed reaction the film opened to at its premiere, the film has, at least, made a significant enough impression on the members of the jury headed by Robert De Niro and including Uma Thurman, Jude Law and Linn Ullman. The press-shy Malick was not there to pick up the award (in doing so keeping his man-of-mystery persona intact), instead leaving that duty up to producers Sarah Green and Bill Pohlad.

Other winners included Nicholas Winding Refn as Best Director for Drive (starring Ryan Gosling). Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress for Lars von Trier’s (he of “I’m not a Nazi” fame) Melancholia. Best Actor went to French actor Jean Dujardin for The Artist and the Prix Du Jury (Jury Prize) went to Maïwenn Le Besco for her film Polisse. Full details of winners below.

Palme d’Or (Best Picture): The Tree of Life (dir: Terrence Malick)
Grand Prix: The Kid with a Bike (dir: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
Best Actor: Jean Dujarin, The Artist
Best Screenplay: Joseph Cedar, Hearat Shulayim (Footnote)
Camera d’Or (Best First Feature): Las Acacias (dir: Pablo Gorgelli)
Prix du Jury (Jury Prize): Polisse, Maïwenn