Kazakh movie "Tulpan", in which an aspiring shepherd's big ears are compared with those of Prince Charles, on Saturday bagged the top prize at Cannes' official "Un Certain Regard" section grouping original movies.
A first feature-length film by Sergey Dvortsevoy, the film is about a young man returning to the steppe after military service in the hope of becoming a shepherd. But Asa must first marry and his potential bride apparently thinks his ears are too big. A light-hearted comedy that features camels as well as sheep, Asa's friend tries to convince the bride's parents his ears are normal-sized by showing them a picture of Britain's Prince Charles.
"Is he an African prince?" they ask. "No, American," he replies. Runner-up prizes among the 20 films selected in the parallel section went to Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa for "Tokyo Sonata", about a seemingly ordinary Japanese family, and to a moving film about love between seniors, "Cloud 9" by Germany's Andreas Dresen.