MADRID, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The French film "Dans la Maison" received Saturday the Golden Shell award, the most important award of the San Sebastian Film Festival, held in this city of the Basque Country, in northern Spain.
"Dans la Maison", which also was awarded the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay, received the Golden Shell at the closing ceremony of the San Sebastian Film Festival.
Other films that had opportunities to receive the Golden Shell were "Rhino Season" by Bahiman Ghobadi, "Blancanieves" by Pablo Berger and "El Artista y la Modelo" by Fernando Trueba.
The official jury president, Christine Vachon, announced the Golden Shell award that went to the French director, Francois Ozon, who expressed his solidarity with the Spanish film industry that is suffering the consequences of the economic crisis.
Ozon dedicated his award "to the Spanish filmmakers who are facing difficulties due to the economic crisis" and added that attacking the culture is not the way to solve the crisis.
The Special Jury Award, which is the second most important award in the Festival, went to the black and white Spanish film " Blancanieves". This film will also represent Spain in the 85th edition of the Oscars in the category of best foreign language film, as it was announced last Thursday.
Macarena Garcia, who plays Snow White, was awarded with the Silver Shell for Best Actress, along with the actress Katie Cosini for her performance in the film "Foxfire".
The Silver Shell for Best Director went to the Spanish Fernando Trueba, who won an Oscar in 1994 for his film "La Belle Epoque" for his film "El Artista y la Modelo", also a black and white film.
The Silver Shell for Best Actor went to the Spanish actor Jose Sacristan for his performance in the film "El Muerto y Ser Feliz".
The actor Dustin Hoffman, 75, was also at the closing ceremony. He was awarded the second Special 60th Anniversary Donostia Prize.
This year the film festival also paid tribute to Tommy Lee Jones, John Travolta, Ewan McGregor and Oliver Stone.
The San Sebastian Film Festival, which is commemorating its 60th anniversary this year, is the most important film festival in Spain. It takes place every year in September in the city of San Sebastian.