British finale to bumper festival

The Heart of Me is a lavish 1920s romantic drama

Actors Helena Bonham Carter and Paul Bettany have attended the closing night gala of London's 46th international film festival on Thursday.

Bonham Carter and Bettany play the lead roles in UK movie The Heart of Me, the final film of this year's two-week event, which was screened at the Odeon West End cinema in Leicester Square.

Also in attendance was Bonham Carter's partner - film-maker Tim Burton who directed the actress in Planet of the Apes - and her niece Rosie who also appears in The Heart of Me.

Bonham Carter arrived with partner Tim Burton

Based on a novel by Rosamond Lehmann, the 1930s story centres around a love triangle and focuses on the stifling atmosphere within the British upper middle classes.

As a film made in the UK, the choice of The Heart of Me mirrors the festival's opening night movie Dirty Pretty Things, from director Stephen Frears.

It is a tradition of the festival to try and open and close with UK films. Last year the festival opened with Robert Altman's UK murder mystery Gosford Park.

Dirty Pretty Things was the opening film

But both features are also indicative of what has been a strong year for non-Hollywood films in this year's programme of films from 48 countries.

"This year's festival has gone quite exceptionally well and it feels like it has been an incredible success, both in terms of the quality of the programme and the enthusiastic response of the audience," the festival's artistic director Sandra Hebron told BBC News Online.

"In particular, there has been a lot of interest in the more political movies. Films such as Bowling for Columbine and Dirty Pretty Things, those which really make you think, got standing ovations."

Highlights have included The Pianist, a Polish-French collaboration about the Holocaust from Roman Polanski and Marie-Jo and Her Two Loves - a French movie about adulterous love.

Premières and prizes

Meanwhile, notable films from the US have included Michael Moore's long-awaited theatrical documentary Bowling For Columbine, about the Colorado school shootings in 1999, is one of the highlights of the festival.

Rap star Eminem's first film, the drama 8 Mile, also received its UK première at the LFF, as did The Quiet American, an adaptation of Graham Greene's novel about the run-up to the Vietnam war, starring Michael Caine.

Javier Bardem stars in The Dancer Upstairs

As the festival wound up for another year, there was also the usual round of prize-giving.

The prestigious Sutherland Trophy, awarded by a jury of industry experts, was won by the international film Carnages, which features the journey of a dead bull's remains through Belgium, France and Spain.

The award is given for the "most imaginative and original" debut feature film screened in the festival.

Other films shortlisted for the prize included The Dancer Upstairs, directed by John Malkovich and director Karen Moncrieff's coming-of-age drama Blue Car.

Last year's trophy was awarded to Asif Kapadia's The Warrior, which has since been recommended for a 2003 Oscar nomination.