Without a doubt, the XXIII Moscow International Film Festival demonstrated its growing devotion to quality and increased international significance. This year's festival, running 10 days and filled with more than 250 movies and a total of 100,000 viewers, ended June 30 with a tuxedo-packed evening at Pushkinskaya movie hall.

Most of the 17 competition movies appeared worthy of an appearance in a major film festival. The international jury, headed by German director, actress and scriptwrite Margaret von Trotta, had the task of picking out the prize-worthy films. Golden St. George statuettes were awarded for Best Movie and the Special Jury Prize. The best actor, actress and director, meanwhile, picked up silver versions.

Surprisingly business-like, the award ceremony lasted about half an hour. Prizes were handed out by the festival's big names, Woody Harrelson and Lara Flynn Boyle among them, and the event was closed with a showing of Baz Luhrmann's musical, "Moulin Rouge." Set in Montmartre, Paris, the film was a fitting choice for closing the Moscow festival. Not least because of the neat Parisian link it formed with "Amelie from Montmartre," which had opened the proceedings. "Moulin Rouge," which stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor, has been much discussed as a reinvention of the musical genre.

Jewish themes dominated this year's two main prize-winning productions, predictably drawing a certain amount of talk about compromise. "The Believer" (U.S.) – Henry Bean's conflict-ridden movie, which depicts a convoluted young man torn between his Jewish roots and the violent, extremely anti-Semitic path he adopts – was chosen as Best Film. While Italian Ettore Scola won Best Director for his "Concorenza Sleale" (Unfair Competition), which explores the relationships between a Jewish and Italian family in Mussolini's Italy.

Experts suggested that the two films had been deliberately paired as winners as a compromise between tradition and the controversy. A balance between the well-beaten track of 20th-century anti-Semitic discrimination, and a psychological analysis, where a modern-day Jew turns fascist. In the end, however, few actually disagreed with the Jury's decision. Ettore Scolla – the only big-name director in the competition – couldn't be left empty-handed, while the act of awarding "The Believer" without a counterbalance, would have left the Jury's decision susceptible to diverse interpretation.

The Special Jury Prize went to the Iranian movie "Under the City's Skin"; and Rie Miyazawa, justly, won Best Actress for her role in the Hong Kong production "Peony Pavilion."

The jury proved appreciative of the host country, too, giving Russian actor Vladimir Mashkov the Best Actor award for his role in "The Quickie." The film was produced in Germany by Russian director Sergei Bodrov. Mashkov plays little more than a typical action hero: a sexy, macho New Russian Mafia boss, living in the United States. The Festival had been seriously criticized for not including a Russian movie in the competition program, so Mashkov was burdened with offering an excuse, explaining that "it doesn't matter what country I play in, my name will still be Vladimir Mashkov, and I will still be a Russian actor."

A special prize was concocted midway through the festival to honor the event's hero, Hollywood great Jack Nicholson. Russian President Vladimir Putin was supposed to award the Konstantin Stanislavskii Prize (inscribed with the Russian word "Veryu" – "I Believe"), but the gesture was eventually delegated to Valentina Matviyenko and Nikita Mikhlakov. This prize must surely have enhanced Nicholson's appreciation for what he called "the overwhelming hospitality of Russia."

While the jury's choices were the center of attention, and the most significant awards, they were far from the only ones. The FIPRESCI Prize (an international movie critics award) went to Peter Timar's "Blind Guys" for "creative exploration of the borderline between imagination and perception."

The Russian Federation of Movie Critics favored a Dutch director's debut, "Wilde Mossels" ("Wild Mussels"). The film, by Erik de Bruyn, tells an old tale anew, about the young not wanting to follow in their parents' footsteps. The Federation of Russian Movie Clubs, meanwhile, chose the same two movies as the Festival jury.

The audience favorite, determined by movie theater exit polls, was the Swedish movie "Vingar of Glass" (Wings of Glass). Scoring 4.6 out of 5, the film is about an Iranian emigre adapting to life in Sweden. Close competition came from a host of international works, though, including the French film "Mademoiselle," the Spanish movie "Mi Dulce" ("My Sweet") and the Argentinean offering "Herencia" ("Inheritance"), each scored 4.4.

Top movie showing

The number of big-name movies that were shown at the festival this year was impressive. Without doubt, though, the biggest achievement was the showing of both of the big winners from Cannes.

Nanni Moretti's "La Stanza del Figlio" (The Son's Room) and a surprise film, Michael Haneke's "Piano Teacher," which just made it before the festival's closure. Haneke's opus, shown just once, courageously illuminated the personality of a talented but sexually frustrated female piano teacher and became one of the most talked-about presentations.

The most-beloved guest

Jack Nicholson naturally received the majority of the attention, honor and admiration. But Woody Harrelson, "the natural-born killer," delivered the most pleasant surprise at his press conference, showing off his good-natured, down-to-earth demeanor.

He refused to attend a reception with Vladimir Putin at Nikita Mikhalkov's dacha saying that his "friend wasn't invited. And then, it's just a bunch of suits." Explaining that he initially got into movies by mimicking Elvis at high school, Harrelson demonstrated, with bravado, his awesome singing talents, ending his press conference with a two-minute Elvis performance that brought the house down.