Haneke's The White Ribbon Takes Palme d'Or

67-year-old Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke received the top honor at 62nd Cannes Film Festival, winning his first Palme d'Or for The White Ribbon, an eerie black-and-white exploration of the roots of Nazi terror. This was a year lauded for its many deserving films by cinema's finest auteurs, and speculation over the possible winners was rampant, including Jane Campion's Bright Star, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void.

The award was presented to Haneke by top juror Isabel Huppert, who previously won the Best Actress award for her performance in Haneke's The Piano Teacher.

"My wife sometimes ask me a very female question -- 'Are you happy?'" Haneke said during the closing awards ceremony.  "It's very difficult to reply, I find, because happiness is a rare thing, but now I can say, this is a moment in my life when I am really happy."

The Grand Prix went to Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, and Alain Resnais won the Special Jury Prize for Wild Grass. In one of the other major surprises at this year's ceremony, Philippine filmmaker Brillante Mendoza was awarded Best Director for Kinatay, a film that Roger Ebert called the worst film ever to be screened at the festival.

French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress for Lars von Trier's controversial Antichrist; von Trier has a history of prying harrowing performances from his lead actresses (Björk also won for Dancer in the Dark in 2000).  Christoph Waltz (not Brad Pitt) won Best Actor for Inglourious Basterds.

More:

• The Complete List of Award Winners
• Photos From The Red Carpet