Bjork: Second-time winner

The awards were a big blow for hotly-tipped Brit flick Billy Elliot which failed to pick up any honours.

The 14-year-old star of the touching drama, Jamie Bell, was nominated for best actor and his co-star Julie Walters was up for best actress.

Animator Nick Park's first feature film, Chicken Run, had also been up for the best film award

Harris humbled

Frenchman Sergi Lopez was named best European actor for his performance in Harry, He's Here to Help.

Irish legend Richard Harris was given a lifetime achievement award - an honour which he said both thrilled and humbled him.

Collecting the award, Harris said: "I want to congratulate you on choosing me. It is something that the British Academy [of Film and Television Arts] has failed to do annually."

The French team of Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri won the best screenplay award for Le gout des autres (The taste of others).

Richard Harris: Lifetime award

The awards - created in 1988 as a European counterweight to the Oscars - took place in the luxurious Theatre de Chaillot in Paris after several years in Berlin and London, and was attended by French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

French actor Jean Reno was praised for his contributions to the world screen, including box office smashes Mission Impossible and Godzilla as well as French hits such as Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue) and Les Visiteurs.

The European documentary award went to French director Agnes Varda for Les glaneurs et la glaneuse (The gleaners and I), a film about people who scavenge through rubbish to scrape together a living.

The best non-European film was the drama by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai, In the Mood for Love.