Having eclipsed Men in Black to become the biggest box office hit of the year here and in Britain, Peter Cattaneo's The Full Monty added to its laurels last weekend when it took the major prize, European Film of the Year, at the 1997 European Film Awards ceremony in Berlin. Juliette Binoche was named European Actress of the Year for The English Patient, while Bob Hoskins received the European Actor of the Year award for Twenty-Four-Seven. The Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Jeanne Moreau.

This year's other award-winners were - screenwriter of the Year: Chris Vander Stappen and Alain Berliner for Ma Vie En Rose; cinematographer: John Seale for The English Patient; discovery of the Year: writer-director Bruno Dumont for La Vie De Jesus; documentary: Benoit Derveaux and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Gigi, Monica . . . Et Bianca; European achievement in world cinema: Milos Forman for The People vs. Larry Flynt; international critics' award: Manoel de Oliveira for Voyage To The Beginning Of The World; and the Screen International Five Continents Award: Takeshi Kitano for Hana-Bi.

The Full Monty also won best film in the People's Awards, voted by the international film-going audience which also chose Jodie Foster as best actress and Javier Bardem as best actor.