?The Class,? a simple, brilliantly told chronicle of a year in the life of a middle school teacher and his contentious pupils, won the Palme d?Or at Sunday?s closing ceremonies honoring the best of the 61st Cannes Film Festival. Directed and co-adapted by Laurent Cantet, the film (known as ?Entre Les Murs? in French) was the most widely loved in the main competition selection. Set in a Paris working-class neighborhood, the documentary-like story should travel well internationally and land in America before year?s end, in time for serious foreign-language Academy Award nomination. From the stage of the Grand Lumiere Theatre, jury president Sean Penn told a worldwide audience that this ?amazing, amazing film? was a unanimous decision.

AND THE WINNERS ARE :

This 61st ended on the day before with a glittering red-carpet award ceremony. Following are the winners of the main prizes and a selection of quotes.

■ PALME D?OR

? ?Entre Les Murs? (The Class), directed by Laurent Cantet

?The film we wanted to make had to be a reflection of French society ? multiple, many-faceted, complex. Sometimes also with friction that the film does not try to cover up,? Cantet said.

■ GRAND PRIX (Runner-up prize)

? ?Gomorra? (Gomorrah) directed by Matteo Garrone

■ SPECIAL PRIZE

? Catherine Deneuve

?It is such a joy to be able to continue to be in such fine, sensitive films as this one and I want to continue to make films as long as there are such rare directors as Arnaud Desplechin? (who directed her in competition film ?Un Conte de Noel? (Christmas Tale).

? Clint Eastwood

■ BEST DIRECTOR

? Nuri Bilge Ceylan for ?Three Monkeys?

■ JURY PRIZE

? ?Il Divo? directed by Paolo Sorrentino

■ BEST ACTOR

? Benicio del Toro in ?Che?

?I?d like to dedicate this to the man himself, Che Guevara.?

■ BEST ACTRESS

? Sandra Corveloni in ?Linha de Passe? (Line of Passage)

■ BEST SCREENPLAY

? ?Lorna?s Silence? by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

■ CAMERA D?OR (Prize for directorial debut)

? ?Hunger?, directed by Steve McQueen

?The film is about people in a situation of extreme pressure and what people do and what we do,? he said of ?Hunger?, about the hunger strike by Northern Irish guerrilla Bobby Sands.