Editor's Note: This is the final post in the Backroom Bar coverage of Cannes 2007

Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" from Romania won the Palme d'Or as the 60th Cannes Film Festival came to a close on Sunday night with winners taking their bows. The prizes were presented prior to the closing night screening of Denys Arcand's "L'Age Des Tenebres," marking the end of the 2007 festival.

"This is the best event that has happened to a wave of Romanian cinema that (already) began a few years ago," director Cristian Mungiu said after winning the Palme d'Or for "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," thanking his fellow Romanian filmmakers and adding, "Without (them) I wouldn't be here." Mungiu said that the prize in Cannes was even more important to him than winning an Oscar, saying that it validates his work as a filmmaker. A fellow Romanian, Christian Nemescu, won the award for best film in the Un Certain Regard section for "California Dreamin'."

"I didn't make this movie to get a prize," Schnabel said, after winning his award for best director, explaining that he was hardly disappointed at not winning the Palme d'Or. "I am very happy that everybody included me in this club...before I ever directed a movie, I was a movie fan. I love movies and there are a lot of people that I have a lot of respect for who have walked up these stairs and showed their movies here..."

This year, the jury awarded a special prize to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Festival de Cannes, presenting a special award to Gus Van Sant for "Paranoid Park." "We wanted to give the prize to someone whose film we admired in this particular festival and also (to someone) whose body of work was incredible," explained juror Toni Collette during a post-ceremony press conference. On the same topic, Abderramane Sissako reiterated, "We also gave the prize for the whole of his cinema."

The complete list of main competition winners at the 2007 Festival de Cannes:

COMPETITION
Palme d'Or: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," directed by Cristian Mungiu

Grand Prix (runner-up): "The Mourning Forest" (Mogari No Mori), directed by Naomi Kawase

Prix de la Mise en Scene (Best Director): Julian Schnabel for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon)

Prix du 60th Anniversaire: Gus Van Sant, director of "Paranoid Park"

Prix du Scenario (Best Screenplay Award): Fatih Akin for "The Edge of Heaven" (Auf Der Anderen Siete)

Camera d'Or (For best first feature): "Meduzot" (Jellyfish), directed by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen Camera d'Or Special Mention: "Control," directed by Anton Corbijn

Prix du Jury (Jury Prize) (tie): "Persepolis," directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud; and "Stellet Licht," directed by Carlos Reygadas

Prix d'interpretation feminine (Best Actress): Jeon Do-yeon for "Secret Sunshine" directed by Lee Chang-dong

Prix d'interpretation masculine (Best Actor): Constantine Lavronenko for "Izgnanie," directed by Andrei Zviaguintsev

Palme d'Or (short film): "Ver Llover," directed by Elisa Miller
Special Mention (short): "Run," directed by Mark Albiston
Special Mention (short): "Ah Ma," directed by Anthony Chen

[PHOTO 1: Julian Schnabel, winner of the best director prize in Cannes. Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indideWIRE]

[PHOTO 2: Romanian director Cristian Mungiu with his Palme d'Or prize for "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" in Sunday evening in Cannes. Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE]