Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet has won France’s Louis Delluc prize for 2009. The film is France’s entry for the foreign language Oscar.

A Prophet beat out Alain Resnais’ Les Herbes Folles, A L’Origine by Xavier Giannoli, Christophe Honore’s Non Ma Fille Tu N’Iras Pas Danser, Claude and Nathan Miller’s Je Suis Heureux Que Ma Mere Soit Vivante, Philippe Lioret’s Welcome, Irene by Alain Cavalier and Hadewijch from Bruno Dumont which had all previously been shortlisted.

The trio of A Prophet, Wild Grass (Les Herbes Folles) andIn The Beginning(A L’Origine) were all competitors in Cannes where Audiard’s film won the Grand Prize.

The Louis Delluc trophy for best first film went to Lea Fehner’s Qu’un Seul Tienne Et Les Autres Suivront, known as Silent Voices internationally. That film was awarded the Michel d’Ornano prize at the Deauville Film Festival earlier this year.

The prestigious Louis Delluc prize celebrates its 72nd year this year. Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob is the head of the jury that hands out the awards. In previous years, winners have gone on to Cesar glory including recently Abdellatif’s The Secret Of The Grain and Pascale Ferran’s Lady Chatterley.

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