North Korea's Pyongyang International Film Festival (Sep 13-22) awardedDennis Gansel's Napola as best film atthe closing ceremony in the People's Palace of Culture.

The German film is about ayoung boxer at one of Hitler's elite schools for future heads of the Naziworld.

More than 70 films from atleast 30 countries were shown during the 10-day event. The festival opened withGerman film The Miracle Of Bern andthe line-up also included China's A Time ToLove, Bride And Prejudice fromthe UK and an extended version of Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer from Hong Kong which reportedly had the audience rolling in the aisles.

Local productions in theline-up included Jang In-hak's monster film TheSchoolgirl's Diary and Pyo Kwang's PyongyangNalpharam, which showcases Pyongyang practitioners of the traditional martial artTaek-gyun fighting against Japanese samurai.

The jury included filmmakersfrom Russia, China and Germany.

Held every two to threeyears since 1987, the festival started off as a cultural exchange betweencountries of the non-aligned movement, but has since expanded to hostparticipants from everywhere around the world except the US and South Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-ilhas recently ordered an extensive film sector overhaul, including the adoptionof digital production equipment, to modernise with the aim of producingworld-class films.