Vitus was named Best Film at this year's Swiss Film Awards which were presented for the tenth time on Wednesday evening in a gala ceremony at the Solothurn Film Days.

The drama about a child piano prodigy and his grandfather was praised by the jury as 'a film full of tenderness and humour'. The film posted almost 200,000 admissions since its release in German-speaking Switzerland last year and has been sold by Media Luna Entertainment to more than 30 countries. Vitus was also the Swiss entry for this year's Foreign Language Film Oscar.

The prize for Best Documentary went to Heidi Specogna's The Short Life Of Jose Antonio Gutierrez about the first United States marine who died in the war in Iraq, while the Best Screenplay award - presented for the first time this year - was given to Andrea Staka for her Golden Leopard-winner Das Fraeulein.

The awards for lead and supporting actor went to veteran artist Jean-Luc Bideau and Natacha Koutchoumov for their performances in Jean-Stephane Bron's comedy My Brother Is Getting Married (Mon Frere Se Marie) which had its world premiere in Locarno's Piazza Grande last August.

Meanwhile, the jury's Special Award was presented to the cast of Stina Werenfels' Nachbeben for their work as an ensemble.

The winners of the Swiss Film Awards 2007 were:

Best Fiction Film - Vitus, dir: Fredi M. Murer

Best Documentary - The Short Life Of Jose Antonio Gutierrez, dir: Heidi Specogna

Best Screenplay - Das Fraeulein (Andrea Staka)

Best Leading Role - Jean-Luc Bideau (My Brother Is Getting Married)

Best Supporting Role - Natacha Koutchoumov (My Brother Is Getting Married)

Best Short Film - Feierabend, dir: Alex E. Kleinberger

Best Animation - Wolkenbruch, dir: Simon Eltz

Jury Special Award - Nachbeben, dir: Stina Werenfels (cast)

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