And the winners are...

After the lavish closing night film screening and party for Faintheart last night, Edinburgh celebrated the best of the fest today, presenting its awards at a ceremony hosted by patron Sean Connery (pictured presenting the acting award to Robert Carlyle). And the winners are...

• Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film: SOMERS TOWN (Shane Meadows)
• Best Performance in a British Feature Film: ROBERT CARLYLE (Summer)
• Audience Award: MAN ON WIRE (James Marsh)
• Best Documentary Award: ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (Werner Herzog)
• New Directors Award: MARIANNA PALKA (Good Dick)
• Best British Short Film: SON (Daniel Mulloy)
• European Short Film Award: 2 BIRDS (Rúnar Rúnarsson)
• Scottish Short Documentary Award: CHRISTMAS WITH DAD (Conor McCormack)
• New British Animation: SPACE TRAVEL ACCORDING TO JOHN (Jamie Stone & Anders Jedenfors)
• Best British Music Video: HAPPINESS - Goldfrapp (Dougal Wilson)

And finally, here are my 10 best films of the fest:
WALL-E (Andrew Stanton, US)
SOMERS TOWN (Shane Meadows, UK)
OF TIME AND THE CITY (Terence Davies, UK)
THE SONG OF SPARROWS (Majid Majidi, Iran)
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (Errol Morris, US)
GOOD DICK (Marianna Palka, US)
THE VISITOR (Thomas McCarthy, US)
THE BLACK BALLOON (Elissa Down, Australia)
BETTER THINGS (Duane Hopkins, UK)
RED (Trygve Allister Diesen, US)

All of these are reviewed - or will be soon - at Shadows on the Wall. Here's a quick link to the EDINBURGH FILM FEST page, which will eventually link to reviews of all the festival films I've seen. (But I've still got a lot of catching up to do!)

The rising star

In the week that his star-making Prince Caspian opens in the UK, up-and-coming heartthrob Ben Barnes turned up in Edinburgh to promote his much smaller-budget British comedy Bigga Than Ben, a Borat-style romp with a serious twist in its tale of two Russians trying to rip off London.

And now it's the final day of the festival, with only the awards to hand out tomorrow along with a full day of screenings tomorrow of the films the organisers have flagged up as the best of the fest. I'll be back with a rundown of the winners tomorrow.

Here are two highlights today...

Married Life (Ira Sachs, Can) ***
A terrific cast and a stylish attention to period detail set this quietly intense drama out from the crowd. Chris Cooper plays a man who is desperate to leave his wife (a terrific Patricia Clarkson) for his Grace Kelly-like mistress (Rachel McAdams), and he might even resort to extreme measures. Then his best friend (Pierce Brosnan) decides he wants the mistress for himself. Set in 1949, the film has a slow-burning Hitchcock vibe, although for the serious issues it's tackling, it also feels a bit repressed and slight.

Wall-E (Andrew Stanton, US) *****
This is my pick for the best film of the entire festival. Pixar departs from formula (for the most part) to create another beautifully animated gem of a movie. And this endearing post-apocalyptic romantic adventure never puts a foot wrong... MORE >

Top of the world

Tightrope walker Philippe Petit arrived in Edinburgh yesterday and showed off his balancing skills atop the delegate centre. He's promoting the documentary about him, Man on Wire, which traces his jaw-dropping 1974 stunt to walk on a wire between the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center.

A few highlights today...

Just Another Love Story (Ole Bornedal, Den) ***
This noir thriller from Denmark starts as a quiet study in obsession, sparked by vivid cinematography and editing, as a forensic photographer (Anders W Bertelsen) inadvertently pretends to be the boyfriend of a beautiful girl in a coma. But rather than go down the While You Were Sleeping route, this film drifts more towards Vertigo, and then into pure terror and black irony. It sometimes feels a bit contrived, but is utterly gripping

The Princess of Nebraska (Wayne Wang, US) ***
A lower-budget companion piece to Wang's A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, this is an even more effective drama about immigration and human connections, as a young Chinese student travels from her university in Nebraska to San Francisco, where she encounters friends both old and new over the course of 24 hours. It emerges that she's pregnant and trying to consider her options, and everyone offers very different advice. Lively and energetic, this is a terrific little film, with a few clunky, preachy scenes but a wonderful central performance from Ling Li.

Bigga Than Ben (Halewood, UK) ***
Ben Barnes (aka Prince Caspian) stars in this raucous mock-doc about two Russians (the other is played by Andrei Chadov) who visit London with the intention of making a film to help their countrymen rip off the British system. It starts with Borat-like inventive wackiness, knowingly satirising everything about the city while also creating a series of vivid characters. But when it turns very serious, it stops being quite so engaging. It's a rather drastic shift that the film never quite recovers from. There are some superb themes in here, but once the hilarity ends we kind of lose interest.

Heavy hitter

The big guy himself, Sir Sean Connery, was spotted roaming around the festival delegate centre yesterday - he's not easy to miss. I actually felt a shiver when I heard his voice right behind me, and tried to turn around to gawk at him with a shred of dignity. (Is that possible?) Anyway, he's a patron of the festival and is on hand to give out the awards this weekend.

Soon afterwards, my week in Edinburgh came to an end as I headed back to London by train. I'll be watching the rest of the fest from afar. But I've already seen a number of films that will be showing over the next few days.

Here are some highlights today...

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (Wayne Wang, US) ***
Wang continues his observational approach to filmmaking with this gentle drama about a retired scientist from China who travels to Seattle to visit his daughter, who has made her home in America for the past 12 years. It's an insightful and quietly involving film that touches on some strong issues without ever getting too political about it. Wang's companion film The Princess of Nebraska, which addresses similar themes with a strikingly different cast and setting, is playing tomorrow.

Man on Wire (James Marsh, UK) ****
It may seem like a lot of time has passed, but this documentary is thoroughly gripping as it traces Philippe Petit's legendary stunt to walk a tightrope between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. This well-assembled film is a fascinating combination of heist movie (tracing Petit and crew as they plan and then sneak in to accomplish this remarkable feat) and a historical document about the twin towers, which were unfinished at the time. It also reminds us of how much the world has changed over the past few decades.

The Fall (Tarsem, UK) ***
Filmmaker Tarsem took several years to shoot this film around the world, exploring the most visually stunning settings he could find for a Princess Bride-style tale of a young girl who's told an epic story by a depressed young soldier (the excellent Lee Pace) who feels trapped in his hospital bed. But as we go on, it becomes doubtful that this story will have a happy ending. It's a little rambling and uneven, but it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Getting animated

The legendary Ray Harryhausen (who turns 88 on Sunday) arrived in Edinburgh yesterday, so I siezed on the chance to see his iconic classic Jason and the Argonauts (1963) on the big screen at the gorgeously art-deco Dominion Cinema, which has been lavishly updated with comfy recliners and sofas. The screening was fantastic in several ways, including the appearance by the master himself, who introduced the film with a series of anectotes and witty comments. What was most impressive was how his effects work actually still holds up today - yes, it's a bit jerky and sometimes looks like pasticine in closeup, but it's also just as convincing as any computer-generated-effects movie out there today. And in many ways it's more effective because the human element is so much stronger. Even if much of the film is a bit dated, and sometimes cheesy, the plot itself is superb, with vivid characters and sense of raw, sexy physicality that puts our clunky efforts (see 300) to shame. And the action-effects set pieces still have the ability to get our hearts racing.

Highlights today include...

Dummy (Matthew Thompson, UK) ***

Fascinating and ultimately moving British drama about two teens left alone when their mother dies. The eldest is 18 and thinks he can care for his brother, who has created a dummy of her in her old bedroom. And things get even more complicated as neither seems able to confront the truth about their situation. Beautifully filmed and acted, and pretty wrenching stuff.

The Black Balloon (Elissa Down, Aus) ****

Toni Collete stars in this Aussie drama about a family that moves to a new town and struggles to fit in due to the fact that one of their sons has a combination of autism and attention-deficit. Told from the point of view of the other teens, this is a bright and summery movie that keeps us laughing and sighing, then brings out the emotional resonance in the story.

Eden (Declan Recks, Ire) ****

From Ireland, this warm, gentle drama examines a marriage at the point where everything seems to have turned stale. It's the week before the couple's 10th anniversary and both of them have some serious decisions to make. The film is made with remarkably insight into human behaviour, while capturing the local Irish culture. It's also stunningly well shot.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (Bharat Malluri, UK) ****

Frances McDormand and Amy Adams star in this frothy period comedy set in London's lively theatreland, as a mousy housekeeper helps a socialite juggle three boyfriends and make some key decisions - all in 24 hours. There are some strong themes here, but the filmmakers let them settle to the background and concentrate on the comedy and romance - and it somehow works.

Elite Squad (Jose Padilha, Br) ***

Muscly and vicious, this Brazilian drama looks at life in Rio's favelas from the cop's perspective for a change. The moral dilemmas are gripping, but the film takes itself far too seriously to ever connect with us... MORE >

Shiver (Isidro Ortiz, Sp) ***

This effective Spanish thriller centres on a teen who's allergic to light, who moves with his mother to a remote village in a deep valley. Of course, the locals are wary of the newcomers, especially when the boy seems to be present at a series of vicious murders. Essentially this is yet another "there's something evil in the woods!" horror movies, but the filmmakers use the seetting brilliantly to crank up the tension.

Note that my reports from the rest of the festival will come from London, as I'm heading home this afternoon. I'd only ever planned to spend a week here in Edinburgh, and now I need to go south and catch up on my work!

Deep vein thrombosis

I am sure that sitting through five or six films a day can't be good for my legs. To say nothing of my mental health. Yesterday's films were all emotional rollercoasters, reducing me to tears more than once (I blame my general state of exhaustion) and sending my brain spinning for answers to questions I'd never begun to think about. In other words, it was a great day at the cinema! I love movies that make me think. Even if a day full of them leaves me virtually unable to walk.

A nighlight lst night was the Q&A following a screening of Warsaw Dark, Christopher Doyle's latest film as a director (he's pictured here with actress Anna Przybylska and cinematographer Rain Li). The film is a challenging story of political assassination, obsession and control, told with a fractured narrative that leaves us unable to make much sense of it. But it looks gorgeous, and carries an intriguingly emotive punch. The session afterwards was a lot more fun, as Doyle hopped around the stage posing and mugging and cracking jokes. He also gave insightful answers to the questions, and framed the film as a work of art like a painting, sculpture or jazz composition.

Films today include:

Goodnight Irene (Marinou-Blanco, Por) ***
This fascinating film shifts and changes as it goes, from a gentle comedy about two miss-matched neighbours who form a bond to a missing-person drama and finally a road movie about another miss-matched pair of friends. The characters are intriguing and very nicely played, although the film's odd structure leaves us feeling a little cold.

Death Defying Acts (Armstrong, UK) ***
This story from the life of Harry Houdini is engaging and artfully well-directed, and it features another superb performance from Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) as a girl whose mother (Catherine Zeta-Jones) worms her way into the life of the famed musician (Guy Pearce) while he's visiting, yes, Edinburgh. Zeta-Jones and Pearce never really emerge as proper characters, but the film is still thoroughly enjoyable.

Jason and the Argonauts (Chaffey, UK) - rare big-screen presentation of this 1963 classic, as part of a Ray Harryhausen retrospective attended by Harryhausen himself!

Summer (Glennan, UK) - Robert Carlyle stars in this drama about loyalty and loss - comments tomorrow.

Jealousy and obsession rule

There was a definite theme among the films I saw on Sunday here in Edinburgh, as people were consumed with jealousy and obsession. In The Kreutzer Sonata, Danny Huston (pictured with costar Elizabeth Rohm) plays a husband convinced that his wife has bene unfaithful with a violinist (Matthew Yang King) while playing Beethoven's infamous chamber piece. Based on the Tolstoy story, this is a clear companion piece to Huston's Ivansxtc, also directed by Bernard Rose. It's earthy and gripping, filmed in a guerrilla style and relentlessly disturbing. And it includes a terrific scene with Danny and sister Angelica. Huston, Rose, Rohm and King were att at the screening for a very lively Q&A afterwards.

No one was in attendance for Elegy, although director Isabel Coixet had been here a few days back. It's a twisted drama about a professor (Ben Kingsley) who has an obsessive relationship with a student (Penelope Cruz). Jealousy infuses the relationship, from various angles. And while the performances are terrific (including wonderful turns from Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson), the film feels slightly uneven and downbeat, mainly due to Kingsley's slight miscasting. He just never generates any badly needed emotion or sympathy.

Tonight I'll watch Warsaw Dark, directed by famed cinematographer Christopher Doyle. It's been called hypnotic and dreamlike, which could be a good thing. Or not. I'll let you know tomorrow.