Black comedy shines in France

The road trip comedy Little Miss Sunshine has won the top prize at France's Deauville Film Festival for American movies.

The black comedy starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carell tells the story of a family's calamitous trip to a child's beauty pageant.

The jury prize went to director Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson, starring Ryan Gosling as a junior high school teacher addicted to crack cocaine, while best screenplay honours went to writer-director Laurie Collyer's Sherrybaby, with Maggie Gyllenhaal as a junkie trying to put her life in order after prison.