Ken Loach has been awarded the coveted Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Ken Loach

Ken Loach

The 79-year-old filmmaker picked up the prestigious accolade for the second time at the Palais des Festivals on Sunday (22.05.16) for his movie 'I, Daniel Blake'.

The latest effort from the British director - who previously won the festival's top prize for 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' in 2006 - stars comedian Dave Johns and is a drama about a middle-aged widower in northern England who is left unable to work or get government assistance after suffering a heart attack.

When he took to the stage, Ken slammed the "dangerous project of austerity" as he accepted the honour from Mel Gibson.

He said: "We must give a message of hope, we must say another world is possible..

"The world we live in is at a dangerous point right now. We are in the grip of a dangerous project of austerity driven by ideas that we call neo-liberalism that have brought us to near catastrophe."

Cannes' judges praised the depictions of the characters who "find themselves in no-man's land, caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy as played out against the rhetoric of 'striver and skiver' in modern day Britain".

The event's second biggest prize, the Grand Prix, went to Xavier Dolan's 'It's Only the End of the World', a melodrama given some of the worst reviews at this year's festival.

Other winners included 'American Honey' by Andrea Arnold, which won the Jury Prize, and Jaclyn Jose, who was named Best Actress for her role in corruption drama 'Ma' Rosa'.

Asghar Farhadi's 'The Salesman' scooped a rare double, picking up Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Shahab Hosseini.

The best director prize was shared between 'Graduation' director Christian Mungiu and Olivier Assayas for 'Personal Shopper'.

Cannes Film Festival 2016 list of winners:

Palme d'Or

'I, Daniel Blake', dir. Ken Loach

Grand Prix:

Xavier Dolan, 'It's Only The End Of The World'

Best Director:

Cristian Mungiu, 'Graduation', and Olivier Assayas, 'Personal Shopper'

Best Screenplay:

Asghar Farhadi, 'The Salesman'

Best Actress:

Jaclyn Jose, 'Ma'Rosa'

Jury Prize:

'American Honey', dir. Andrea Arnold

Best Actor:

Shahab Hosseini, 'The Salesman'

Palme d'Honneur:

Jean-Pierre Léaud

Caméra d'Or:

'Divines', dir. Uda Benyamina

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