French director Laurent Cantet (C) is surrounded by students during a photocall after he received the Palme d'Or award for the film "Entre les Murs (The Class)" during the award ceremony at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 25.- Xinhua/Reuters

The European Commission yesterday hailed the performance of films funded by the European Union (EU) at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Four EU-funded films received honors at Sunday night's award giving ceremony.

"Entre Les Murs" (The Class) directed by Laurent Cantet of France won the Palme d'Or, whilst "Gomorra" directed by Matteo Garrone of Italy swept up the Grand Prize of the festival.

"Le silence de Lorna" (Lorna's Silence) directed by Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne of Belgium won the prize for the best scenario, and the film "Tulpan," directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy of Kazakhstan was awarded the Prix Un Certain Regard.

These films were among the 14 screened at the festival that had been developed or distributed with support of the EU's MEDIA program.

"The awards from Cannes mark the climax of what has been a truly successful year for European filmmakers," said Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for information society and media, yesterday.

"I am very proud to see the high quality of films that Europeans are now able to produce. The support given by Europe's MEDIA program to these award winners will now ensure that they can also be seen outside national and European borders."

The EU's MEDIA program facilitates filmmakers' access to financing and helps to increase the circulation of European audiovisual works all over the world.

It is providing 755 million euros (US$1.191 billion) to EU's film industry from 2007-2013. This year's four award winning films alone have received a total of over 317,000 euros (US$500,000) in support.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Reding as well as ministers of culture from 12 EU member states attended the Cannes Film Festival.