Cannes Palme d'Or awarded to French film Dheepan

French director Jacques Audiard's film Dheepan has won the top prize at Cannes, the Palme d'Or, the BBC reports.

The gritty drama tells the story of refugees fleeing post-civil war Sri Lanka for a life in France.

The choice made by the jury led by American filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen was a surprise.

Holocaust drama Son of Saul took the Grand Prix. Vincent Lindon won Best Actor while Rooney Mara and Emmanuelle Bercot shared Best Actress.

Dheepan tells of a former Tamil Tiger fighter who links up with two strangers to pretend to be a family and find a life of asylum in a tough, drug-infested housing estate on the edge of Paris.

Audiard, who previously made A Prophet and Rust and Bone, said: "To receive a prize from the Coen brothers is something pretty exceptional. I'm very touched. I'm thinking of my father."

Joel Coen said: "This isn't a jury of film critics. This is a jury of artists who are looking at the work."

The Grand Prix, essentially the runner-up prize, went to Hungarian newcomer Laszlo Nemes for Son of Saul and its depiction of the Auschwitz, gas chambers.

"This continent is still haunted by this subject," he said.