MUMBAI: Clint Eastwood, who is in Paris for the release of his film Gran Torino, was given the Palme d’Or of the Festival de Cannes by Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux at a private ceremony.

The American filmmaker has a long and trusting relationship with the Festival, which first welcomed him for the first time in 1985 with Pale Rider. He has returned to present Bird, and then White Hunter, Black Heart, Mystic River and Changeling.

Over the years, the acknowledgement of his peers has met the growing fervor of international critics to acclaim a major artist who alone makes "the synthesis of the classicism and modernity of American cinema".

A few years after having paid tribute to Ingmar Bergman, the Festival de Cannes today awarded a Palme d’Or to Clint Eastwood in homage to the talent of a grand master at the summit of his craft.