Penelope Cruz walked away with the Best Actress title at the European Film Awards in Warsaw, winning over judges with her performance in Spanish film Volver.

The Pedro Almodovar-directed comedy drama took home five awards, including Best Director and Best Cinematography, but lost out to German movie The Lives of Others in the Best Film category.

The Florian Henckel Von Donnermarck movie, about East Germany's secret police, also beat British director Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley, The Road to Guantanamo by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, Neil Jordan's Breakfast on Pluto, and Grbavica by Bosnia's Jasmila Zbanic to the coveted award.

Filmmaker Roman Polanski was honored with the Lifetime Achievement prize. Returning to his native country to accept the award, he insisted "only good things" happened to him in Warsaw.