Film about cancer wins top prize at Sundance

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl also captures Audience Award at renowned movie festival

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, a moving drama about a teenager who befriends a classmate with cancer, won the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday.

Sundance winners regularly go on to critical and awards success at Holly-wood's main prize-giving ceremonies. Last year's top winner, Whiplash, is nominated for best picture at this year's Oscars.

The US documentary award went to The Wolf-pack, while in the non-US categories, the main prizes went to a Scottish filmmaker and a movie about Ukraine's ongoing struggle in the shadow of its former Sovietmasters.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, took the Grand Jury Prize for a US drama at the end of a two-hour awards ceremony in the Utahmountain resort of Park City.

It also took the US drama audience prize - the third year in row that the top US film has won both Grand Jury and audience awards, following Whiplash last year and Fruitvale Station in 2013.

The best director for US drama was named as Robert Eggers for his horror movie The Witch.

The win for Me and Earl and the Dying Girl came against what was considered strong competition this year from other entries that stirred considerable buzz at Sundance, including The Witch and the coming-of-age hip hop drama Dope.

Among US documentaries, The Wolf pack by Crystal Moselle took the Grand Jury Prize, while best director went to Matthew Heineman for Cartel Land, about drug wars in Mexico.

In the world cinema categories, the Grand Jury Prize for a drama went to Slow West by Scottish filmmaker John Maclean, which follows a teenager on a journey across the 19th-century frontier US in search of the woman he loves.

"Thanks to Dad for taking me to see Westerns when I was a wee boy," he said in a message to the festival. The movie co-stars Michael Fassbender.

The world documentary Grand Jury Prize was given to The Russian Woodpecker, which takes a stab at Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a story about the revolution in Ukraine and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

"I don't think we can stop Russia with bombs, but I think with a little bit of art and truth maybe we can make some progress," said the movie's US director, Chad Gracia.

The 2015 Sundance Film Festival opened on Jan 22 and officially ended on Sun-day.