MOSCOW -- Rakhshan Bani-E'temad, the renowned Iranian filmmaker, was awarded the Special Jury Prize of the 23rd International Moscow Film Festival for her film ****Under Skin of the City****.

****Under Skin of the City**** is a story of the life in modern Tehran, the Iranian capital city.

The 10-day long festival was ended in the Russian capital city of Moscow on Saturday.

There were prizes Saturday for Jack Nicholson and first-time filmmaker Henry Bean at the Moscow film festival where organizers were hoping its 23rd edition would place it firmly on the map of major European festivals.

Nicholson received the Stanislavsky Prize for Movie Acting, an award especially created to honor the actor who has been in effect the star of the 10-day festival.

The Stanislavsky Prize, named after an early Russian theorist of modern acting technique, has long existed to honor stage actors.

The festival's "Golden George" Award went to the U.S. independent filmmaker Henry Bean's ****The Believer****, about a Jewish student who is drawn toward fascism.

According to an IRNA report, Russia had no film in the 17-film Competitive Section but won a consolation prize in the form of a best acting award for Vladimir Mashkov for his role in Sergei Bodrov's German-funded ****The Quickie****.

The Best Actress Award went to Rie Miyazawa in Chinese director Yonfan's ****Peony Pavilion****.

The International Critics' (Fipresci) Award went to ****Blind Guys**** by Hungary's Peter Timar.

The festival just ended was the first since the event became annual last year and also the first to be staged in late June, a full month earlier than its previous time-slot.

The move was designed to distance the event from the holiday season when many Muscovites are on holiday in the country.