Australian actor David Gulpilil has won a prize as best actor in Cannes for his charismatic performance in Rolf de Heer’s film Charlie’s Country. It was a crowning tribute to the actor, who first made his mark as the tracker in Nic Roeg’s Walkabout in 1971 and went on to work on films as varied as Storm Boy, Mad Dog Morgan and The Tracker, his first collaboration with De Heer.

The prize was awarded in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival, a parallel section to the main competition that emphasises individual points of view and innovative film-making.

Charlie’s Country follows Charlie, an ageing indigenous man living in a humpy who finds white men’s rules are making his life pointlessly difficult.