"City of Life and Death," Chinese director Lu Chuan's account of the Japanese occupation of Nanjing in 1937, won the top award Saturday at the San Sebastian film festival.

A Spanish actor with Down's Syndrome, Pablo Pineda, picked up the best actor prize at the festival in the northern Spanish coastal city for his role in "Yo, Tambien" ("Me Too"), the jury announced.

Spain's Lola Duenas won best actress for her role in the same film, while best screenplay went to the four writers of the Australian film "Blessed."

"City of Life and Death" won the top Golden Shell award over 14 other films in the competition, as well as the prize for best cinematography.

The film deals in gruesome detail with the capture and brutal occupation of Nanjing by the Japanese imperial army in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese were killed.

It has angered some Chinese ultra-nationalists, earning Lu at least one death threat, because of its portrayal of Japanese soldiers as ordinary people caught up in the tragedy of war.