RENNES, France (AFP) - “Little Men,” a drama about the friendship between two boys in New York, was awarded the Grand Prize at France‘s Deauville American Film Festival.

Directed by Ira Sachs, the movie -- also shown at this year’s Sundance festival -- tells the story of a family who inherits a house in Brooklyn with the ground floor occupied by a dressmaker’s shop run by a Latin American woman.

A friendship between Jake and Tony, the young boys from the two families, is put at risk after Jake’s parents, played by Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Ehle, decide to raise the rent on the shop.

The Jury Prize at Saturday's ceremony went to two movies with an ironic view on the American way of life.

They were Todd Solondz’s comedy-drama “Wiener-Dog,” about a dachshund that goes from one oddball owner to another, and “Captain Fantastic,” the second full-length feature directed by actor Matt Ross, with Viggo Mortensen as a grizzled eccentric who takes his homeschooled children out of the wilderness and on a road trip.

A total of 14 films were in competition for this year's festival at the Normandy seaside resort. The festival launched in 1975 as a celebration of American cinema.