Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan's "Hearbeats", a romantic film which was also included in Cannes, has received $60,000 from the Sydney Film Festival this year.

"It's a very fresh film; the filmmaker is only 21," said jury president Jan Chapman, producer of films The Last Days of Chez Nous, The Piano and Lantana.

The revelation of the festival winner happened yesterday at The Wharf after a lunch attended by high-profile guests, including Ian McKellen and Miranda Otto mixed with up-and-coming filmmakers.

However, no one from the cast or crew of "Heartbeats" was there to receive the award.

The Canadian film is centered on the politics of the unrequited crush. In it, Francis (Dolan) and Marie (Monia Chokri) play attractive 20-somethings whose friendship is put to the test when they both fall for Nicolas (Niels Schneider).

"We felt that Heartbeats really encapsulated the insecurity of youth and the bravado that sometimes covers that up," Chapman said.

It took "a lot of thought and discussion" before the jury finally came to a decision to grant the award to the Canadian film.

"There was a lot of appreciation for a number of the films, so it took a long time to reach a decision," she said. "But we found ourselves talking about Xavier's film over and over again."

Festival director Clare Stewart selected the 12 finalists out of the 157 films shown during the festival.

Other finalists were a French-Australian co-production "The Tree", starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, and the all Australian "Wasted on the Young", about two young half- brothers who fell for the same girl.