Fresh from being panned at last month's Cannes Film Festival, the Ryan Gosling starrer "Only God Forgives" wins the $60,000 Sydney Film Prize at the recently concluded Sydney Film Festival.

It was the second time for director Nicolas Winding Refn to win the top honour, having won the same prize in 2009 for his film Bronson.

According to the festival jury led by English actor Hugo Weaving, opinions were divided whether to award the prize to Refn's violent drama. "After 10 days of captivating and diverse film viewing and passionate conversations, the jury arrived at a majority decision. In the true spirit of the Competition criteria, we award a visually mesmerising and disturbing film, which polarised our opinions," he said.

"Only God Forgives" was included in the Palme d'Or section of the Cannes Film Festival. Some members of the press walked out of the cinema because of the film's explicit violence and torture.

Refn responded to the negative reactions for his film by saying "You know, great art - horrible thing to say - but art is meant to divide, because if it doesn't divide, it doesn't penetrate, and if it doesn't penetrate, you just consume it." This is the second time he and Ryan Gosling worked together after their successful 2011 action crime drama, Drive.

The movie tells the story of boxing club owner (Gosling) and his mother, played by Kristin Scott Thomas, set in Thailand's underground crime world.

Meanwhile, a new trailer for "Only God Forgives" has been released. It is scheduled to be shown in Australia on July 18, and in the United States on July 19.

Watch the new trailer below: