George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road has been named best film of year by the International Federation of Film Critics.
The federation, comprised of 500 of the world's top critics, will honour Miller its FIPRESCI Grand Prix 2015.
The award will be presented to the Australian writer/director/producer at the opening ceremony of the 63rd Annual San Sebastián International Film Festival on September 18 in San Sebastian, Spain.
Since its early 2015 release, Mad Max has become one of the best-reviewed films of this or any year, earning a 98 per cent fresh rating on the online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, which lists Mad Max: Fury Road as the 12th best-reviewed film of all time.
Miller said he was proud of the Aussie cast and crew, "big time".
"Their skill set, their unfailing grace under pressure. This was a tough movie to make. It's so lovely to have our many labours acknowledged in this way.”
Previous winners include Richard Linklater for Boyhood, Michael Haneke for Amour and The White Ribbon, Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life, Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer, Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood and Magnolia, Pedro Almodovar for Volver and All About My Mother, Jafar Panahi for The Circle, Jean-Luc Godard for Notre Musique, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Uzak.
Oscar-winning filmmaker George Miller directed Mad Max: Fury Road from a screenplay he wrote with Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris. Miller also produced the film, along with long-time producing partner, Doug Mitchell, and P.J. Voeten. Iain Smith, Chris DeFaria, Courtenay Valenti, Graham Burke, Steven Mnuchin and Bruce Berman served as executive producers.
Tom Hardy stars in the title role of “Mad Max: Fury Road,” with Oscar winner Charlize Theron starring as Imperator Furiosa.
The film also stars Nicholas Hoult as Nux; Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe; Josh Helman as Slit; Nathan Jones as Rictus Erectus; collectively known as The Wives, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is The Splendid Angharad, Riley Keough is Capable, Zoë Kravitz plays Toast the Knowing, Abbey Lee is The Dag, and Courtney Eaton is Cheedo the Fragile.