Amat Escalante won the award for best director at the Cannes Film Festival for his film "Heli", which deals with the current drug-war violence in the filmmaker's native Mexico.

Amat Escalante's third film was part of the Un Certain Regard section of the festival and left audiences and critics divided because of its ultra-violent nature and cold portrayal of Mexico's current struggle with drug cartels.

Amat thanked the judges for the award and wanted to make people aware that although Mexico is living through one of its most violent times, violence does not define the country. In his acceptance speech the Director expressed his hope that, "we will never get used to this violence."

"Heli" is the story of a family in a desert town in contemporary Mexico who get mixed up in the drug world. The film's most talked about aspect was the depiction of violence, including a scene in which a character sets the genitals of a thief on fire.

Escalante said that his film is an accurate depiction of what is happening in Mexico and that people should not be alarmed or shocked at the content. He believes that the reality of present day Mexico is much worse than what is shown in his movie.

The director dismissed questions about the upsetting and graphic nature of some of the film's more violent scenes.

He posed this question to reporters gathered at Cannes: "What's the point of not showing violence just so that the audience can experience the story and not suffer, when actually that's not how violence is in real life?"

"I think I'm curious about sex and death and violence, and so that's all in the film," added Escalante, whose last picture "Los Bastardos", set among the Mexican community in Los Angeles, played in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section in 2008.

"Heli" was filmed with amateur actors, and it is the story of a policeman who pursues a relationship with a 12-year-old named Heli. Non-professional actors, sparse dialogues and static shots are familiar aesthetic motifs in the films of Escalante and fellow Mexican director Carlos Reygadas, who has also been a recurring presence at Cannes. Both directors are good friends and have worked together in the past.

Despite a recent change in federal administration the Mexican drug war has continued in recent months with more than 2,000 people killed since Enrique Peña Nieto took office.