Pitt says of the honor, "I love the undercurrent of this film, and that is the inability, sometimes, to understand where the other side is coming from."
Blanchett also accepted the festival's Career Achievement Award, but apologized for making so many films released in 2006, including Notes on a Scandal and The Good German.
Little Children star Kate Winslet was awarded with the festival's Desert Palm Achievement for Acting, while the film’s director, Todd Field, won the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.
Winslet hopes her achievement will encourage more people to go and see the $54 million film, which has so far failed to draw large audiences.
She says, "That's the thing that's so fantastic about the nominations. It does mean that hopefully people will go and see the movie."