MADRID (AFP) - International critics have voted Mad Max: Fury Road the best film of the year, their main federation said on Tuesday.

The action movie by Australian director George Miller will be awarded the Grand Prix of the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain on Sept 18.

"You could have knocked me over with a feather! It's lovely to have this great cohort of critics acknowledge our collective labours in this way," Miller said in the statement.

The vote saw 493 of the world's top critics, who typically reward less mainstream films, choose from movies premiered after July 1, 2014.

Mad Max: Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, is the fourth film in the apocalyptic adventure franchise shot in the Australian outback. It will receive a special screening at the festival, the highest-profile movie event in the Spanish-speaking world, which runs until Sept 26.

Last year's winner was Richard Linklater for the drama Boyhood.