News: Palme d'Or goes to…

And the Palme d’Or goes to…

The Cannes film festival continues their love affair with Michael Haneke. His latest in competition film, The White Ribbon, won the coveted top prize this year. But that has come to really no surprise by those who follow Cannes history. Heneke has always been a favorite with the festival. 2002’s The Piano Teacher won the top two acting awards and 2005’s Cache won him the best director prize. His latest has been a surprise for most by being his least confrontational work and his most elegant. The black and white drama tells of a small German village that experiences a series of bizarre deaths and trials on the brink of WW I. The Grand jury prize went to Jacques Audiard’s The Prophet. The prison drama had been the one of the most praised at the festival and had been one of the top contenders to take the Golden Palm.

Despite some bad buzz, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds at least has one must see aspect about it: Christoph Waltz’s performance. He won the best actor prize and is an early favorite for best supporting actor at next years Oscars. Charlotte Gainsbourg picked up the best actress prize for Lars Von Trier’s extraordinarily polarizing Antichrist. This continues Trier’s streak of leading actresses winning awards at Cannes. In the 2000 festival recording artist Bjork took home the prize for Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark (as well as the Palme d’Or). The Camera d’Or went to Australia’s walkabout drama Samson and Delilah, which holds the distinction of being the first film by and about aborigines to be selected at Cannes.

The jury consisted of a female majority for the first time in the festival’s history. So there may have been some statements made by their choices. And there were some risky choices. Many have not gone over so well with the public. The biggest surprise came in the best director category when Brilnte Mendozala took the prize for Kinatay, despite receiving one of the worst receptions at the festival. The film involves atrocities by the Pilipino police in graphic detail. Another surprise was that Jane Campion’s Bright Star went home empty handed after it had been touted as an early Oscar favorite and a return to form for Campion after over 10 years of critical disappointments.

Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) – The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke (Austria)
Grand Prize – A Prophet by Jacques Audiard (France)
Jury Prize – Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold (Britain) and Thirst By Park Chan-wook (South Korea)
Special Prize – Alain Resnais
Best Director – Brilnte Mendozala, Kinatay (The Philippines)
Best Actor – Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (United States)
Best Actress – Charlotte Gainsbourg, Antichrist (Denmark)
Best Screenplay – Feng Mei, Spring Fever (China)
Camera d’Or (first-time director) – Samson and Delilah by Warwick Thornton (Australia)
Best short film – Arena by Joao Salaviza (Portugal).

Any of our Spanish readers may be interested in browsing Eduardo Lucatero’s blog. An occasional guest host on Sound On Sight and independent filmmaker, Eduardo manages to find time to see just about every film at the Cannes Film Festival. Just click on the banner to redirect yourself to his webpage.

Anthony Nichols