Cannes Prizes Pt 1: Sidebar Glories and Oscar Dreams
Saturday, May 27, 2017 at 3:00PM Congratulations to this poodle below from The Meyerowitz Stories who won the coveted Palme Dog
The Palme Dog is not an official prize from the festival itself but it's always fun to see who wins. Past years winners have been the utterly adorable bulldog from Paterson (2016), the Maltese from Arabian Nights (2014), Uggie from The Artist (2011) and so on. The Palme Dog people also gave an honorary to the bomb sniffing dogs working Cannes to ensure the safety of the industry professionals attending.
But wait that's not all. Two of the official Cannes juries also named their winners in advance of tomorrow's main closing night ceremony. Read about them after the jump...
THE JURY: Tsangari, Khoo, Jenkins, Hesme, and Mungiu
SHORT FILM WINNERS: Maurel, the Ark brothers, and Usberti
CINEFONDATION
Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu (4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Beyond the Hills) presided over the short film jury. His jury members were Clotide Hesme (Actress, France), Barry Jenkins (Director, US), Eric Khoo (Director, Singapore) and Athina Rachel Tsangari (Director, Greece). It's worth paying attention to short film prizes because this is where great directors often get their start... and in order to compete for the eventual Oscar short film category (often a miniature Best Foreign Film Category) you have to win Best Short at one of the Oscar qualifying festivals*
The Short Film prizes went like so...
First Prize: Paul est Là (Paul Is Here) by Valentina Maurel
This 24 minute Belgian short is about a woman named Jeanne and the annoying Paul she has to deal with.
Second Prize: Heyvan (Animal) by Bahram Ark & Bahman Ark
A 15 minute Iranian short about a hunter attempting to cross the border disguised as a ram
Third Prize: Deux Égarés Sont Morts (Two Youths Died) by Tommaso Usberti
The longest winning short (27 minutes) from France is about a first date. The girls father interrupts the date to assault his daughter's new boyfriend
* Oscar's list of qualifying festivals is here if you're curious.
LaFosse, Diab, Thurman, Kateb, and Och
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Uma Thurman (who is looking spectacular!) presided over this important jury. Un Certain Regard is often the place where the hottest films reside in any given Cannes festival. Why is that? I suspect it's because the competition slots tend to be reserved for Cannes darling directors, no matter the indidivual quality of their current film. Sometimes directors have to prove themselves in this sidebar before they're invited for the main competition. The members of her jury were: Mohamed Diab (Director, Egypt), Reda Kateb (Actor, France), Joachim LaFosse (Director, Belgium), and Karel Och (Artistic Director of the Karlovy Film Festival, Czech Republic). The un certain regard jury has some options as to additional prizes beyond the Prix un certain regard but they don't always give them (like acting prizes). Since 2003 there have always been 3 prizes but it's gone as big as 6 one year (2015).
Un Certain Regard prizes went like so...
Prix un certain regard: A Man of Integrity by Mohammad Rasoulof
An Iranian film about a farmer and his family dealing with government and corporate corporation, robbing locals of their livelihoods and land and pushing them out of business
Prix du jury (essentially runner up): April's Daughter by Michel Franco
This Mexican film is about a pregnant teen and her difficult relationship with her mother
Prix de la mise en scène (Best Director): Taylor Sheridan for Wind River
This thriller is due to open on August 4th in the US. It's about a a US agents (Jeremy Renner and Elisabeth Olsen) investigating a dead body found on an Indian Reservation.
special citations in that they don't give them every year
Best Actress: Jasmine Trinca for Fortunata
The Italian actress Trinca actually made her debut film appearance in Italy's last Palme d'Or winner The Son's Room (2001). She's been nominated for the David di Donatello for acting six times in Italy but has yet to win. In this new Sergio Castellito picture she plays a single mother hoping to open a hair salon.
Best Poetic Narrative: Barbara by Mathieu Amalric
The famous French actor wrote, directed and stars in this picture about a filmmaker who wants to make a movie about a famous singer played, who is played in the film within a film by Jeanne Balibar.
Jasmine Trinca stars in Italy's FORTUNATA (LUCKY)
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR OSCAR WATCHING: It is quite common for the winners of the Un Certain Regard prizes to be submitted by their home countries for the Oscar foreign film competition. Some go on to actually snag the Oscar nomination like Dogtooth (Greece, 2009) and The Missing Picture (Cambodia, 2013). Other recent Oscar nominees that did not win Prix un certain regard outright but were honored in some way by their juries before their Oscar nominations include the animated The Red Turtle (2016), Captain Fantastic (USA, 2016), the documentary The Salt of the Earth (2014), and Omar (Palestine, 2013).
In short: Keep an eye out for all five of those movies.
Previously: Day 1, Days 2-4, Days 5-6, Days 7-8, Days 9-10, and Palme d'Or Predictions
Fashion: French Divas & Kidmanifestations 1, 2, 3
Reader Comments (10)
Yeah... that synopsis of "A Man of Integrity" makes me think its chances of being Iran's Oscar submission are pretty much nil.
I could see the Mexican film being submitted, however.
No Queer Palme yet? I assume it's going to Beats Per Minute, but they surprise sometimes...
That honorary Palm Dog tidbit is the best news I'll read all day.
I think we could say right now that our Oscar submissions will be...
LOVELESS - RUSSIA
I AM NOT A WITCH - ZAMBIA
THE SQUARE - SWEDEN
120 BPM - FRANCE
LA CORDILLERA - ARGENTINA
A MAN OF INTEGRITY - IRAN
APRIL'S DAUGHTER - MEXICO
HARAKI - JAPAN
We could.
@Jon....As far as I know, 'I Am Not A Witch' is in English, so it wouldn't be eligible.
Rasoulof and the Iranian government (and film industry) have never had a warm relationship. I doubt Iran will submit his film this year.
I'm not generally speaking a big fan of his films, but I have high hopes for this one.
@Jon: And Japan has never nominated Naomi Kawase's films before. Ever. They would go for more mainstream movies so don't hold your breath about Hikari's Oscar chance
The bulldog from "Paterson" was an absolute monster.
@Shane, thanks.
Sad to know os in english. Would be a close shot to the shortlist in december.
@tombeet
I know that too. And always let me down, to be honest.
Presumably they also don't submit Kawase films because, well, no one ever seems to like them.