by Nathaniel R
The 71st edition of Cannes has ended. The closing ceremony started all fiery with Asia Argento reminding the audience that she was raped at the festival and Harvey Weinstein used to use Cannes as his "hunting ground" but after that impassioned speech, this settled quickly into the usual Closing Ceremony format of jury introductions, and strange presentation of awards in which "presenters" don't actually do the presenting but then turn to Madame President (in this case Cate Blanchett in a dress with a bow the size of her entire body on its back) to read out the winners.
So here's one last gif-heavy look at Cannes, which is really our first look (since the films have yet to open anywhere) at the winners from the closing ceremony. Many of these titles will go on to further glories at other festivals and hopefully in theatrical release in the US and some will definitely be Oscar foreign language film submissions. But even if this is the end of their awards run, winning prizes at Cannes remains a very big deal...
THE JURY INTRODUCTIONS
The host welcomed Cate who began in French before switching to English and then mostly impeccably pronounced the names of her jury members but kept apologizing as if her pronunciation of Russian and French and so on names wasn't great. Girl, please. You know you're a goddess.
THE JURY
Won't you miss this jury? One more round of applause please for what is surely the most physically beautiful jury Cannes ever assembled.
AND NOW ON TO THE PRIZE WINNERS
SHORT FILMS
Jury Special Distinction Short Film Yan Bian Shao Nian for On the Border (China)
This 15 minute short is about a Korean teenager leaving his village home and roaming
Palme d'Or Short Film Charles Williams for All These Creatures (Australia)
A thirteen minute short described like so: "An adolescent boy attempts to untangle his memories of a mysterious infestation, the unravelling of his father, and the little creatures inside us all"
CAMERA D'OR
Camera d'Or Lukas Dhont for Girl (Belgium)
This film won prizes earlier as well in its sidebar including Best Performance for its teenage lead. He plays a trans ballerina struggling with her body. The director is only 24 years old so this is very much a youth project given the star and director. Will Belgium submit this one? They switch back and forth annual between French and Dutch language submissions and this year it's time for another Dutch one. IMDb doesn't help us much here because they say that Girl is in both Dutch and French.
MAIN COMPETITION
Best Actress Samal Yeslyamova for Ayka (Russia/Kazakhstan)
She plays a desperate new mother who can't afford to raise her child. This film is from the director of Tulpan which you might remember was an Oscar submission from Kazakhstan ten years back. So this has to be considered a threat to be their submission this year after its reception at Cannes.
Best Screenplay [TIE] Alice Rohrwacher for Happy as Lazarro (Italy) and Jafar Panahi for Three Faces (Iran)
Rohrwacher is well loved at Cannes but her films haven't really made a dent in the American arthouse audience consciousness yet. Maybe this time?
Best Director Pawel Pawlikowski for Cold War (Poland)
Love this director! He previously made the Oscar winning Ida and his other fine films include My Summer of Love (which introduced the world to Emily Blunt!) and the underseen but moving Last Resort
Best Actor Marcello Fonte for Dogman (Italy)
He plays a dog groomer who gets involved with a burglary. I'd expect this to be Italy's Oscar submission since they previously submitted Gomorra by this director.
Palme d'Or Special Prize Jean Luc-Godard for The Image Book (France)
Prix du Jury (3rd Place) Nadine Labaki for Capernaum (Lebanon)
This film about a young boy suing his parents was a sensation at the festival. Some are saying this is a slam dunk for an Oscar nomination if Lebanon submits it. (Lebanon just received their first nomination last season for The Insult). Sony Pictures Classics will release it in December.
Grand Prix (2nd Place) Spike Lee for BlacKkKlansman (US)
Spike Lee has been going to this festival since the 1980s so this must feel sweet for him. This is his third prize at Cannes. The first two were an "award of the youth" for She's Gotta Have It (1986) and a special mention for Jungle Fever (1991). It seems insane now but Do The Right Thing (1989), now regarded as one of the greatest films of its decade and hardly unloved in its actual time, won nothing during its Cannes year.
Palme d'Or Hirokazu Koreeda for Shoplifters (Japan)
Koreeda came in third place for Like Father Like Son five years ago. But we can't necessarily count on Japan to send this one to the Oscars. They often choose strangely and they've only submitted Koreeda once before (for Nobody Knows (2004) which was not nominated.
Are you excited for the prize winners to make it to your eyeballs?