In what was considered a wide open field for the top prize at the 79th Cannes Film Festival with multiple studios and films vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or, what has held true for the past six editions of the closing ceremony stayed the course: a NEON film prevailed. As announced by Tilda Swinton, Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, a story about an immigrant Romanian family living in Norway subjected to an investigation and scrutiny of the local judicial system, took the top prize in a jury headed by Park Chan-wook. The rest of the jury was comprised of Chilean filmmaker Diego Céspedes, Ivorian actor Isaach de Bankolé, Irish-Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, American actress Demi Moore, Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, Belgian filmmaker Laura Wandel, and Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao.
Fjord stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan, and is Mungiu’s second Palme d’Or win after 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007). He also won Best Director (in a tie) in 2016 for Graduation and Best Screenplay in 2012 for Beyond the Hills. With just six feature films to his credit as a director, his body of work has officially won an Cannes prize as many times as it hasn’t, an incredible feat for the Romanian filmmaker.
The bigger story was that despite winning the Palme d’Or for the six previous editions, many were predicting (myself included) that NEON’s reign might finally come to an end. Mubi’s two major contenders, Fatherland and Minotaur, were awarded Best Director and the Grand Prix, respectively. Netflix’s acquisition as of the morning before the closing ceremony, The Black Ball, was also seen as a major contender that ultimately tied for Best Director.
To put a further spotlight on the already growing significance of the Palme d’Or on the Academy Awards, a new rule was recently implemented by AMPAS allowing non-English films to bypass country selection committees by winning a qualifying top award at six major international film festivals. While this is unlikely to factor into play given that Norway or Romania would almost assuredly submit Fjord, the more interesting case study for the rule would have been if Minotaur had won the Palme, granting it immediate eligibility. The eligibility possibilities for Minotaur are far murkier given that it is a Russian film, co-produced in France, Latvia, and Germany. Time will tell if one of those countries decides to submit the film to the Oscars. If not, we will certainly be looking back at this moment as we learn the consequences of the Academy’s new rule.
Check out the full list of Cannes In Competition and sidebar section winners below, and how the In Competition prizes compared to our predictions here.
In Competition
Palme d’Or – Fjord, dir. Cristian Mungiu
Grand Prix – Minotaur, dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
Best Director (Tie) – Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi for The Black Ball; Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland
Jury Prize – The Dreamed Adventure, dir. Valeska Grisebach
Best Actress – Tao Okamoto, Virginie Efira for All Of A Sudden
Best Screenplay – Emmanuel Marre for A Man Of His Time
Best Actor – Emmanuel Macchia, Valentin Campagne for Coward
Camera d’Or (Best First Feature Film)
Camera d’Or – Ben’Imana, dir. Marie Clementine Dusabejambo
Short Films Competition
Short Film Palme d’Or – For The Opponents, dir. Federico Luis
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Award – Everytime, dir. Sandra Wollner
Jury Prize – Elephants in the Fog, dir. Abinash Bikram Shah
Special Jury Prize – Iron Boy, dir. Louis Clichy
Best Actress – Daniela Marín Navarro, Marina de Tavira, and Mariangel Villegas for Forever Your Maternal Animal
Best Actor – Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset for Congo Boy
Director’s Fortnight
Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film – Too Many Beasts, dir. Sarah Arnold
SACD Prize for Best French Film – Shana, dir. Lila Pinell
Audience Choice Award – I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, dir. Clio Barnard
Carrosse d’Or – Claire Denis
Critics Week
Grand Prize – La Gradiva, dir. Marine Atlan
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution – A Girl Unknown, dir. Zou Jing
Rising Star Award – Aina Clotet for Alive
SACD Prize – Blerta Basholli and Nicole Borgeat for Dua
Canal+ Short Film Award – Vaterland or a Bule Named Yanto, dir. Berthold Wahjudi
Discovery Prize for Short Film – Skinny Boots, dir. Romain F. Dubois
Immersive Competition
Best Immersive Work Award – Katábasis, dir. Ugo Arsac
Special Mention – The Black Mirror Experience, dir. David Bardos and Damià Ferràndiz
Cinéfondation Awards
First Prize – Laser-Cat, dir. Lucas Acher (NYC, United States)
Second Prize – Silent Voices, Nadine Misong Jin (Columbia University, United States)
Third Prize – (Tie) Never Enough, dir. Julius Lagoutte Larsen (La Fémis, France); Growing Stones, Flying Papers, dir. Roozbeh Gezerseh and Soraya Shamsi (Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg, Germany)
Other Awards
L’Oeil d’Or Documentary Prize – Rehearsals for a Revolution, dir. Pegah Ahangarani
Golden Eye Special Jury Prize – Tin Castle, dir. Alexander Murphy
Queer Palm – Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, dir. Jane Schoenbrun
Queer Palm Discovery Prize – Flesh and Fuel, dir. Pierre Le Gall
Queer Palm for Short Film – Silent Voices, dir. Nadine Misong Jin
FIPRESCI Award (Competition) – Fjord, dir. Cristian Mungiu
FIPRESCI Award (Un Certain Regard) – Ben’Imana, dir. Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo
FIPRESCI Award (Parallel Sections) – A Girl Unknown, dir. Jing Zou
Ecumenical Jury Award – Fjord, dir. Cristian Mungiu
Cannes Soundtrack Award – Evgueni and Sacha Galperine for Minotaur
François Chalais Prize – Fjord, dir. Cristian Mungiu
Citizenship Prize – Fjord, dir. Cristian Mungiu
AFCAE Art House Cinema Award – A Man of His Time, dir. Emmanuel Marre
Prix du Cinéma Positif – Coward, dir. Lukas Dhont
Palm Dog – Yuri for La Perra
Palm Dog Special Mention – Lola for I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Trophée Chopard for Female Revelation of the Year – Odessa A’zion
Trophée Chopard for Male Revelation of the Year – Connor Swindells
Article Courtesy of Danny Jarabek
Feature Image Credit to France 24