Scooping up the Grand Prix, Best Screenplay award, a Jury Prize, and a Special Mention—as well as three awards for minority-French coproductions—French cinema was the big winner at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Mati Diop (photo, with Sylvester Stallone), Ladj Ly, and Céline Sciamma took to the stage one after the other at the Lumière Theater during the awards ceremony for the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, confirming the excellent position of French auteur cinema at international film festivals at this time, and highlighting its singularity and its many voices, especially those of women.
UniFrance would like to congratulate all of this year's award winners, and also to acknowledge the important role played by producers in this collective achievement: Judith Lou Lévy and Ève Robin (Les Films du Bal) for Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story, Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral (SRAB Films) for Les Misérables, Bénédicte Couvreur (Hold Up Films) for Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Édouard Weil, and Laurine Pelassy (Rectangle Productions) for It Must Be Heaven.
As regards minority-French coproductions, our congratulations go to Denis Freyd (Archipel 35) for Young Ahmed, Delphine Schmit (Perspective Films) for Our Mothers—which won the coveted Camera d'Or award—and Saïd Ben Saïd and Michel Merkt (SBS Productions) for Bacurau.
Finally, a special mention can be given to the sales companies representing the winning films, a sector in which French companies have a consistently active presence: mk2 films (Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story, Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Goodfellas (ex-Wild Bunch International) (Les Misérables, It Must Be Heaven, Young Ahmed), SBS International (Bacurau), and Pyramide International (Our Mothers), among others.
All the award-winning French films at Cannes 2019
Official Selection - In Competition
- Grand Prix: Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story by Mati Diop
- Best Screenplay: Céline Sciamma for Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Céline Sciamma
- Best Director: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne for Young Ahmed by Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
- Jury Prize: Les Misérables by Ladj Ly , Bacurau by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles
- Special Mention: It Must Be Heaven by Elia Suleiman
- Palme d'Or for a Short Film: The Distance Between Us and the Sky by Vasilis Kekatos
Official Selection - Other awards
- Honorary Palme d'Or: Alain Delon
- Cinéfondation First Prize: Louise Courvoisier for Mano a Mano by Louise Courvoisier
- C.S.T. Artist-Technician Prize: Julien Poupard for Les Misérables by Ladj Ly and Flora Volpelière for Les Misérables by Ladj Ly
- Oeil d'Or Award: The Cordillera of Dreams by Patricio Guzmán
Un Certain Regard - Official Selection
- Jury Prize: Fire Will Come by Oliver Laxe
- Best Performance: Chiara Mastroianni for On a Magical Night by Christophe Honoré
- Special Jury Prize: Liberté by Albert Serra
- Special Mention from the Jury: Bruno Dumont for Joan of Arc by Bruno Dumont
Critics' Week
- Camera d'Or and SACD Prize: Our Mothers by César Díaz
