Honored with 3 major awards this year, for Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Actress, French cinema makes a strong presence in the highly international awards list for the 57th Cannes Film Festival.
While the Palme d'Or was awarded to "Fahrenheit 9/11" by the American Michael Moore and the Grand Prix went to "Old Boy" by Korean director Chan-Wook Park, French films were by no means outdone, picking up three major prizes. Maggie Cheung was voted Best Actress for "Clean" by Olivier Assayas, Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri won the Best Screenplay award for "Comme une Image" and the Best Director award went to Tony Gatlif for "Exiles."
The Camera d'Or was also awarded to "Or (Mon Trésor)" by Keren Yedaya, a Franco-Israeli co-production selected at the 43rd International Critics' Week.
Complete awards list for the 57th Festival:
Palme d'Or
"Fahrenheit 9/11" by Michael Moore
Grand Prix
"Old Boy" by Chan-Wook Park
Jury Prize (jointly)
Irma P. Hall for "The Ladykillers" by the Joel Coen and Ethan Coen and "Tropical Malady" by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Best Director
Tony Gatlif for "Exiles"
Best Screenplay
Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri for "Comme une image"
Best Actor
Yagira Yuuya for "Nobody Knows"
Best Actress
Maggie Cheung for "Clean"
Palme d'Or for a Short Film
"Trafic" by Catalin Mitulescu
Jury Prize for a Short Film
"Flatlife" by Jonas Geirnaert
Camera d'Or
"Or (Mon Trésor)" by Keren Yedaya. Special Mentions for "Passages" by Yang Chao and "Bitter Dreams" by Mohsen Amiryoussefi
Other Awards :
Festival Trophy
Awarded to actors Max von Sydow and Gong Li
International Critics' Prize
Official Competition: "Fahrenheit 9/11" by Michael Moore
Un Certain Regard: "Whisky" by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll
International Critics' Week: "Atash" ("Thirst") by Tawfik Abu Wael
François Chalais Prize
"The Motorcycle Diaries" by Walter Salles
Special Mention for the director Andrès Wood for "Machuca," presented at the Directors' Fortnight
National Education Prize
"Life is a Miracle" by Emir Kusturica
Youth Prize
"Kontroll" by Antal Nimrod
Arthouse Prize
"The Woodsman" by Nicole Kassel
Cinéfondation Prize
"Happy Now" by Frederrike Aspöck
Ecumenical Jury Prize
"The Motorcycle Diaries" by Walter Salles
"Carosse d'Or" from the Film Directors' Society
Awarded to Italian director Nanni Moretti
Un Certain Regard Prize
"Moolaadè" by Ousmane Sembene
"Regard Original" Prize: "Whisky" by Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll
"Regard vers l'avenir" Prize: "Terre et cendres" by Atiq Rahimi
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