Held each May in the south of France, the prestigious Cannes Film Festival is known for its selection of art-house, often gritty movies that do not set out to entertain in the traditional sense of the word. However, the main award winners at the 62nd edition of the festival (May 13-24, 2009) made for particularly difficult viewing. Here is an overview of the main awards and award winners.
Palme d’Or and Grand Prix
The Cannes Film Festival is divided into various sections, the most high profile of which is the Official Selection. This year’s jury of nine, led by the French actress Isabelle Huppert, selected 20 movies to compete for the feature film section’s most coveted prize, the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm).
This was won by Austrian director Michael Haneke for his movie Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon). Filmed in black and white, The White Ribbon is set on the eve of the First World War in a small town in Protestant Northern Germany, where a cruel and disturbing current flows under the surface of a seemingly placid community.
The festival’s second most prestigious prize is the Grand Prix, awarded this year to Frenchman Jacques Audiard for Un Prophète (A Prophet), a prison drama that looks at both the French penal system and the country’s North African minority population.
Best Director
The Best Director award was scooped by Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay (Butchered). A harrowing movie of police corruption in Manila, it included a scene of a prostitute being hacked to death, dividing critics.
Best Screenplay
Lou Ye took home the award for Best Screenplay for Chun Feng Chen Zui De Ye Wan (Spring Fever), a feverish tale of illicit, homosexual love in modern China.
Best Actor and Actress
Christoph Waltz (another Austrian) was awarded Best Actor for his role as Col. Hans Landa a.k.a ‘The Jew Hunter’ in Quentin Tarantino’s WWII Nazi revenge epic Inglourious Basterds – the nearest an American movie came to winning an award; while Charlotte Gainsbourg (French) won Best Actress for her depiction in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist of a woman who goes slowly and violently mad after the death of her child.
Jury Prize
The jury prize went to the British movie Fish Tank, directed by Andrea Arnold. The lead role of Mia, a teenager whose life is turned upside down when her mother brings home a new boyfriend, was played by Katie Jarvis, a 17-year-old with no acting experience who was spotted on a train platform in Essex, southeast England.
Short Films and Caméra d'Or
In the festival’s Short Films section, the Palme d’Or went to the Portuguese movie Arena by João Salaviza. The Caméra d’Or (Golden Camera), an award for the best first feature film, was given to Australian Warwick Thornton for Samson and Delilah. This is an unflinching but tender movie set in a remote Aboriginal community, which the jury described as "the best love film we've seen for many a year.”
Find out more about the history of the Cannes Film Festival here or visit the official website.
Cecily Layzell - Cecily Layzell is a food and travel writer and founder of restaurant review site www.eat-amsterdam.com.
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