Fjord Wins At Cannes


Well, another Cannes Film Festival has come to a close.  Here in America, coverage of this year’s festival felt considerably more low-key than previous festivals.  In fact, the conventional wisdom — again, here in America — seems to be that this year’s festival was a disappointment.  Personally, I think there’s just some hurt feelings that only two American films were selected to compete this year.

Neither Paper Tiger nor The Man I Love won anything.  (Fear not, I’m sure that James Gray will be back with another drama about the Russian mafia next year.)  Instead, the Palme d’Or went to Fjord, a film about a traditional Catholic family that finds itself being targeted by a group of progressives.  The Guardian gave Fjord a negative review so I imagine it’s pretty good.  I look forward to seeing it.  It should be noted that, as of the last few years, winning the Palme d’Or has been a plus when it comes to a film’s Oscar chances.  (Even the now universally-derided Emilia Perez starting things off by winning at Cannes.)  We’ll see if the same holds true for Fjord.

Here are the winners from Cannes:

Palme d’Or: Fjord by Cristian Mungiu
Grand Prix: Minotaur by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Jury Prize: The Dreamed Adventure by Valeska Grisebach
Best Director:
Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo for The Black Ball
Paweł Pawlikowski for Fatherland
Best Actress: Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto for All of a Sudden
Best Actor: Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for Coward
Best Screenplay: Emmanuel Marre for A Man of His Time

Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Prize: Everytime by Sandra Wollner
Jury Prize: Elephants in the Fog by Abinash Bikram Shah
Special Jury Prize: Iron Boy by 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

Caméra d’Or
Caméra d’Or: Ben’Imana by Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo

Short Films Competition
Short Film Palme d’Or: For the Opponents by Federico Luis