It is the culmination of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival: the awarding of the Palme d’Or. It concludes the traditional festival, which was held for the 76th time this year. It was only the third time in the history of the festival that a female director was awarded the Palme d’Or in Cannes.
Sandra Hüller plays the leading role in two (!) winning films
The main prize of the festival went to Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet, in which German actress Sandra Hüller plays a writer who is suspected of murdering her husband. The result is a captivating courtroom drama that keeps you guessing about the guilt and innocence of the main character.
Les Films Pelleas
Sandra Huller in Anatomy of a Fall
Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust film The Zone of Interest won the Grand Jury Prize. Sandra Hüller also plays one of the main roles in it. In Under the Skin director Glazer’s film, she plays the wife of the commandant of Auschwitz death camp, who lives with her family in close proximity to the mass extinction site (More on why The Zone of Interest is a masterpiece (and nightmare)).
The winners in competition at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival:
Golden Palm: Anatomy of a Fall by Justine Triet
Grand Prix: The Zone of Interest by Jonathan Glazer
Jury Prize: Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki
Directing Award: Tran Anh Hung for The Pot Au Feu
Actress Award: Merve Dizdar for About Dry Grasses
Actor Award: Koji Yakusho for Perfect Days
Screenplay Award: Yuji Sakamoto for Monster
The jury of the international competition in 2023 consisted of:
The first prizewinner of the evening for feature films was the Japanese Kôji Yakusho, who was recognized for his performance in Wim Wender’s drama Perfect Days won the award for Best Male Actor. The best actress award went to Merve Dizdar in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s morale play About Dry Grasses.
Listen to the Cannes Podcast: First Reactions to the New Scorsese, Indiana Jones 5 and More
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New winner after Tarantino and Scorsese
The Palme d’Or in Cannes is considered one of the most important awards in the international film business. In the past the main prize went to Cannes Movies like Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Last year, jury president Ruben Östlund received the award for the second time, this time for his shipwreck satire Triangle of Sadness.
Other films in the festival program this year included Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, as well as Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. The latter were not in the race for the Palme d’Or.
The Cannes International Film Festival took place from May 16th to 27th in the southern French coastal city.