Cristian Mungiu’s drama Fjord, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, has won the Palme d’Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
The Romanian director, who previously scooped the festival’s prize with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, is the tenth director to win the coveted award twice.
Stan and Reinsve star as a mixed Romanian and Norwegian couple who move to the fjord village where the wife was born with their children. Their planned new life does not go to plan when they come up against a couple with a very different outlook on life.
Deadline’s review praised the picture as a “fiercely intelligent and gripping movie that finds its power in providing no easy answer.”
In other the other awards, Russian director Andreï Zviaguintsev’s Minotaur scooped the Grand Prize. He used his acceptance speech to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop “the butchery.
Directorial duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi and Paweł Pawlikowski jointly won the Best Director Prize for La Bola Negra and Fatherland respectively. German director Valeska Grisebach Bulgaria-set dramaThe Dreamed Adventure won the Jury Prize.
Virginie Efira and Tao Okamot jointly scooped the Best Actress award for their performance in All Of A Sudden, while Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagneshare, stars of Lukas Dhont’s World War One drama Coward, shared the Best Actor Award.
Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto accept the Best Performance by an Actress for All Of A Sudden
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The Best Screenplay was clinched by Emmanuel Marre for A Man Of His Time (Notre Salut), exploring questions of resistance and collaboration in France in the early days of World War Two.
Marie-Clémentine Dusabejamb with Caméra d’Or
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In the first feature film prize of the night, Rwandan director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo made history by winning the Caméra d’Or for best first film for Ben’Imana.
The film, which is the first Rwandan film to screen at the festival, explores the complexities of justice and reconciliation in Rwanda close to 20 years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, through the experiences of a survivor. Read Deadline’s interview with Dusabejambo here
Argentinian director Federico Luis received the first prize of the evening as the winner of the Short Film Palme d’Or For The Opponents. It follows a young boy growing up in a tough neighborhood in Mexico with dreams of becoming a boxing champion.
Outside of the main competition prizes, Barbra Streisand was feted with honorary Palme D’Or. Unable to attend the ceremony after her docter nixed travel to health reasons, Streisand sent a video-message in which she talked about the role of non-English works in her film education as well as the struggles she faced as a woman to get projects off the ground across her career.
WINNERS LIST
Palme d’Or
Fjord, Cristian Mungiu
Grand Prize
Minotaur, Andreï Zviaguintsev
Best Actress
Virginie Efira and Tao Okamo for All Of A Sudden
Best Director tied
Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, La Bola Negra
Paweł Pawlikowski, Fatherland
Jury Prize
The Dreamed Adventure, Valeska Grisebach
Best Screenplay
Emmanuel Marre for A Man Of His Time (Notre Salut)
Best Actor
Emmanuel Macchia, Valentin Campagneshare for Coward
Camera d’Or
Ben’Imana, Clémentine Dusabejambo
Short Film Palme d’Or
For The Opponents, Federico Luis.
Earlier at 11.30 pt. Guests have started arriving on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival ahead of the tonight’s award ceremony which kicks off at 8.15pm local time (11.15am PT).
As we wait to hear who has been feted by Park Chan-Wook’s jury, rumors have been swirling since earlier today that delegations linked Minotaur, Fjord, The Dreamed Adventure, Fatherland, La Bola Negra and La Gradiva have been called back to Cannes.
Ahead of the ceremony, Deadline critic Pete Hammond and Damon Wise are coalescing around Spanish breakout La Bola Negra, Fjord, Fatherland and Minotaur. Checkout their predictions here
In further clues of who’s in the running, early arrivals on the red carpet to the usual mix of 1980s and 90s pop hits included German director Valeska Grisebach whose Bulgaria-set drama The Dreamed Adventure was the one of the last film’s to screen on Friday; La Bola Negra directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi and cast member Penelope Cruz, as well as Fatherland director Paweł Pawlikowski.
The awards due to be handed out tonight are Palme d’Or, the Grand Prix, the Jury Prize, the Best Director, the Best Screenplay, the Best Performance by an Actress, and the Best Performance by an Actor.
They will be presented by Geena Davis, Xavier Dolan, Pierfrancesco Favino, Gael García Bernal, Nadine Labaki, and Zoe Saldaña, with actress Tilda Swinton down to present the Palme d’Or.
22 films are in the running for the Palme d’Or.
The full compeitition lineup is Bitter Christmas by Pedro Almodóvar, A Woman’s Life by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, La Bola Negra by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, Coward by Lukas Dhont, Parallel Tales by Asghar Farhadi, Paper Tiger by James Gray, Dreamed Adventure by Valeska Grisebach, All of a Sudden by Hamaguchi Ryusuke, The Unknown by Arthur Harari, Another Day by Jeanne Herry, Sheep In The Box by Koreeda Hirokazu, Hope by Na Hong-jin, Nagi Notes by Fukada Koji, Gentle Monster by Marie Kreutzer, A Man Of His Time by Emmanuel Marre, Fjord by Cristian Mungiu, The Birthday Party by Léa Mysius, Moulin by László Nemes, Fatherland by Paweł Pawlikowski, The Man I Love by Ira Sachs, The Beloved by Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Minotaur by Andreï Zviaguintsev.
Jury president Park Chan-Wook has been accompanied in the choices by jury members Demi Moore, Stellan Skarsgård, Ruth Negga and Isaach De Bankolé, Chloé Zhao, Diego Céspedes, Laura Wandel and Paul Laverty
During the ceremony, an Honorary Palme d’or will be awarded to Barbra Streisand. As previously announced she will not be able to attend Cannes. At the request of Streisand, Isabelle Huppert will present this Honorary Palme d’Or and say a few words in tribute to her career.
Deadline will be following the ceremony check in here and on our site for live updates and other news.
