Archive
Movies
Thank you for rating this article
Palme d'Or 2010 winner announced
2010-05-26 14:56
And the Palme d'Or 2010 goes to ....
The 63rd Cannes Film Festival has drawn to a close, with the major award going to Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his film Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat (Uncle Boonmee who can Recall his Past Lives). This mysterious piece, which deals with dream and reincarnation, is the third film to have won a prize at Cannes for the admired Thai director.
Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and lead actress of the closing film, 'The Tree', made the presentation. 'This Palme is very important for the history of Thailand and the Thai people', said the director, whose previous successes have included 'Blissfully Yours' and 'Tropical Malady'. In his acceptance speech, he thanked 'the spirits and ghosts of Thailand' as well as his parents, who, thirty years ago, first introduced him to the world of film by taking him to a small cinema.
Full list of prizewinners 2010
Palme d'Or Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Grand Prix Des Hommes et Des Dieux (Of Gods and Men) directed by Xavier Beauvois
Best Director Mathieu Amalric for Tournée (On Tour)
Best Screenplay Lee Chang-dong for Poetry
Award for Best Actress Juliette Binoche in Copie Confome (Certified Copy)
Award for Best Actor Javier Bardem in Biutiful and Elio Germano in La Nostra Vita (Our Life)
Jury Prize Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man) directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Palme d'Or - Short Film Chienne d'Histoire (Barking Island) directed by Serge Avédikian
Jury Prize - Short Film Micky Bader (Bathing Micky) directed by Frida Kempff
Other hopefuls had included Mike Leigh's Another Year, and Sergei Loznitsa's You My Joy from Russia. Also in the running was the controversial film Outlaw by Rachid Bouchareb, whose 'Days of Glory' was nominated for an Oscar in 2006. While that earlier film took the side of North Africans who fought for France in World War Two - and caused the French government to make long overdue payments to their families - the new film presented an uncompromising crtiticism of the French during Algeria's struggle for independence. It was the subject of noisy demonstrations in Cannes just two days before the end of the festival.
'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' was screened only on the penultimate day of the festival, and was chosen as the winner of the prestigious prize by a jury under chairman Tim Burton.
Cannes through the years
Originally intended to put a stop to fascist interference in the Venice Festival, the first Cannes festival was ironically delayed by the start of the Second World War. By the time it finally got going in 1946, it was joined by Berlin, Edinburgh, Karlovy Vary and Moscow; but Cannes, with its combination of Mediterranean chic and a superb position on the Mediterranean coast, had less work to do to convince us that here, at last, was the European Hollywood. And Cannes has never looked back. It's a show that offers all the glamour of the Oscars, but which frequently rewards films driven more by artistic than populist fever.
To give an idea of this, you only have to look at the laureates of recent years. Ken Loach's The WInd that Shakes the Barley, which took the Palme d'Or in 2006 was a moving portrait of the earliest days of Irish Republicanism; Elephant, Gus van Sant's take on the Columbine High School massacre, and, last year's The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke's haunting and beautiful memoir-noir of pre-First World War Germany,
But perhaps the most well-known film to have achieved this greatest of accolades in the last ten years is Roman Polanski's The Pianist, his movie about the survival against the odds of one man during the Warsaw Uprising.