The 68th Cannes Film Festival rolled to a close tonight, with the presentation of the coveted Palme D’Or for best film at the festival before a screening of ICE AND THE SKY. Movies.ie were on site (but in the press room, not the famed Grand Theatre Lumiére) and are delighted to bring you all the winners at the prestigious festival.
The Jury – led by Joel and Ethan Coen – walked a short walk along the Croisette, emerging from the Palais just below the press balcony where we were catching some sun and a coffee before heading to the press room for the awards. The rest of the jury is made up of Rossy de Palma, Sophie Marceau, Sienna Miller, Rokia Traoré, Guillermo del Toro, Xavier Dolan and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Agnès Varda was awarded an honorary Palme D’Or for her career, which has spanned over 60 years. Varda is the first woman to receive the award, which is awarded to renowned directors who have never won the Palme D’Or. Previous honourees are Woody Allen, in 2002, Clint Eastwood, in 2009, and Bernardo Bertolucci, in 2011.
John C. Reilly unexpectedly sang ‘Just a Gigolo’ during the ceremony, accompanied by the Fly Boys, before the audience assembled in the Grand Theatre Lumiére sang him Happy Birthday in typical slightly irreverent and fun Cannes style. Aww. The big shock on the night was that Rooney Mara shared the award for Best Actress, but not with Cate Blanchett as we predicted, but with Emmanuelle Bercot for her performance in MON ROI.
Elsewhere, Irish film got a look in with THE LOBSTER by Yorgos Lanthimos winning the Jury Prize. Filmed in Ireland and starring our own Colin Farrell, THE LOBSTER is a tale of love, forbidden desire and the fear of being turned into an animal if you stay single. The film was co-produced by our own Element Pictures, and is released in Ireland later this year.
Cecile De France presented the top prize of the night – The Palme D’Or – to Jacques Audiard for his family war drama DHEEPAN. You can read our full review of the film here.
The rest of the awards are as follows…
Grand Prize of the Festival – SON OF SAUL by Laszlo Nemes
Jury Prize – THE LOBSTER by Yorgos Lanthimos
Best Actress – Shared between Emmanuelle Bercot for her role in MON ROI, and Rooney Mara for CAROL
Best Actor – Vincent Lindon for THE MEASURE OF A MAN
Best Director – Hou Hsiao Hsien for THE ASSASSIN
Best Screenplay – CHRONIC by Michel Franco
Best Short Film – WAVE 98 by Ely Dagher
Camera D’Or – LAND AND SHADE by Cesar Augusto Acevedo
That’s it for Cannes 2015; we’re heading for a glass of wine. Don’t forget you can read all our reviews from Cannes on the site, and we have plenty of exciting interviews from the Festival to come.
See you in 2016, Cannes! Thanks for a great year!
Words: Brogen Hayes