Find out who wins what at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival
One of cinema’s most anticipated awards, the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, featured some memorable moments.
Shock-fest “Titanium” won the first Palme d’Or award in Cannes on Saturday, revealed early at the closing ceremony in an embarrassing error by jury chairman Spike Lee.
French director Julie Ducournau is just the second woman to win the film award, one of the craziest, sexiest and most violent films to ever screen at the Cannes film festival. It tells the story of a young woman who has sex with cars, kills without caring, and pretends to be a boy while pregnant with a vintage Cadillac.
Lee, the first black man to lead the jury, read the winner at the very beginning of the awards section, rather than presenting the night’s top prize for best actor. After an awkward hiatus and regrouping, the Best Actor award went to American actor Caleb Landry Jones for his chilling performance in “Nitram” on Australia’s worst mass shoot in 1996.
Making a film about the Port Arthur massacre, in which 35 people died, drew heavy criticism against director Justin Kurzel in Australia. But the critics were won over at the Cannes premiere, with Variety calling it a “devastating study on the atrocity” which shows “a discreet respect for the dignity of the victims”.
It was also a huge night for the hitherto unknown Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, who was propelled to stardom by her role in “The World’s Worst Person”. Her role as a young woman in her twenties in search of her identity and freaking out through relationships caused a stir and caught the 33-year-old completely off guard.
“Nobody saw me in anything,” she told AFP after the premiere. “The other day I woke up and threw up. And today I woke up and cried.
Jury Prize
The ceremony then moved awkwardly to the third jury prize, shared by “Ahed’s Knee” by Israeli Nadav Lapid and “Memoria” by former Thai Palme winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
The race had been wide open this year, with critics pointing to many possible successors to “Parasite,” the South Korean hit that won the last Palme in 2019 before making history by triumphing at the Oscars. Last year’s festival was canceled due to the pandemic.
“I promised the jurors that I will not be a dictator, that I will be a Democrat… but only up to a certain point! Lee told reporters at the start of the festival, as they began to think about the 24 films in competition. “If the jury is four to four, it’s me who decides,” he said.
Jury members have watched a lot of sex this year, from lesbian nuns in Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” to a pornstar returning to a small town in Texas in “Red Rocket,” which received well-received reviews.
Sputum tests
There were doubts at the start of the festival over the logistics of Covid, with some festival-goers disgusted by the sputum tests required every 48 hours, and criticism on social media of unmasked attendees in theaters during premieres.
The restrictions were tightened, the party reduced, and while the stars couldn’t quite help but hug and kiss each other on the red carpet, the festival appeared to be going without a major outbreak. But there was still a lot of star power.
Tilda Swinton was ubiquitous on the red carpet this year, appearing in five official selection films. She was clear, however, that her proudest moment was receiving the Palm Dog Award on behalf of her three spaniels, who appeared with her in “The Souvenir Part 2”.
“Honestly, that’s the prize to get,” she said at the dog show on Friday, as she tied the prize for the red collar around her neck.
The Cannes festival ended on Saturday in the south of France with the presentation of its first prize, the Palme d’Or.
Main winners of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival
Palme d’Or: Julia Ducournau for “Titane” (France)
Grand Prize: Shared by Ashgar Farhadi for “A Hero” (Iran) and Juho Kuosmanen for “Compartment No.6” (Finland)
Best Director: Leos Carax “Annette” (France)
Best Actress: Renate Reinsve for “The Worst Person in the World” (Norway)
Best Actor: Caleb Landry Jones for “Nitram” (United States)
Best Screenplay: Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Takamasa Oe for “Drive My Car” (Japan)
Jury Prize: Shared by Nadav Lapid for “Ahed’s Knee” (Israel) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul for “Memoria” (Thailand)
Best first film: Antoneta Kusijanovic for “Murina” (Croatia)
Best Short Film: “All the Ravens in the World” by Hong Kong Tang Yi
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The story is published via AFP Relaxnews