THE MAIN COMPETITION
The central jury decides the winners in the Main Competition.
The Palm d’Or (First Prize) went to Justine Triet for the French courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall”. Triet is only the third woman to win the Palme d’Or, after Jane Campion for “The Piano” and “Titane” director Julia Ducournau.
The Grand Prix (Second Prize) went to “The Zone of Interest” directed by Jonathan Glazer. An adaptation of the World War II novel by Martin Amis (who passed away during the festival) the film depicts the private life of a German commandant (Christian Friedel) responsible for executing countless Jews at Auschwitz.
The best actor award went to Kōji Yakusho, who plays a working-class Tokyo man in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days.”
The best actress prize went to Turkish actor Merve Dizdar for her role as a rural school teacher who challenges the self-centered male protagonist in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses”.
Sakamoto Yûji won the screenplay prize for Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Monster,” which also received the Queer Palm.
Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki took the Jury Prize (Third Prize) for “Fallen Leaves,” a Helsinki-based tragicomedy romance.
Directing honors went to Tran Anh Hung for “The Pot au Feu” (a last-minute name- change from the more mellifluous “The Passion of Dodin Bouffant”). Set in 19th-century France, the film focuses on une passion commune pour la nourriture between a celebrated gourmet (Benoît Magimel) and his cook of nearly 20 years played by Juliette Binoche.
The Camera d’Or for the Best First Film went to “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,”, a spiritual wander through rural Vietnam, by Thien An Pham.
List of Competition Winners
Palme d’Or: “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet
Grand Prix: “The Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer
Director: Tran Anh Hung, “The Pot au Feu”
Actor: Kōji Yakusho, “Perfect Days”
Actress: Merve Dizdar, “About Dry Grasses”
Jury Prize: “Fallen Leaves,” Aki Kaurismaki
Screenplay: Sakamoto Yûji, “Monster”
Camera d’Or: “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” Thien An Pham
Queer Palm: “Monster”
UN CERTAIN REGARD
A separate Un Certain Regard jury decides the winners in this slightly more left-of-center category.
The winner of the Un Certain Regard Award was British director/cinematographer Molly Manning Walker for her debut Feature “How to Have Sex” which follows three British teenage girls on a debauched vacation to Crete.
Another debut, Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s kidnapping gone wrong thriller, “Hounds”, won the runner-up jury prize.
Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” won the Freedom Award.
Belgian-Congolese rapper-filmmaker Baloji’s “Omen” won the New Voice Award.
The Best Director award went to Moroccan journalist-turned-filmmaker Asmae El Moudir for her documentary “The Mother of All Lies” which examines the forces behind the country’s 1981 Bread Riots.
The Ensemble Prize went to João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora‘s Brazilian-Portuguese docu-drama “The Buriti Flower,” a portrait of the country’s endangered indigenous Krahô tribe. The award was given to the cast, the directors, and the entire crew who worked on the film.
List of Un Certain Regard Winners
Un Certain Regard Award: “How to Have Sex,” Molly Manning Walker
Jury Prize: “Hounds,” Kamal Lazraq
Best Director Prize: “The Mother of All Lies,” Asmae El Moudir
Freedom Prize: “Goodbye Julia,” Mohamed Kordofani
Ensemble Prize: “The Buriti Flower,” João Salaviza, Renée Nader Messora, cast and crew.
New Voice Prize: “Omen,” Baloji
DIRECTOR’S FORTNIGHT
The Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des cinéastes, formerly Quinzaine des réalisateurs) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in the cancellation of the Cannes Festival as an act of solidarity with striking workers.
The Directors’ Fortnight showcases a program of worldwide feature films, documentaries, and shorts.
List of the Director’s Fortnight Winners
Europa Cinemas Label: “Creatura,” Elena Martín Gineno
SACD Prize: “A Prince” Pierre Creton
“Creatura,” the second feature by Elena Martín Gimeno, won the Europa Cinemas Cannes Label for best European Film at the 2023 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. Martín Gimeno also stars in the Spanish drama as a woman who goes on a journey of self-exploration to unravel her loss of desire for her partner. The Europa Cinemas network will now promote and distribute the film.
Taking the SACD prize, “A Prince,” is the fifth feature from French auteur Pierre Creton. Awarded by France’s Writers’ Guild for the best French-language movie in this section, the film was inspired by Creton’s own period as a horticultural student when he was just beginning to explore his queer identity. Creton himself features in the cast with actor Matthew Amalric providing the inner voice of one of the characters.
CRITIC’S WEEK
Cannes’ Critics’ Week or La Semaine de la Critique, is a parallel sidebar event to the main film festival that showcases the first or second feature films by new directors.
List of Critic’s Week Winners
Grand Prize: “Tiger Stripes,” Amanda Nell Eu
French Touch Prize: “It’s raining in the house,” Paloma Sermon-Daï
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: “Inshallah a boy”, Amjad Al Rasheed
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Jovan Ginić, “Lost Country”
The horror film Tiger Stripes became the first Malaysian film to win the Grand Prize in the La Semaine de la Critique sidebar. The debut film of director Amanda Nell Eu introduces us to 12-year-old Zaffan who becomes the first amongst her friends to hit puberty, only to discover a horrifying secret about her body.
The central performances of real-life siblings Purdey and Makenzy Lombet anchor “It’s raining in the house” (“Il pleut dans la maison“) the fiction feature debut of Belgian documentary filmmaker Paloma Sermon-Dai. Set in Belgium’s Wallonia (French-speaking) province during a long hot summer, the pair gradually realize that their alcoholic and frequently absent mother may no longer be able to take care of them. It won Sermon-Dai the French Touch Prize.
This award aims to shine a light on an act of cinema that features creativity and boldness.
Festival de Cannes
Jordan, today. After the sudden death of her husband, Nawal, a thirty-year-old woman (played by Mouna Hawa) has to fight for her part of the inheritance in order to save her daughter and home in a society where having a son would be a game-changer. The first Jordanian movie ever to premiere at Cannes, “Inshallah a boy” was directed and co-written by Amjad Al Rasheed. It won the GAN Foundation Award which will help finance the film’s distribution in Europe.
Actor Jovan Ginic won the Rising Star Award in director Vladimir Perisic’s “Lost Country”. Set in Serbia in 1996, we are introduced to fifteen-year-old Stefan (Ginic), who finds himself torn between his loyalty to his beloved mother, Marklena (Jasna Duricic), and his friendships with politically-engaged fellow students. Unfortunately, his mother is a high-level politician in the new corrupt government and his life becomes more and more treacherous as he tries to defend her.
