It was a matter of whether it would be ‘Shoplifters’ or ‘Blackkklansman’ to win the Palme d’Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.
In the end, it turned out to be Japanese Director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Manlike Kazoku’ – ‘Shoplifters.’
It’s a beautifully told story of a Japanese family that is not your conventional family. The youngest daughter was not born in the family, instead, she was taken – shoplifted – as she was homeless. And the youngest son is prone to take things from stores without paying, while the parents mainly live off the grandmother’s pension, and when she dies they never report her death to the authorities as they desperately need her pension money. But their ideal life is soon to be uncovered which may or may not tear the family apart.
Spike Lee, director of ‘Blackkklansman,’ didn’t go away empty-handed. His film, a blaxploitation-style anti-racism satire, won the Grand Prix award. It was one of 21 films that were up for the prize in the festival’s most prestigious category.
Here is a list of the full prize winners at this year’s Cannes Film Festival:
COMPETITION
Palme d’Or: “Shoplifters,” –eda
Grand Prix: “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Actor: Marcello Fonte, ”Dogman”
Actress: Samal Yeslyamova, “Ayka”
Jury Prize: Nadine Labaki, “Capernaum”
Screenplay — TIE: Alice Rohrwacher, “Happy as Lazzaro” AND Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar, “3 Faces”
Special Palme d’Or: Jean-Luc Godard
Camera d’Or: “Girl,” Lukas Dhont
Short Films Palme d’Or: “All These Creatures,” Charles Williams
Short Films Special Mention: “On the Border,” Shujun Wei
Golden Eye Documentary Prize: TBA
Ecumenical Jury Prize: “Capernaum,” Nadine Labaki
Ecumenical Jury Special Mention: “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee
Queer Palm: “Girl,” Lukas Dhont
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Un Certain Regard Award: Ali Abbasi, “Border”
Best Director: Sergei Loznitsa, “Donbass”
Best Performance: Victor Polster, “Girl”
Best Screenplay: Meryem Benm’Barek, “Sofia”
Special Jury Prize: João Salaviza & Renée Nader Messora, “The Dead and the Others”
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Art Cinema Award: “Climax” (Gaspar Noé)
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “The Trouble With You” (Pierre Salvadori)
Europa Cinemas Label: “Lucia’s Grace (Gianni Zanasi)
Illy Short Film Award: “Skip Day” (Patrick Bresnan, Ivete Lucas)
CRITICS’ WEEK
Grand Prize: “Diamantino” (Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt)
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “Woman at War” (Benedikt Erlingsson)
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: “Sir”
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Felix Maritaud, “Sauvage.”
Short Film: “Hector Malot – The Last Day Of The Year” (Jacqueline Lentzou)
FIPRESCI
Competition: “Burning,” (Lee Chang-dong)
Un Certain Regard: “Girl,” (Lukas Dhont)
Directors’ Fortnight/Critics’ Week: “One Day” (Zsófa Szilagyi)
CINÉFONDATION
First Prize: “The Summer of the Electric Lion,” Diego Céspedes
Second Prize — TIE: “Calendar,” Igor Poplauhin AND “The Storms in Our Blood,” Shen Di
Third Prize: “Inanimate,” Lucia Bulgheroni
by Tim Baros