rediff.com
News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

Rediff.com  » Movies » Winners at Cannes

Winners at Cannes

May 25, 2009 12:13 IST

Image: Austrian director Michael Haneke attends a photocall after receiving the Palme d'Or award for the film Das Weisse Band on Sunday.
Photographs: Vincent Kessler/Reuters PTI

Austrian director Michael Haneke's somber black-and-white drama The White Ribbon, a chilling account of a German village in the build-up to World War I walked away with the Palme d'Or for the Best Film at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Haneke beat off competition from French director Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, Jane Campion's period drama Bright Star, Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embraces and Quentin Tarantino's World War II film Inglorious Basterds to win the top prize on Sunday night in a gala award ceremony.

The Austrian helmer, who had won the best director prize at Cannes in 2005 for his French film Cache (Hidden), examines themes of communal guilt, distrust and punishment among residents of a small German village on the eve of First World War through his brilliantly crafted 20th century drama.

His previous credits include The Piano Teacher, Code Unknown and Hidden.

"Sometimes my wife asks me a very feminine question: 'Are you happy? That is very hard to answer. But today is a moment in my life where I can say I am very happy and I am thinking of you too," Haneke said while accepting the award.

The White Ribbon also won France's Education Ministry prize, which means that it would be recommended to teachers across the country as a study material.

Winners at Cannes

Image: French director Jacques Audiard attends a photocall after receiving his Grand Prix award
Photographs: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

French director Jacques Audiard, who was a favourite to win Palme d'Or, mananged to scoop runner-up Grand Prix award for his gripping prison story A Prophet.

Winners at Cannes

Image: Director Brillante Mendoza attends a photocall after receiving the Best Director award
Photographs: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

The Jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, including Indian actress Sharmila Tagore, Hollywood's Robin Wright Penn, Italy's Asia Argento and Taiwan's Shu Qi, handed out the Best Director trophy to Brillante Mendoza from the Philippines for Kinatay, a story based on kidnap, rape and murder incidents.

Winners at Cannes

Image: Directors Andrea Arnold (left) and Park Chan-wook poses after receiving the Jury Price Ex-Equo award for their films
Photographs: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

The Jury Prize was shared by Andrea Arnold's teen story of Fish Tank from Britain and Park Chan-wook's vampire tale of Thirst from South Korea.

Winners at Cannes

Image: Chinese director Lou Ye (centre) poses with cast members Zhuo Tan (right) and Wei Wu
Photographs: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

The enfant terrible of Chinese cinema, Lou Ye, won the Best Screenplay Award for his tale of marital discord and homosexual jealousy in Spring Fever.

Banned by Beijing from making movies for six years after his 2006 controversial Summer Palace, Lou made Spring Fever secretly in Nanjing and also got it selected for the Festival's top Competition slot.

Winners at Cannes

Image: Actor Christoph Waltz attends a photocall
Photographs: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

Austrian TV actor Christoph Waltz won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of the ruthless, sarcastic, comic Nazi colonel Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's World War II saga, Inglorious Basterds.

Critics widely agreed that the 52-year-old outshone a star cast that included Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger or rising Irish star Michael Fassbender.

Winners at Cannes

Image: Charlotte Gainsbourg attends a photocall
Photographs: Vincent Kessler/Reuters

British star Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her role as a grieving mother in Danish film-maker Lars von Trier controversial Gothic drama Antichrist.

The 37-year-old actress beat off competition from Penelope Cruz and Abbie Cornish. Gainsbourg received her award at the festival's Palme d'Or ceremony from Willem Dafoe, who plays her husband in Antichrist.

Directed by Danish film-maker Lars von Trier, the film explores a couple's emotional crisis after the death of their only child and how they enter a never-ending spiral of sexual and physical abuse.

Winners at Cannes

Image: irector Warwick Thornton reacts after receiving the Camera D'Or award
Photographs: Regis Duvignau/Reuters

The Camera d'Or for the Best Debut Feature went to Samson and Delilah by aboriginal director Warwick Thornton. The film revolves around the love story of a young couple in a troubled indigenous community.