24 May 2009

Cannes 2009: Haneke, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Andrea Arnold, Jacques Audiard Among the Winners

The jury, headed by Isabelle Huppert, handed out their awards this afternoon, with a few surprises, both good and bad. Jane Campion's Bright Star and Marco Bellocchio's Vincere went home empty-handed despite mostly universal acclaim from the reviews I read. The awards are as follows.

Palme d'Or: Das weiße Band [The White Ribbon] - d. Michael Haneke - Austria/Germany/France
Grand prix: Un prophète [A Prophet] - d. Jacques Audiard
Prix exceptionnel du Festival de Cannes: Alain Resnais - Les herbes folles [Wild Grass]
Prix du jury: (tie) Fish Tank - d. Andrea Arnold; Thirst - d. Park Chan-wook
Prix de la mise en scène [Best Director]: Brillante Mendoza - Kinatay
Prix d'interprétation féminine [Best Actress]: Charlotte Gainsbourg - Antichrist
Prix d'interprétation masculine [Best Actor]: Christophe Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Prix du scénario [Best Screenplay]: Ye Lou - Spring Fever
Caméra d'Or: Samson and Delilah - d. Warwick Thornton - Australia
Caméra d'Or Mention Spéciale: Ajami - d. Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani - Israel/Germany

As for the acquisitions, only a few have been snatched up so far. Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock and Park Chan-wook's Thirst were produced by The Weinstein Company and Focus Features, respectively. IFC Films took three films so far: Lars von Trier's Antichrist, Ken Loach's Looking for Eric and Tales from the Golden Age, from Romania. Sony Pictures Classics has the Palme d'Or and the Grand prix winners, as well as the fest's out-of-competition closer Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky and Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos], which they bought a few months back. It's rumored that Bright Star will be the first release for a new company from Picturehouse's former head. I'll be posting more acquisitions in the coming weeks as they're announced.

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