CANNES — Hosted by “Call My Agent” star Camille Cottin, the awards show for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival competition is underway. Presenters started making political statements right away, as short film jury president and Belgian actor Lubna Azabal called for the release of all hostages in Gaza.
Jury president Greta Gerwig presided over a majority-female jury comprised of Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, Turkish actor-screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, American actor Lily Gladstone, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lebanese actor-director Nadine Labaki and French stars Eva Green and Omar Sy.
Cottin playfully interrupted actor Laurent Lafitte’s presentation of the first award to ask whether his speech had been written by ChatGPT. Playing off that joke, the best screenplay prize went to French director Coralie Fargeat for her “bold, beautifully bonkers” cosmetic-surgery horror show “The Substance,” which stars a still-stunning Demi Moore as a has-been Hollywood beauty and Margaret Qualley as the younger, more perfect doppelganger with whom she agrees to split her time.
The jury broadened the usual best actress category to celebrate what Lily Gladstone called “the harmony of sisterhood” in “Emilia Pérez.” Directed by former Palme d’Or winner Jacques Audiard (“Dheepan”), the Mexico-set musical — about a cartel boss who disappears in order to reemerge as a woman — stars Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and trans star Karla Sofía Gascón.
Best actor honors went to Jesse Plemons, who plays three roles — a submissive businessman, a grieving police officer and a bisexual cult member — in “Kinds of Kindness,” a surrealist satire from “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos.
The jury created a special prize — greeted with an enthusiastic standing ovation — for Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, who attended the Cannes Film Festival at great personal risk, fleeing an eight-year prison sentence for making political drama “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” The three-hour film examines the country’s recent Women, Life, Freedom movement through a middle-class family whose two daughters question their father’s role in the regime.
The Camera d’Or prize for best first feature went to Halfdan Ullman Tondel’s “Armand,” while a (non-standard) special mention went to Directors’ Fortnight selection “Mongrel,” co-directed by Chiang Wei Liang and You Qiao Yin.
The full list of prizes announced thus far:
COMPETITION
Palme d’Or: TBA
Grand Prix: TBA
Director: TBA
Actor: Jesse Plemons, “Kinds of Kindness.”
Best Actresses: “Emilia Pérez”
Jury Prize: TBA
Special Prize (Prix Spécial): Mohammad Rasoulof, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Screenplay: Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”
OTHER PRIZES
Camera d’Or: “Armand,” Halfdan Ullman Tondel
Camera d’Or Special Mention: “Mongrel,” Chiang Wei Liang, You Qiao Yin
Short Film Palme d’Or: “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent,” Nebojša Slijepčević
Short Film Special Mention: “Bad for a Moment,” Daniel Soares
Golden Eye Documentary Prize: “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found” and “The Brink of Dreams”
Queer Palm: “Three Kilometers to the End of the World”
Palme Dog: Kodi, “Palm Dog”
FIPRESCI Award (Competition): “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
FIPRESCI Award (Un Certain Regard): “The Story of Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine
FIPRESCI Award (Parallel Sections): “Desert of Namibia,” Yoko Yamanaka
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Un Certain Regard Award: “Black Dog,” Guan Hu
Jury Prize: “The Story of Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine
Best Director Prize: (ex aequo) “The Damned,” Roberto Minervini; “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” Rungano Nyoni
Performance Awards: “The Shameless,” Anasuya Sengupta; “The Story of Souleymane,” Abou Sangare
Youth Prize: “Holy Cow! (Vingt Dieux),” Louise Courvoisier
Special Mention: “Norah,” Tawfik Alzaidi
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Europa Cinemas Label: “The Other Way Around,” Jonás Trueba
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “This Life of Mine,” Sophie Fillières
Audience Choice Award: “Universal Language,” Matthew Rankin
CRITICS’ WEEK
Grand Prize: “Simon of the Mountain,” Federico Luis
French Touch Prize: “Blue Sun Palace,” Constance Tsang
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: Jour2Fête, “Julie Keeps Quiet”
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Ricardo Teodoro, “Baby”
Leitz Cine Discovery Prize (short film): “Guil Sela,” Montsouris Park
Source Agencies
