CANNES, France—Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or top prize for the second time on Saturday with his Norwegian-set drama that explores clashing cultures, “Fjord.”
This year’s jury president, South Korean director Park Chan-wook, praised the film for helping shed light on understanding different views “in an artistically magnificent manner.”
Shared Prizes
The female leads of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s touching elder-care drama “All of a Sudden,” France’s Virginie Efira and Japan’s Tao Okamoto, wiped away tears as they took to the stage to share the best actress award.Valentin Campagne and newcomer Emmanuel Macchia also jointly received the best actor prize for their roles as World War One soldiers who fall in love in Belgian entry “Coward.”
“I truly hope that this film will enable young people to be able to learn to love themselves,” said Macchia, who was scouted by director Lukas Dhont at a Belgian agricultural school.
The best director prize was shared between Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski for his Thomas Mann drama “Fatherland” and the Spanish duo known as “Los Javis,” Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, for the Spanish Civil War epic “The Black Ball.”
Honorary Award for Barbra Streisand
Famed U.S. singer and actor Barbra Streisand was given an honorary Palme d’Or in absentia, after she could not attend the ceremony due to a knee injury, with French screen icon Isabelle Huppert accepting the award on Streisand’s behalf.Streisand, the 84-year-old star of movies including “Yentl” and “Funny Girl,” praised cinema’s ability to unite people, in a video message accepting the award.
The 79th iteration of the festival officially kicked off on May 12 with the French romantic comedy “The Electric Kiss.”