Great Movies
Chaz Ebert reveals the winners of the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
The prizes for the 77th edition of the Cannes Festival have been awarded, and we have all the details for you. The theme of the evening was Star Wars, starting with an opening crawl as the ceremony began and featuring an honorary Palme d’Or presented to George Lucas. I was especially pleased to see the award presented by Francis Ford Coppola. The two have been friends since George was 19 years old.
The jury seemed to have a wonderful time during their two weeks presiding over the competition. They even joked around together around at their press conference by having their picture taken as they faced this year’s poster, just like the characters in the image.
At the closing ceremony, the first major award, Best Screenplay, went to Coralie Fargeat for her audacious and outrageous body horror film “The Substance”. The film starred Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley and dealt with themes of society considering women over the hill at age 50, and a mysterious substance that could keep them looking youthful. She is the second female filmmaker in recent years who has won an award for a film in the style of David Cronenberg. Julia DuCournau won the Palm D’Or in 2021 for her body horror film “Titane.”
This year, the Jury created a Special Award (the Prix Spécial) and it was presented to the Iranian film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” from director Mohammad Rasoulof. He had recently been sentenced to 8 years in prison for his filmmaking and just managed to escape Iran within the last few weeks. He received one of the warmest receptions from the crowd for his artistry and bravery.
The Best Actress award was presented in ensemble style, going to all four lead actresses of the film “Emilia Pérez.” The award went to Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and was accepted by the fourth honoree Karla Sofîa Gascón, a trans actress playing the part of the head of a drug cartel who has surgery to become a woman. At the jury press conference, jury president Greta Gerwig explained why they decided to give the award to all four actresses.
Emilia Pérez from director Jacques Audiard, also received the Jury Prize.
Best actor went to Jesse Plemons from “Kinds of Kindness” matching his wife Kirsten Dunst’s award for Melancholia in 2011. He was unable to attend the awards ceremony tonight, but at his earlier press conference for the film he described what it was like working within the unusual world of Yorgos Lanthimos.
The Best Director prize went to Portuguese director Miguel Gomes for his experimental travelogue, “Grand Tour”.
The Grand Prix award went to the Indian film “All We Imagine as Light” by director Payal Kapadia. This was the first Indian film in competition at Cannes in 30 years.
After receiving his honorary Palme, George Lucas remained on stage to present the top prize of the festival, the Palme d’Or. Taking home the Palme was Sean Baker for Anora, starring Mikey Madison in a breakout role. It was the first time the Palme had been won by an American director since 2011 when Terrence Malick won for the Tree of Life. During his acceptance speech, he advocated for keeping the cinema experience alive in theaters as opposed to streaming at home.
That’s it for Cannes 2024. It’s been a wonderful festival, and we can’t to join you here next year out on the Croisette and in the movie theaters. Until then. Au revoir!
Chaz is the CEO of several Ebert enterprises, including the President of The Ebert Company Ltd, and of Ebert Digital LLC, Publisher of RogerEbert.com, President of Ebert Productions and Chairman of the Board of The Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation, and Co-Founder and Producer of Ebertfest, the film festival now in its 24th year.
