The Jury of the 68th Festival de Cannes, presided by Joel and Ethan Coen, has revealed the names of the 2015 prize-winners during the Awards Ceremony.
After paying tribute to Jean Zay, a resistance hero and founder of the Festival, Lambert Wilson welcomed the prize-givers and winners onto the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière, to the sound of music playing. The Belgian actress, Cécile de France, had the honour of awarding the Palme d’or to the best of the 19 films in Competition.
The director and French artist, Agnès Varda, received an honorary Palme d’or for her collected works from Jane Birkin.
The closing film La Glace et le Ciel (Ice and the Sky) by Luc Jacquet was screened at the end of the Ceremony.
Un Certain Regard 2015 presented in competition 19 films hailing from 21 different countries. Four of the works were first films. The Opening film was An by Naomi Kawase.
Under the presidency of Isabella Rossellini (filmmaker – United States, Italy), the Jury was comprised of Haifaa al-Mansour (director – Saudi Arabia), Panos H. Koutras (director – Greece), Nadine Labaki (director, actress – Lebanon) and Tahar Rahim (actor – France).
President-Isabella Rossellini had this to say; “We, the jury, would like to thank the Festival de Cannes for inviting us to be part of the Jury for Un Certain Regard.
The experience of watching nineteen films from twenty-one countries was memorable. It was like taking a flight over our Planet and its inhabitants… Any anthropologist would be envious of us.
We would like in particular to thank Thierry Frémaux and his team for their incredible kindness. I cannot refrain from expressing also my personal gratitude to the Festival for having chosen my mother Ingrid Bergman for the poster of the 68th edition of this festival.
Mamma seems to hovered over all of us, filmmakers and film lovers, as a guardian angel..”
Below are the winners of the 68th Cannes Un Certain Regard Awards…
The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Abderrahmane Sissako and including Cécile de France, Joana Hadjithomas, Daniel Olbrychski and Rebecca Zlotowski, has awarded the 2015 Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films.
The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 18 student films, chosen out of 1 593 entries coming from 381 film schools around the world.
First Prize: SHARE directed by Pippa Bianco AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, USA
The holocaust has been told in many ways by many film makers across the globe but the central theme and conversation have always remained the same; a grave crime was committed against humanity.
It’s the aftermath of the gravest crime against humanity that ‘Amnesia’ explores; perching the conscience of those who were utterly disgusted by the Hitler led crimes against the Jews and felt being a German or staying in Germany after the war was no different that being a Nazi against those who felt that, despite it all, Germany must move forward and stayed to rebuild Germany.
Directed by Barbet Schroeder, ‘Amnesia’ is set in Ibiza, just after the fall of the Berlin wall—where an ageing German- Martha (played by Marthe Keller) who moved out of Germany and had since not spoken the language met a young new neighbour-Jo (played by Max Riemelt).
Though a German too, Jo for sometime had no idea his new island friend-Martha, could speak or understand Deutsche, let alone be a German even when it was so obvious to the viewers. Jo and Martha spent a lot of time together, fishing, cooking and making music—as Jo was a young DJ who had mainly moved to the island to tap into the great night life of the popular holiday destination.
Even with the obvious hovering romance, Barbet Schroeder played it safe with Jo and Martha—and decided to focus the attention of the audience on the film’s central theme without diluting it with a romance which wouldn’t last.
Jo had learnt about the war in school back in Germany and his conversation with Martha on this subject was difficult—as Martha and Jo could not agree on what those who lived after the war should have done to register their disgust for what happened.
Amnesia-Jo and Martha
For Martha, it was deeply shameful and she could not even stay in Germany and had not stepped a foot there since she moved out right after the war. And for Jo, Martha’s action may work for her own conscience but in a wider perspective, it does not really make any impact, apart from just holding onto what Germany left behind.
Pete Docter brought back another great animation to the 68th Cannes Film Festival and before the big screen inside the Grand Theatre Lumiere threw out Pixar’s logo last night—fans outside the theatre kept screaming while Pete Docter pulled funny faces on the red carpet.
In 2009, Pete Docter’s animation-UP opened the Cannes Film Festival despite concerns from many film critics and enthusiasts that it could be a disaster to open the prestigious film festival with an animation. It was certainly a worthy risk as the film received rave reviews and literally got people crying…
For this year, Pete Doctor’s ‘Inside Out’ does not only give more hope to the world of animation films with another great reception at the Cannes, it has actually become the festival’s most talk about movie over night—and the presentation of what goes on ‘inside’ alongside the ‘outside’ of a young girl could not have been brilliantly done beyond what was achieved.
Director- Pete Docter starts ‘Inside Out’ with the birth of a baby girl-Riley but the deeper meaning is; that scene was the beginning of consciousness which sets forth the journey of how this baby was going to develop the needed human personalities.
Before baby Riley could give out her first smile to the outside world, Pete Docter took us ‘Inside’ where a yellow sprite called Joy (voiced by Amy Poehler) popped out, and pressed a single button on a polished stand. With the button pressed, Riley giggled and her eyes opened—to the full excitement of her parents who held her in their hands.
Now that Riley has arrived, the story begun to develop with viewers being constantly shuffled from the ‘Outside’ where Riley, her parents and every other person lived—to the ‘Inside’ where the headquarters of the various emotions that determined Riley’s behaviour ‘Outside’ was stationed.
For the 10th time as a L’Oreal Paris ambassador, Eva Longoria returned to the Cannes Film Festival—and both on and off the red carpet, she got people talking about her fab appearances.
At last night’s red carpet premiere of Todd Hayne’s new film-Carol, Eva Longoria took over the carpet with her midnight blue Atelier Versace gown, looking totally stunning.
After the fab red carpet appearance, Eva Longoria headed out to party and off the carpet too, she stole the show with her white dress which showed her curves and toned body.
Nanni Moretti, a veteran at the Cannes Film Festival is back this year with what fits the description of a semi-autobiographical drama-Mia Madre (My Mother) —a movie which does not only throw light on the last stages of losing an aged mother to death but challenges the working lifestyle of most people which leads them to miss some of the most important things and truths of their lives.
‘Mia Madre’ is the third collaboration of the Italian film-maker with actress Margherita Buy, who plays his alter ego, a director dealing with an ailing aged mother, child-mother relationship and boyfriend crisis during a movie shoot.
It’s brilliant how Nanni Moretti is able to touch the serious subject of a dying mother in a film which somewhat is perfectly laced with laughter, caused by Barry Huggins (John Turturro) who stands tall as an actor in the movie being shot by Margherita.
‘Mia Madre’ starts with actress Margherita, a director on set shooting a scene of angry protesters demonstrating against a factory lay off. It doesn’t get easy on Margherita’s set when she brings in Barry Huggins who plays an entrepreneur who has taken over the factory in crisis.
On set, Barry Huggins struggled with his lines, a situation first thought to be a challenge due to the film being shot in a different language but later in the movie, it turns out that Barry indeed had a deeper problem with remembering his lines though he has managed this well to be successful in his career.
Yesterday, Michelle Rodriguez attended the red carpet premiere of “Mad Max: Fury Road” and she looked flawless even though she the actress gambled on a more provocative look.
Actress Fan Bingbing also posed on the red carpet premiere of “Mad Max: Fury Road” but her spring incarnate look didn’t cut well for many of the critics—with some saying, that was not for the Cannes.
Emma Stone made a bold appearance this evening for the premier of ‘Irrational Man’ alongside film’s director Woody Allen and her co-star Parker Posey.
Founder/CEO of Ghana Movie Awards-Fred Nuamah has also returned to the 68th Cannes Film Festival—and he rocked tuxedo and dark shades for the opening night…
Considering the tough and well built Cannes security guards who torment those even with accreditation by constantly searching them, this man must have big balls to break the one rule that the organizers of the film festival put in place this year in front of all the security guards—No SELFIES on the red carpet. An … Read more
Actress-Emma Stone made her first Cannes appearance at the Irrational Man’s photocall this afternoon (May 15)—and she was looking FAB. The photo call which took place ahead of tonight’s red carpet premiere of her new Woody Allen film “Irrational Man” brought the actress to us in her best, wearing a gorgeous Oscar de la Renta … Read more
Film-maker, Grímur Hakonarson who is a graduate of Prague Film School and a 2005 Cannes’ Cinéfondation competitor returned stronger to this year’s Cannes Film Festival with a second feature film-Hrútar (Rams).
Considering the film’s pull factor, the brilliantly executed central theme of reviving brotherly love and the production quality, it surely is a low shot for Grímur Hakonarson to throw his second feature into the ‘Un Certain Regard’ but then with great movies like Naomi Kawase’s An playing along, it fits the crop of great films which were selected this year.
Hrútar (Rams) is set in a remote region of Iceland with two brothers who have not spoken to each other for forty years setting off against each when they were compelled by authorities to slaughter ‘all’ their Rams, the love of their lives.
The livestock farmers had no idea of how they were going to go through the coming winter without their Rams, that is how much these animals meant to them. Despite the request to have all their animals slaughtered in response to an incurable animal disease, one of the brothers’ (Gummi) attempt to cheat the system brought the two brothers together as they later united to battle the bad weather and the system to save the few remaining rams.
Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase and Kyara Uchida in An
Japanese film-maker, Naomi Kawase has returned to the Cannes Film Festival for the 7th time with another awe-inspiring and soul touching movie-An.
The movie which opened the ‘Un Certain Regard’ sidebar is a perfect selection—as it clearly showcases the competing Japanese film industry and succeeds in challenging societal stereotype while giving viewers another opportunity to ask the question; what’s my purpose?.
‘An’ revolves around an old woman- Tokue (Kiki Kirin) in her mid 70s whose life dream of wanting to work in a dorayaki (little pancakes filled with an) shop seemed as though it has gone with the wind considering her age. Sentaro (Nagase Masatoshi) operated a dorayaki shop and after attempts by Tokue to get Sentaro to hire her as that part time worker he was looking for, she managed to change his mind when he tasted her delicious homemade an.
Even though the tasteful homemade an by Tokue was enough to get her hired by Sentaro, her dedication, energy and connection with Sentaro as well as her own cooking were the ingredients that placed her in the heart of her boss. But there was a bigger problem—that which the booming business could not even stand…
Naomi Kawase’s An at Cannes Film Festival
No matter how delicious those dorayaki tasted, the hovering stereotype was enough to get people throwing out and soon, Toku, the biggest asset and business changing part time worker became a liability.
A few hours ago, Oscar-award winning actress-Lupita Nyong’o took centre stage on the red carpet at the opening ceremony of the 68th Cannes Film Festival—rocking a dramatic jade Gucci chiffon plisse gown with a cape detail.
The actress,32, joined other celebrities on the red carpet at the La Tete Haute premiere, a new movie about a young delinquent as he comes of age, which stars Catherine Deneuve.
Lupita worn up her hair and secured in place with a couple of diamond encrusted alice bands.
The ’12 Years A Slave’ star had a great 2014 and as such, it was not surprising she stole the attention at the opening—and her gown also pulled all the lens to her corner.
The Opening Ceremony of the 68th Festival de Cannes took place at the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman is the Poster woman of the 68th Cannes Film Festival
The 68th Cannes Film Festival started today-May 14, 2015—and courtesy of our proud sponsors, GhanaCelebrities.Com is once again accredited to cover the prestigious and the biggest film festival in the world.
We landed at Nice airport today around 10:00am and by the time we picked our rented car, picked our press accreditation—it was almost 14:00—at the time, the Jury’s Press Conference was taking place inside the main festival buiding.
We managed to grab some shots of the jury members including French director and actress-Sophie Marceau as they made way into the conference room despite the press chaos. The only black person on the jury this year is composer, singer-songwriter, Rokia Traoré from Mali.
For this year, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, directors, screenwriters and producers are the two Presidents of the Jury. They are joined by seven key figures in world cinema from Canada, Spain, the United States, France, Mali, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
