Cannes: 'Uncle Boonmee' Wins Palme d’Or, Best Actress Binoche, Best Actor Bardem and Germano

Javier Bardem and Juliette Binoche with Best Actor and Best Actress Award
63rd Cannes Film Festival Closing Ceremony, May 23rd

Hache/Getty

Cannes Film Festival juries handed out their awards Sunday.

Thailand's 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' wins Palme d'Or

Competition jury president Tim Burton announced the winner of the Palme d’Or: the complex critics’ fave from Thailand, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.


The runner-up Grand Prix prize went to Of Gods and Men, (Deux Hommes et des Dieux) directed by Xavier Beauvois.

Best Actor Co-winner Javier Bardem in a scene from 'Biutiful'

Best Actor prize was shared by Javier Bardem for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Biutiful (comme tout le monde) and Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita.

Best Actor Co-winner Elio Germano in a scene from La Nostra Vita

Juliette Binoche, Best Actress Award for 'Copie Conforme'
Closing Ceremony, 63rd Cannes Film Festival
Juliette Binoche wore a Cartier platinum, diamond & onyx Panthere necklace
(Photo by Eric Ryan/Getty Images)

Best actress went to Juliette Binoche for Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy (Copie Conforme).

Tournée at Cannes

Photosource: Nicolas Genin

French actor-turned-director Mathieu Amalric won Best director prize for his colorful burlesque film, Tournée.


Best screenplay went to another well-reviewed film, Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry (Shi). “A profound story of an elderly woman in search of the fundamental poetry from her life. Aside from being sentenced with an Alzheimer’s disease, she faces another dilemma when her teen-aged grandson who is under her care is found to be one of the assaulters of a girl from his junior-high school who had committed suicide.” Check out the trailer after the jump.

As far as any Cannes awards impact on potential Oscar contenders, Bardem has a shot. Biutiful will get released in the States, as does Manville, who will be shepherded by Sony Pictures Classics. While there will be more acquisitions news to come, most of the films announced as winners will never reach U.S. theaters.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Palme d’Or
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Grand Prix (runner-up)
Des Hommes Et Des Dieux (Of God and Men), directed by Xavier Beauvois

Prix de la Mise en Scene (best director)
Mathieu Amalric for Tournée (On Tour)

Prix du Scenario (best screenplay)
Poetry by Lee Chang-dong

Camera d’Or (best first feature)
Año Bisiesto directed by Michael Rowe

Prix du Jury (jury prize)
A Screaming Man directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Prix d’interpretation feminine (best actress)
Juliette Binoche for Certified Copy (directed by Abbas Kiarostami)

Prix d’interpretation masculine (best actor - a Tie)
Javier Bardem for Biutiful (directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu)
&
Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita (directed by Daniele Luchetti)

Palme d’Or (short film)
Chienne d’Histoire directed by Serge Avedikian

Also winning awards at the Festival de Cannes:

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Prize of Un Certain Regard: Ha Ha Ha, directed by Hong Sangsoo
Jury Prize: Octubre, directed by Daniel Vega & Diego Vega
Special Prize: The three actresses—Adela Sanzhez, Eva Bianco, and Victoria Rapos—from Ivan Fund & Santiago Losa’s Los Labios (The Lips)

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Art Cinema Award: Pieds nus sur les limaces, directed by Fabienne Berthaud (France)
Prix SACD/SACD Prize: Illégal, directed Olivier Masset-Depasse (Belgium – Luxembourg – France).
Label Europa Cinemas: Le Quattro Volte, directed by Michelangelo Frammartino (Italy)
PRIX SFR: “Cautare,” directed Ionut Piturescu (Romania) and “Mary Last Seen,” directed by Sean Durkin (USA)
Palm Dog Award: Vuk, the goatherd’s dog in Le Quattro Volte, directed by by Michelangelo Frammartino

INTERNATIONAL CRITICS’ WEEK
Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique: Armadillo, directed by Janus Metz
SACD Prize: Bi, dung so! (Bi, Don’t Be Afraid!), directed by Phan Dang Di
ACID/CCAS Support: Bi, dung so!, directed by Phan Dang Di
OFAJ (Very) Young Critic Award: Sound of Noise, directed by Ola Simonsson & Johannes Stjaerne Nilsson
Canal+ Award for Best Short Film: “Berik,” directed by Daniel Joseph Borgman
Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film: “Deeper Than Yesterday,” directed by Ariel Kleiman

FIPRESCI CRITICS AWARDS
Cannes Competition: Tournée” (On Tour) directed by Mathieu Amalric
Un Certain Regard: Pal Adrienn, directed by Agnes Kocsis
Director’s Fortnight/Critics’ Week: Todos vos sodes capitans, directed by Olivier Laxe

QUEER PALM AWARD
Kaboom, directed by Gregg Araki

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Source: Indiewire.com

50 Stars Gather in Cannes for amfAR'S Cinema Against AIDS Gala 2010

Jennifer Lopez arrives for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit
63rd Cannes International Film Festival
Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Cap d'Antibes, May 20, 2010
(AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Mick Jagger, Marion Cotillard, Russell Crowe, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, Alain Delon, Patti Smith, Gerard Butler, Grace Jones and Kristin Scott-Thomas were among the illuminati attending Thursday May 20th amfAR's 17th Cinema Against AIDS banquet. The benefit held at a luxury hotel in the French Riviera town of Cap d'Antibes, raised $6.7 million (euro5.36 million) for AIDS research and boasts the festival's highest density of stars. At the first party in 1994, chairwoman Elizabeth Taylor presided, and Sharon Stone was the spirited auctioneer.

Sharon Stone usually emcees the annual event, but her shooting schedule prevented her from attending this year's gala, so other celebrities took turns revving up the crowd. Russell Crowe, Michelle Williams, and designer-cum-movie director Tom Ford were among those who took to helped lead the auction.

The evening's entertainment was provided by punk icon Patti Smith and R&B singer Mary J. Blige, who captivated the crowd with her acapella rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."

A feeling of insider camaraderie permeated the event - where a single seat cost $6,000.

Following a confusing technical description of the 6-liter bottle of Dom Perignon, Michele Williams told the crowd: "If you know what that word is, you're rich enough to buy it." The champagne fetched $80,000.

Other high-fetching lots included a day with former President Bill Clinton, which went for $220,000, and a flight in a fighter jet, which reached $170,000.

Attendees from the film, fashion and music world include Emily Blunt, Elizabeth Banks, Kate Beckinsale, Sean Penn, Diane Kruger, Kristin Scott Thomas, Naomi Watts, Rachel Bilson, Mary J Blige, Alan Cumming, Naomi Campbell, Kirsten Dunst, Benicio Del Toro, Harvey Weinstein, Giorgio Armani, Ana Beatriz Barros, Roberto Cavalli, amfAR Chairman Kenneth Cole, Peter Dundas, Cuba Gooding Jr., Eva Green, Natalie Imbruglia, Ryan Kavanaugh, Karl Lagerfeld, Diego Luna, Bar Refaeli, Carine Roitfeld, Mallika Sherawat, Joss Stone, Charlene Whitstock, Milutin Gatsby, Michel Litvak, Vincent Roberti and more.

Cinema Against AIDS 2010 was presented by Bold Films, the Weinstein Company, and Palisades Tartan, to benefit amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

Last year, the event brought in just $4.5 million - roughly half the money raised in 2008. Since 1985, amfAR has invested more than $307 million in its programs and has awarded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

"It's a hard economy out there and it's nice to remember that we have to give back," Weinstein said.

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Tim Burton to head 63rd Cannes Festival Jury

Hollywood filmmaker Tim Burton, known for making animation and fantasy films, will head the jury at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. He says it's like a dream come true.

"It's a great honour and I look forward, with my fellow jurors, to watching some great films from around the world. When you think of Cannes, you think of world cinema. And as films have always been like dreams to me, this is a dream come true," Burton was quoted as saying by hollywood.com.

Some of Burton's movies are Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Alice in Wonderland.

Cannes festival president Gilles Jacob said: "It's the first time an artist, whose origins are in animation, will preside over the jury of the Festival de Cannes. A filmmaker with a heart of gold and silver hands, Tim Burton is first and foremost a poet.

"He's a magician of visual delights who turns the screen into a fairy wonder. We hope his sweet madness and gothic humour will pervade the Croisette, bringing Christmas to all."

Burton was a member of the main jury under Isabelle Adjani in 1997. His feature Ed Wood screened at the festival in 1995. This year’s festival runs from May 12 to 23.

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Photo Source: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images