Cannes, May 20 (UNI) Japanese film 'Shoplifters', a moving portrayal of society's fringe dwellers, by Hirokazu Kore-eda has won the Palme d'Or at the 71st Cannes film festival.
Cannes competition jury president and Australian actor Cate Blanchett announced the Palme d'Or winner at a packed closing ceremony on Saturday night attended by the who's who of global film industry.
The jury presented a Special Palme d'Or to French New Wave Master Jean-Luc Godard for his new film, 'The Image Book', which was part of the competition section. Godard was not present on the occasion.
The Grand Jury Prize was bagged by American filmmaker Spike Lee for his anti-Trump racism drama 'BlacKkKlansman'.
Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki won the Jury Prize for 'Capernaum', a powerful portrayal of the miserable lives of migrants in the Middle East.
The Best Direction prize was bagged by Oscar-winning Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski for 'Cold War', a Second World War love story shot in black and white.
The Best Actor award was won by Italian actor Marcello Fonte for his role in 'Dogman' by Matteo Garrone.
The Best Actress award went to Kazakhstan's Samal Yesliamova for her role in competition entry 'Ayka' by Sergey Dvortsevoy.
The award for the Best Screenplay was shared by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and Nader Saeivar for '3 Faces' directed by Panahi, with Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher, who directed 'Happy as Lazzaro'. Panahi, who is not allowed to travel outside Iran, was not present to receive the award.
The Palme d'Or for the Best Short Film in competition went to the Australian film 'All These Creatures' by Charles Williams. Chinese film 'On the Border' won the Jury Special Mention in the short film category.
The Camera d'Or award for the Best First Feature Film of a director went to the Belgian transgender drama 'Girl' by Lukas Dhont, which was part of Un Certain Regard category.
Swedish film 'Square' by Ruben Ostlund had won the Palme d'Or last year.
Coming close on the heels of the 'Me Too' and 'Times is Up' movements for gender equality and justice, the competition jury this year included five women compared to four men. Among the jury members were American actor Kristen Stewart, French actor Lea Seydoux, Burundian singer Khadja Nin and American director Ava DuVernay.
Among the films vying for the Palme d'Or this year were Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 'The Wild Pear Tree' and Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's 'Everybody Wins' starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, which was the opening film of the festival.
The competition section of the Cannes festival had 21 films this year.
The festival, which began on May 8, concluded tonight with the screening of American-born British director Terry Gilliam's new film, 'The Man Who Killed Do Quixote'.
The Cannes festival this year had one Indian film in official selection, 'Manto' by Nandita Das on the life of iconic Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto, in Un Certain Regard category. The parallel section, Critic's Week, also had an Indian film, 'Sir' by Pune-born Rohena Gera, in the feature competition.
'Sir', the story of a domestic help's relationship with her master, won the Gan Foundation Award for promoting distribution of films, at the Critic's Week.
There were no Indian films in the prestigious competition section of the Cannes festival. The last Indian film in Cannes competition was 'Swaham' by Malayalam director Shaji N Karun in 1994.
The Cannes festival's Un Certain Regard Prize was bagged by Iranian director Ali Abbasi's 'Border'. In the same category, the Best Screenplay prize went to 'Sofia' by Moroccan director Meryem Benm'barek and Best Director to Ukranian filmmaker Sergie Loznitsa for 'Donbass'. The Best Performance in Un Certain Regard section was won by Belgian Victor Polster for his role in the transgender drama, 'Girl'. The Jury Special Prize went to the Brazilian film 'The Dead and the Others'.
The International Critics Prize presented by the jury of International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) was won by South Korean film 'Burning' by Lee Chang-Dong in the competition section while Belgian film 'Girl' won in Un Certain Regard category.
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