The 71st Cannes International Film Festival has announced its biggest winners, with Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s SHOPLIFTERS (万引き家族) taking the top prize.
Featuring an amazing cast that sees regular collaborator Lily Franky appearing alongside Sakura Ando and Mayu Matsuoka, it follows another father/son relationship where shoplifting is part of their bonding experience. The dynamic changes when Franky’s character finds a little girl freezing, and decides to bring her home to his family.
Several of Kore-eda’s previous films have been nominated for the prestigious prize, including 2013’s Like Father, Like Son (for which he won the Jury Prize) and 2015’s Our Little Sister. This is also the first Japanese film to win the Palme d’Or in 21 years. The last to do so was Shohei Imamura for The Eel in 1997.
Still following our Asia in Focus stream, Lee Chang-dong’s acclaimed South Korean film BURNING (버닝) won the FIPRESCI Competition, and remains one of the most talked-about Asian films of the year. Shen Di’s short film The Storms in Our Blood also tied for second place in the Cinéfondation stream of the festival.
READ MORE: Cannes 2018: Focus on Asia in Official Selection
The other big winner of the event is Spike Lee’s much discussed BLACKKKLANSMAN, the story of the African American detective who infiltrated local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and eventually becomes the head of the chapter. It won the Grand Prix and was given a Ecumenical Jury Special Mention.
Meanwhile, Lukas Dhont’s GIRL made waves as the winner of Camera d’Or (Best Director), the Queer Palm, Best Performance for Victor Polster, and the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.
While BLACKKKLANSMAN makes its Australian debut at the Sydney Film Festival in June, here’s hoping some of these other films make their way here shortly. A full list of winners is below.
COMPETITION
Palme d’Or: “Shoplifters,” Hirokazu Kore-eda
Grand Prix: “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Actor: Marcello Fonte, ”Dogman”
Actress: Samal Yeslyamova, “Ayka”
Jury Prize: Nadine Labaki, “Capernaum”
Screenplay — TIE: Alice Rohrwacher, “Happy as Lazzaro” + Jafar Panahi, Nader Saeivar, “3 Faces”
Special Palme d’Or: Jean-Luc Godard
OTHER PRIZES
Camera d’Or: “Girl,” Lukas Dhont
Short Films Palme d’Or: “All These Creatures,” Charles Williams
Short Films Special Mention: “On the Border,” Shujun Wei
Golden Eye Documentary Prize: TBA
Ecumenical Jury Prize: “Capernaum,” Nadine Labaki
Ecumenical Jury Special Mention: “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee
Queer Palm: “Girl,” Lukas Dhont
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Un Certain Regard Award: Ali Abbasi, “Border”
Best Director: Sergei Loznitsa, “Donbass”
Best Performance: Victor Polster, “Girl”
Best Screenplay: Meryem Benm’Barek, “Sofia”
Special Jury Prize: João Salaviza & Renée Nader Messora, “The Dead and the Others”
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Art Cinema Award: “Climax” (Gaspar Noé)
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “The Trouble With You” (Pierre Salvadori)
Europa Cinemas Label: “Lucia’s Grace” (Gianni Zanasi)
Illy Short Film Award: “Skip Day” (Patrick Bresnan, Ivete Lucas)
CRITICS’ WEEK
Grand Prize: “Diamantino” (Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt)
Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “Woman at War” (Benedikt Erlingsson)
GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: “Sir”
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Felix Maritaud, “Sauvage.”
Short Film: “Hector Malot – The Last Day Of The Year” (Jacqueline Lentzou)
FIPRESCI
Competition: “Burning,” (Lee Chang-dong)
Un Certain Regard: “Girl,” (Lukas Dhont)
Directors’ Fortnight/Critics’ Week: “One Day” (Zsófa Szilagyi)
CINÉFONDATION
First Prize: “The Summer of the Electric Lion,” Diego Céspedes
Second Prize — TIE: “Calendar,” Igor Poplauhin + “The Storms in Our Blood,” Shen Di
Third Prize: “Inanimate,” Lucia Bulgheroni
