On Saturday, British director Jonathan Glazer won the Grand Prix of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, while France’s Justine Trier won the Palme d’Or.
Jonathan Glazer won the grand prize for his film “The Zone of Interest”, in which he recounts the life story of the family of the commandant of the Auschwitz Nazi concentration and extermination camp in order to remind him of the “insignificance of evil”.
“The Zone of Interest” was considered the most extreme film in the competition, as it deliberately did not show scenes of the death camp to show the ability of humans to continue coexisting with brutality and horror indifference.
Palme d’Or
French director Justine Triet won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for her film Anatomy of a Fall, which takes place in large part in a courtroom.
Triet became the third female director to win this prestigious award.
The Palme d’Or is the highest award in the history of the Cannes Film Festival.
Justine Trier, 44, succeeds Jane Campion (“The Piano” in 1993) and Julia DuCourneau (“Titan” in 2021), confirming the slow movement towards gender equality in the cinema sector, which has traditionally been dominated by men.
Two acting awards
The prizes for the best acting performance were awarded at the Cannes Festival on Saturday evening to the Japanese Koji Yakusho and the Turkish Merve Dizdar, at the end of the seventy-sixth session of the international film event.
Yakusho, who won the best actor award for his role in the movie “Perfect Days” by Wim Wenders, said emotionally on stage after receiving the award: “I would like to thank especially Wim Wenders and the co-writer of the screenplay (…) you have made a character amazing”.
In this film from the 1984 Palme d’Or winner Paris, Texas, Koji Yakusho plays Hirayama, a secretive and reclusive Tokyo public toilet employee who gradually begins to open up to others.
In terms of female representation, the best actress award was given to Turkish Merfa Dizdar for her role in the movie “On Dry Weeds” (Kuru Otlar Ustune) by her compatriot Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
The actress, who plays a woman who falls in love with a teacher in a remote Turkish province, said, “I would like to dedicate this award to all the women who struggle to overcome difficulties in their lives in this world and maintain hope.”
List of winners of the 76th Annual Cannes Film Festival Awards:
Palme d’Or: “Anatomy Without a Shot” by Justine Terrier (France)
– Grand Prize: “The Zone of Interest” by Jonathan Glazer
– Jury Prize: “Fallen Lives” by Aki Kaurismäki
Direction Award: French-Vietnamese Tran An Hung for “La Pasion du Dudan Bovan”
Best Screenplay Award: Yuji Sakamoto for “Monster” by Japanese Hirakazu Kore-eda
Best Actress Award: Merveh Dezdar for her role in “On Dry Weeds”
Best Actor Award: Japanese Koji Yakusho for his role in “Perfect Days”
– Golden Camera Award: “The Tree with Golden Butterfly” by Pham Tien, Vietnamese
– Palme d’Or for the short film: “27” by the Romanian Glora Ana Boda
