The South Korean film Parasite directed by Bong Joon-Ho won the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The film is described as “A family tragicomedy depicting the inevitable collision that ensues when Ki-woo, the eldest son in a family of four unemployed adults, is introduced to the wealthy Park family for a well-paid tutoring job.” Bong Joon-Ho who is best known for his earlier films Okja and Snowpiercer is the first Korean director to win the top award at Cannes Film Festival.
In another first, the Grand Prix went to the African film Atlantics directed by Mati Diop – the first black woman to have a film selected for competition at the festival. “Along the Atlantic coast, a soon-to-be-inaugurated futuristic tower looms over a suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada’s wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned.”
FEATURE FILMS
PALME D’OR
GISAENGCHUNG (Parasite) directed by Bong Joon-Ho
GRAND PRIX
ATLANTIQUE (Atlantics) directed by Mati Diop
BEST DIRECTOR PRIZE
LE JEUNE AHMED (Young Ahmed) directed by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
JURY PRIZE (tie)
LES MISÉRABLES directed by Ladj Ly
BACURAU directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Antonio Banderas in (PAIN AND GLORY) DOLOR Y GLORIA directed by Pedro Almodóvar
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Emily Beecham in LITTLE JOE directed by Jessica Hausner
BEST SCREENPLAY
Céline Sciamma for PORTRAIT DE LA JEUNE FILLE EN FEU (Portrait of Lady On Fire)
SPECIAL MENTION
To Elia Suleiman for IT MUST BE HEAVEN
SHORT FILMS – COMPETITION
PALME D’OR
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US AND THE SKY directed by Vasilis Kekatos
SPECIAL DISTINCTION BY THE JURY
MONSTRUO DIOS directed by Agustina San Martín
UN CERTAIN REGARD
UN CERTAIN REGARD PRIZE
A VIDA INVISÍVEL DE EURÍDICE GUSMÃO (The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao) directed by Karim Aïnouz
JURY PRIZE
O QUE ARDE (Fire Will Come) directed by Oliver Laxe
PRIZE FOR BEST PERFORMANCE
Chiara Mastroianni for CHAMBRE 212 (On a Magical Night) directed by Christophe Honoré
PRIZE FOR BEST DIRECTOR
Kantemir Balagov for BEANPOLE
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
LIBERTÉ directed by Albert Serra
JURY’S « COUP DE CŒUR » (tie)
LA FEMME DE MON FRÈRE (A Brother’s Love) directed by Monia Chokri
THE CLIMB directed by Michael Angelo Covino
JURY SPECIAL MENTION
JEANNE (Joan of Arc) directed by Bruno Dumont
CAMÉRA D’OR
NUESTRAS MADRES directed by César Díaz presented as part of LA SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE
CINÉFONDATION
FIRST PRIZE
MANO A MANO directed by Louise Courvoisier
CinéFabrique, France
SECOND PRIZE
HIẾU directed by Richard Van
CalArts, USA
THIRD PRIZE (tie)
AMBIENCE directed by Wisam Al Jafari
Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture, Palestine
DUSZYCZKA (The Little Soul) directed by Barbara Rupik
PWSFTviT, Poland
The 2019 CST Artist-Technician Prize goes to Flora Volpeliere, as editor and Julien Poupard, as set and lighting designer of Ladj Ly’s film LES MISÉRABLES.
A Special Mention from the Jury goes to Claire Mathon, Director of Photography of the films ATLANTIQUE (Atlantics) and PORTRAIT DE LA JEUNE FILLE EN FEU (Portrait of Lady on Fire).
The Jury also noted Lee Ha-jun’s outstanding work as Artistic Director of GISAENGCHUNG (Parasite)