The Square by Ruben Östlund is the winner of the Palme d’Or at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Other award winners include Best Director for Sofia Coppola for The Beguiled; Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here by Lynne Ramsay; and Best Actress for Diane Kruger in In The Fade by Fatih Akin.

2017 Cannes Film Festival Awards

Feature Films – Competition

Palme d’Or
The Square directed by Ruben Östlund

Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good causes. His next show is “The Square”, an installation which invites passersby to altruism, reminding them of their role as responsible fellow human beings. But sometimes, it is difficult to live up to your own ideals: Christian’s foolish response to the theft of his phone drags him into shameful situations. Meanwhile, the museum’s PR agency has created an unexpected campaign for ”The Square”. The response is overblown and sends Christian, as well as the museum, into an existential crisis.

70th Anniversary Award
Nicole Kidman
The 70th Anniversary Award was awarded by Will Smith.
“I feel blessed to be able to work in this profession. The 70th celebration was incredible; it was the celebration of cinema and stories.” – Nicole Kidman, Video from Nashville, Tennessee –

Grand Prix
120 BPM – Beats Per Minute (Battements Par Minute) directed by Robin Campillo

Early 1990s. With AIDS having already claimed countless lives for nearly ten years, Act up-Paris activists multiply actions to fight general indifference.
Nathan, a newcomer to the group, has his world shaken up by Sean, a radical militant, who throws his last bits of strength into the struggle.

“This film can be thought of as a tribute to those who died and especially those who are living, who fought, were subjected to harsh treatment and who put their life on hold during this time. People are never as fine or as strong as when they come together. – Robin Campillo –

Best Director Prize
Sofia Coppola for The Beguiled

The Beguiled is a thriller from acclaimed writer/director Sofia Coppola. The story unfolds during the Civil War, at a Southern girls’ boarding school. Its sheltered young women take in an injured enemy soldier. As they provide refuge and tend to his wounds, the house is taken over with sexual tension and dangerous rivalries, and taboos are broken in an unexpected turn of events.

“I like to thank my father, who taught me to write and how to be a film director, and my mother, for teaching me how to be an artist. Thanks as well to Jane Campion, for being a role model and inspiring women to be directors.” -Sofia Coppola –

Best Performance By An Actor
Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here directed by Lynne Ramsay

A missing teenage girl. A brutal and tormented enforcer on a rescue mission.
Corrupt power and vengeance unleash a storm of violence that may lead to his awakening.

Best Performance By An Actress
Diane Kruger in In The Fade (Aus Dem Nichts) directed by Fatih Akin

Katja’s life collapses after the death of husband and son in a bomb attack.
After the time of mourning and injustice, here comes the time of revenge.

“Fatih, my brother, thank you for having believed in me; you gave me a strength that I never believed I could possess. I can’t receive this award without thinking of those who have been victims of terrorism. Please know that you are not forgotten.” – Diane Kruger –

Jury Prize
Loveless (Nelyubov) directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev

Boris and Zhenya are going through a divorce. Arguing constantly, and in the process of selling their apartment, they are already preparing for their new lives: Boris with his younger, pregnant girlfriend and Zhenya with the wealthy lover who is keen to get married. Neither seems interested in their 12-year-old son Alyosha. Until he disappears.

“I’d like to thank all the members of the Jury, and one in particular: Will Smith. He really exists!” – Andrey Zvyagintsev –

Best Screenplay (tie)
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou for The Killing Of A Sacred Deer
Lynne Ramsay for You Were Never Really Here

Short Films – Competition

Palme d’Or
A Gentle Night (Xiao Cheng Er Yue) directed by Qiu Yang

Special Distinction By The Jury
The Ceiling (Katto) directed by Teppo Airaksinen
The Palme d’or and the Jury Special Mention for Shorts Films were awarded by Uma Thurman and Cristian Mungiu.

Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard Prize
A Man of Integrity (Lerd) directed by Mohammad Rasoulof

Reza (35), having distanced himself from the ur- ban quagmire, leads a simple life along with his wife and sole son, somewhere in a remote village in Northern Iran. He spends his days working in his gold fish farm. Nearby, a private company with close links to the government and local authori- ties, has taken control of nearly every aspect of the regional life. Its shareholders, accumulating wealth, power and economic rents, have been pushing local farmers and small owners to dilap- idate their belongings, farms and estates, to the benefit of the Company’s influential net- work and its monopoly. It is under their pressure that many villagers have them- selves become local rings of the larger network of corruption. 

Prize For Best Actress
Jasmine Trinca for Fortunata directed by Sergio Castellitto

Fortunata has a difficult life, a daughter of eight and a failed marriage behind her. She works as a hairdresser in people’s houses, leaving from the outskirts to cross the city, going to the homes of the well-off to do women’s hair. Fortunata fights every day with determination to achieve her dream: opening her own salon and challenging fate, in an attempt at emancipating herself and gaining her independence and the right to some happiness. She knows that to achieve her dreams she has to be firm: she has thought of everything, she is ready for anything, but she had not considered the variable of love, the one subversive force capable of sweeping aside every certainty. Also because, perhaps for the first time, someone looks at her as the woman she is and truly loves her.

Prize For The Best Prize For The Best Poetic Narrative
Barbara directed by Mathieu Amalric

An actress, Brigitte, is playing Barbara in a film that soon begins shooting.
Brigitte works on her character, her voice, the songs and scores, the imitation of her gestures, her knitting, the lines to learn. Things
move along. The character grows inside her. Invades her, even…
Yves, the director, is also working – via encounters, archival footage, the music. He seems inhabited and inspired by her…
But by whom? The actress or Barbara?

Prize For Best Direction
Taylor Sheridan for Wind River

WIND RIVER is a chilling thriller that follows a rookie FBI agent who teams up with a local game tracker with deep community ties and a haunted past to investigate the murder of a local girl on a remote Native American Reservation in the hopes of solving the mysterious death. Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, WIND RIVER also stars Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, Julia Jones, Kelsey Asbille, and James Jordan.

Jury Prize
April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril) directed by Michel Franco

Valeria is 17 and pregnant. She lives in Puerto Vallarta with Clara, her half-sister.

Valeria has not wanted her long-absent mother, April, to find out about her pregnancy, but due to the economic strain and the overwhelming responsibility of having a baby in the house, Clara decides to call their mother.

April arrives, willing to help her daughters, but soon it will be clear why Valeria had kept her away.

CAMÉRA D’OR

Jeune Femme (Montparnasse Bienvenüe) directed by Léonor Serraille presented as part of UN Certain Regard

Cinefondation

First Prize
Paul Is Here (Paul Est Lå ) directed by Valentina Maurel
INSAS, Belgium

Second Prize
AniMal (Heyvan) directed by Bahram & Bahman Ark
Iranian National School of Cinema, Iran

Third Prize
Two Youths Died (Deux Égares Sont Morts) directed by Tommaso Usberti
La Fémis, France

The CST Jury decided to award the Vulcain Prize for Artist-Technician to: Josefin Asberg for her remarkable artistic contribution to match the inventiveness of the film The Square.