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CANNES:
There were not many surprises in store as far as the winners
of the Cannes Film Festival 2007 award winners were concerned.
Throughout the fortnight since its screening, the buzz was
that Romanian director Cristian Mungiu would pocket the Festival's
top prize. And he did that last night when his film 4 Luni,
3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) -
which tells the tale of a student friend who helps another
when she has to go in for an illegal abortion in Communist-era
Romania - took home the prestigious Palm D'Or. The film edged
out 21 other films which were vying for the top honour.
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| Cristian
Mungiu |
The
Festival's second highest award was given to Japanese director
Naomi Kawasa for her film Mogari Na Mori (The Mourning
Forest). which offered a gentle but powerful look at people
haunted by tragic loss.
The
best director award was handed over to painter director Julian
Schnabel who helmed the French language film The Diving
Bell and the Butterfly - which documents the life of Elle
France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was paralysed
after a stroke.
Bauby
went on to write a best selling book by blinking his one good
eye to a helper who read him the alphabet. The helper then
went to transcribe the book which sold a reported million
copies. Schnabel made the movie as though it was being viewed
from Bauby's eyes and it offered many sensitive moments.
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| Best
Actress South Korea's Jeon Do-yeon |
The
jury, headed by The Queen director Stephen Frears,
gave a special 60th anniversary prize to Gus Van Sant, for
his film Paranoid Park, which closely looks at a young
skateboarder who accidentally kills a railway security guard.
Additionally,
it gave jury prizes to Marjane Satrapi's funny and autobiographical
animated film about life in Iran after the 1979 overthrow
of the Shah and to Carlos Reygadas for his film Stellet
Licht (Street Light).
Russian
actor Konstantin Lavronenko picked up the best actor award for
his performance as husband who watches his marriage with his
beloved wife disintegrate when they visit a country house. South
Korea's Jeon Do-yeon, who essays the role of a widow struggling
to cope with her husband's death in Secret Sunshine,
was awarded with the best actress honour.
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| Fatih
Akin |
And
of course German helmer Fatih Akin was conferred with the
best screenplay prize for his film The Edge of Heaven,
a German-Turkish cross-cultural tale of loss, mourning and
forgiveness.
Frears
said the decisions were tough, but it had to be taken and
that the jury was a tough jury.
Mungiu
and Schnabel both said they expected some sort of recognition
after conversations with journalists. Schnable said he was
going to have a quiet dinner with his wife and he would wake
up tomorrow to another day.
Award
winners on 27th May
--
Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): 4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2
Zile (4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days), Cristian Mungiu,
Romania
--
Grand Prize: Mogari No Mori (The Mourning Forest),
Naomi Kawase, Japan
--
Jury Prize: Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent
Paronnaud, Iran and France; and Stellet Licht (Silent
Light), Carlos Reygadas, Mexico
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60th Anniversary Prize: Paranoid Park, Gus Van
Sant, United States
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Best Director: Julian Schnabel, Le Scaphandre et le
Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,) United States
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Best Actor: Konstantin Lavronenko, The Banishment,
Russia
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Best Actress: Jeon Do-yeon, Secret Sunshine, South
Korea
--
Best Screenplay: The Edge of Heaven, Fatih Akin,
Germany
--
Golden Camera (first-time director): Meduzot, Etgar
Keret and Shira Geffen, Israel
--
Best Short Film: Ver Llover (Watching it Rain),
Elisa Miller, Mexico
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