The 70th Cannes Film Festival came to an end this evening with the annual awards ceremony at the Grand Théâtre Lumière. The big prize, the prestigious Palme d’or was awarded to Ruben Östlund’s The Square. The only Irish entry in the competition, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, didn’t go home empty-handed as it shared the prize for Best Screenplay with Lynne Ramsey’s You Were Never Really Here. Lanthimos co-wrote The Killing of a Sacred Deer with his The Lobster co-writer Efthimis Fillipou.
Elsewhere Robin Campillo’s BPM won the Grand Prix, while Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Loveless won the Jury Prize. Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, which like The Killing of a Sacred Deer stars Irish actor Colin Farrell, was awarded the best director prize. She became the first woman to win the prize since Yuliya Solntseva in 1961. Joaquin Phoenix and Diane Kruger won Best Acting awards for You Were Never Really Here and In The Fade respectively.
The Killing of a Sacred DeerThe Killing of a Sacred Deer, which is an Element Pictures production and is supported by the Irish Film Board, is a psychological thriller with supernatural elements that follows a young man that needs to take revenge, a doctor that has to make a decision, and his family that must survive. The Lobster star Colin Farrell plays the doctor, with Nicole Kidman starring as his wife, along with Barry Keoghan (Mammal), Raffey Cassidy (Tomorrowland), Sunny Suljic (The Unspoken), Bill Camp (12 Years a Slave), and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless).
Success for The Killing of a Sacred Deer marks the third time that director Lanthimos has been honoured at the festival. in 2009 he won Un Certain Regard for his film Dogtooth, before his first collaboration with Element Pictures, The Lobster, earned him the Jury Prize in 2015.
The film earned raves from a number of critics, with Keoghan identified as the stand-out by many. The film is being aimed at Oscar season by US distributors A24, so it’ll likely be early next year before it hits our shores.
All of us at Element are absolutely delighted with the script prize for Efthymis and Yorgos. Yorgos has made a masterful signature film which will enthrall audiences around the world. We are very grateful to all of our financiers including Film4, New Sparta, Hanway and the Irish Film Board.
Ed Guiney, Producer – Element Pictures
FEATURE FILMS – COMPETITION
PALME D’OR
THE SQUARE directed by Ruben ÖSTLUND
The Palme d’or was awarded by Juliette Binoche and Pedro Almodóvar.
70th ANNIVERSARY AWARD
Nicole KIDMAN
The 70th Anniversary Award was awarded by Will Smith.
GRAND PRIX
120 BATTEMENTS PAR MINUTE (BPM – Beats Per Minute) directed by Robin CAMPILLO
The Grand Prix was awarded by Costa-Gavras and Agnès Jaoui.
BEST DIRECTOR PRIZE
Sofia COPPOLA for THE BEGUILED
The Best Director Prize was awarded by Fan BingBing and Gabriel Yared.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Joaquin PHOENIX in YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE directed by Lynne RAMSAY
The Best Performance by an Actor Prize was awarded by Jessica Chastain.
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Diane KRUGER in AUS DEM NICHTS (In The Fade) directed by Fatih AKIN
The Best Performance by an Actress Prize was awarded by Irène Jacob and Paolo Sorrentino
JURY PRIZE
NELYUBOV (Loveless) directed by Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV
The Jury Prize was awarded by Maren Ade and Guillaume Gallienne.
BEST SCREENPLAY EX-ÆQUO
Yorgos LANTHIMOS and Efthimis FILIPPOU for THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
Lynne RAMSAY for YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
The Best Screenplay Prize was awarded by Marisa Paredes and Park Chan-wook.
SHORT FILMS – COMPETITION
PALME D’OR
XIAO CHENG ER YUE (A Gentle Night) directed by QIU Yang
SPECIAL DISTINCTION BY THE JURY
KATTO (The Ceiling) 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
LERD (A Man of Integrity) directed by Mohammad RASOULOF
PRIZE FOR BEST ACTRESS
JASMINE TRINCA for FORTUNATA directed by Sergio CASTELLITTO
PRIZE FOR THE BEST POETIC NARRATIVE
BARBARA directed by Mathieu AMALRIC
PRIZE FOR BEST DIRECTION
Taylor SHERIDAN for WIND RIVER
JURY PRIZE
LAS HIJAS DE ABRIL (April’s Daughter) directed by Michel FRANCO
CAMÉRA D’OR
JEUNE FEMME (Montparnasse Bienvenüe) directed by Léonor SERRAILLE presented as part of UN CERTAIN REGARD
The Caméra d’or Prize was awarded by Sandrine Kiberlain, President of the Caméra d’or Jury.
CINEFONDATION
FIRST PRIZE
PAUL EST LÀ (Paul Is Here) directed by Valentina MAUREL
INSAS, Belgium
SECOND PRIZE
HEYVAN (AniMal) directed by Bahram & Bahman ARK
Iranian National School of Cinema, Iran
THIRD PRIZE
DEUX ÉGARÉS SONT MORTS (Two Youths Died) 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.