Cannes Film Festival: Curtains come down…

In a decision that took nobody by surprise, the jury of the 75th Cannes Film Festival awarded the Palme d’Or to Swedish director Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle of Sadness at the closing ceremony at Cannes on Saturday night.

This is Ostlund’s second film to win the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize. He had won the Palme d’Or in 2017 for The Square.

The best director prize went to Park Chan-wook for his work on Decision to Leave, which marks a clear departure for the Korean director in terms a tone and mood.

The Grand Prix, the prize for the second-best film in Competition, witnessed a tie between 75-year-old French director Claire Denis’ Stars at Noon, set in mid-1980s Nicaragua, and young Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont’s sophomore venture Close, the story of a friendship between two teenage boys. The Jury Prize, regarded but not clearly designated as the third prize, went jointly to Le Otto Montagne (The Eighth Mountain), directed by the Belgian filmmaking couple Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen, and octogenarian Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski for EO.

For Tori and Lokita, the Dardenne Brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, won a Special Prize handed out to mark the 75th anniversary of the festival. The Camera d’Or for the best directorial debut at the festival went to War Pony, an American film by the team of actress Riley Keough and producer Gina Gammell. Keough, 32, is the eldest grandchild of Elvis Presley, a film about whose life directed by Baz Luhrmann premiered in Cannes earlier in the week. A Camera d’Or – Special Mention was won by Japanese director Chie Hayakawa for her first film Plan 75.

Belgian-French actress Virginie Efira served as the master of ceremonies at a closing ceremony that saw each one of the three Belgian films in Competition – Close, Le Otto Mantagne and Tori and Lokita – bag an award.

Korean actor Song Kang-ho was adjudged the best actor in Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Busan-set drama Broker, about a cobbled-together family reminiscent of the one in the director’s 2018 Palme d’Or.

The best actress prize was snagged by Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahami, the female lead of Holy Spider, directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi.

The best screenplay award went to Egyptian-Swedish director Tarik Saleh for Boy from Heaven. The 2022 Cannes Film Festival jury was presided over by veteran French actor Vincent Lindon. It included India’s Deepika Padukone alongside Noomi Rapace, Joachim Trier, Jasmine Trinca, Jedd Nichols, Asghar Farhadi, Rebecca Hall and Ladj Ly.

The short film Palme d’Or went to China’s Chen Jianying’s The Water Murmurs. A short film by Nepal’s Abinash Bikram Shah’s Lori won a Special Mention, adding another trophy to an encouraging haul of awards at the festival by directors from the Indian subcontinent. Earlier in the day, Delhi-based Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes won the 2022 L’Oeil d’Or for the best documentary at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, making it two in succession for India. Pakistani film Joyland, written and directed by debutant Saim Sadiq, won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the prestigious gala. — PTI  

Deepika signs off in a white saree

Deepika Padukone has been turning heads with her scintillating stylish appearances at Cannes Film Festival this year. All her outfits during this 10-day long festival have been stunning. Cannes 2022 has been a great journey for Deepika who had joined the event as a jury member. For the closing ceremony, Deepika rocked a custom-made piece by Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla. She wore a regal saree with ruffles and she looked like a Greek goddess. The look was complimented with a dramatic, stunning pearl necklace.