CANNES, May 26: Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh’s celluloid recounting of the genocide by the Khmer Rouge in his country in the 1970s won the top honour of the 66th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section.
The Un Certain Regard section jury headed by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg picked ‘The Missing Picture’ by Rithy Panh from among 17 films hailing from 15 different countries.
Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad’s ‘Omar’ won the Jury Prize while French filmmaker Alan Guiraudie won the Directing Prize for his new film ‘Stranger by the Lake’.
American director Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Bling Ring’ had opened Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes festival this year.
‘One of the finest achievements in filmmaking is to create unforgettable moments, moments that stay with us, as a collective memory, as a collective mirror of our existence,’ Vinterberg said at the awards presentation ceremony last night. ‘This selection (of films in Un Certain Regard section) was insistingly unsentimental, and still poetic. It was political, highly original, sometimes disturbing, diverse and first of all, very often, unforgettable.’
Debutant American filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s ‘Fruitvale Station’ won the ‘Avenir’ (Future Prize) and ‘A Certain Talent’ Prize was collectively awarded to the entire cast of Spanish director Diego Quemada-Diez’s ‘The Golden Cage’.
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) prize went to French director Abdellatif Kechiche’s ‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’ in the competition section and ‘Manuscripts Don’t Burn’ by Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Rasoulof in Un Certain Regard section.
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s ‘The Past’, which is part of the competition section, won the Ecumenical Jury Prize.
The festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, will be announced tonight.
(UNI)
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