French director Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue Is The Warmest Color (or La vie d’Adèle) received top honors during the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival and won the Palme d’Or Award.
This year, the jury included Oscar winners Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee, Christoph Waltz, and Steven Spielberg; who was also jury President. Plus, Daniel Auteuil, Cristian Mungiu, Lynne Ramsay, Vidya Balan, and Naomi Kawase were also members of this year’s festival jury. All nine members were responsible for choosing the award winners among 20 different films that premiered at the festival.
Spielberg presented the Palme d’Or award and stated that he felt the jury took an “exceptional step” of awarding it to not only the director, Kechiche, but also to the lead actresses Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. This is quite unusual to also acknowledge the actresses’ work with the Palme d’Or. However, those present at the ceremony cheered and supported this decision and agreed that the actresses also deserved the award.
Here is a complete list of the award-winners for the 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival:
Palme d’Or: Abdellatif Kechiche, Blue Is The Warmest Color
Grand Prix: Coen Brothers, Inside Llewyn Davis
Best Director: Amat Escalante, Heli
Best Screenplay: Jia Zhangke, A Touch of Sin
Best Actress: Berenice Bejo, The Past
Best Actor: Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Jury Prize: Hirokazu Kore-eda, Like Father, Like Son
Camera d’Or: Anthony Chen, Ilo Ilo
What do you think of the award results? Do you think these films will generate more buzz during the 2014 award season? Do you think the jury members made the right decisions? Are you interested in seeing any of these films?
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter and IMDbPro
