Uncle Boonmee earns top prize at Cannes

Apichatpong Weerasethakul film takes home Palme d'Or

by Amber Wilkinson

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives has won the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or.

The film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul is concerned with the last days of a dying man, who finds the ghost of his dead wife arrives to look after him, while his long-lost son also returns home in spirit form.

The film beat off competition from films including Mike Leigh's Another Year, Doug Liman's Fair Game and Ken Loach's Route Irish.

The Grand Prix was won by Xavier Beauvois' Of Gods And Men, which tells the story of a group of French Christian monks who faced death for their beliefs in the North Africa region where they made their home in the Nineties.

Actor-turned-filmmaker Mathieu Amalric, meanwhile, was named best director for his feature On Tour, which charts the struggles of the manager of a striptease troupe.

South Korean writer/director Lee Chang-Dong's Poetry won the best screenplay prize.

Juliette Binoche was named best actress for her role as a Tuscan gallery owner in Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy, while the award for best actor was shared between Javier Bardem and Elio Germano.

Bardem was honoured for his role as a corrupt cop with terminal cancer in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Biutiful, while Germano shared the accolade for his role in Daniele Luchetti's Italian family drama Our Life.

The Jury Prize went to Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's A Screaming Man.

Serge Avedikian won the short film Palme d'Or for Barking Island, while the short film jury prize went to Frida Kempff's Bathing Micky.

The announcements come a day after Hong Sangsoo's Hahaha was named the winner of the Un Certain Regard prize. The Certain Regard Jury Prize went to Daniel and Diego Vega's October.

The Camero d'Or for best first feature was awarded to Michael Rowe for Ano Bisiesto.

Share this with others on...
News

Everything on the line Cara Holmes on the power of community, preserving history and Lesbian Lines

A taste of power Andrew Neel on ordinary life under totalitarianism and How To Feed A Dictator

Rock star spirit Shane Belcourt on Louis Cameron and Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising

Heir presumptive Rob Rice on the power of comedy, political disappointments and Ponderosa

Keeping the rhythm Hugo Ruíz on storytelling techniques, kinky cinema and Dante

From personal to universal Karla Murthy on The Gas Station Attendant and her relationship with her dad

More news and features

We're bringing you news, reviews and more from Docs Ireland.



We're looking forward to the Fantasia International Film Festival.



We've recently brought you coverage of Sheffield DocFest, ImagineNative, Tribeca, Cannes, Queer East, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Visions du Réel, Fantaspoa, Overlook, BFI Flare and SXSW, the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival and the NY Rendezvous with French Cinema.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.


It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest:


The Evia Project Event returns for a 5th year with focus on the forest


DocFest Winners announced


Tribeca Awards announced


Karlovy Vary 60th anniversary edition to feature Jesse Eisenberg and Maggie Gyllenhaal as guests


Fantasia Second wave of titles announced