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| The Rider which took top prize in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section Photo: Cannes Film Festival |
A second feature by Chinese-American director Chloe Zhao, The Rider, took the top prize, the Art Cinema Award, in the Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight selection. The cowboy drama received many approving reviews. Zhao’s Songs My Brothers Taught Me played in the sidebar section in 2015.
The SACD prize from the French Writers and Directors Guild split the prize with both Philippe Garrel’s Lover for a Day (L’Amant D’Un Jour) and Claire Denis’s Bright Sunshine In (Un Beau Soleil Interieur) being equally recompensed.
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| Juliette Binoche in Bright Sunshine In, a Directors’ Fortnight winner for director Claire Denis |
Garrel’s Lover is the last in a trilogy exploring love, lust and fidelity. Denis’ Bright Sunshine In marks a change of tone for the director, a romantic comedy of sorts starring Gerard Depardieu and Juliette Binoche as an emotionally confused 50-something divorcee.
The Europa Cinemas Label, awarded to a European feature, was given to Jonas Carpignano’s A Ciambra, a coming-of-age tale focusing on a young Romani boy in Calabria who grapples with growing up after his brother disappears. Martin Scorsese, no less, executive produced it.
The Illy prize for a short film was given to Benoit Grimalt’s Retour à Genoa City, in which the filmmaker returns to his grandma’s home so she can fill him in on what’s happened on The Young And The Restless soap opera over the last 20 years.
The Festival’s top prizes including the Palme d’Or will be awarded on Sunday night during the closing ceremony.
Cannes 2017 Directors' Fortnight Prizes
Art Cinema Award
- The Rider (Chloe Zhao, US)
Europa Cinemas Label Award
- A Ciambra (Jonas Carpignano, Italy, Brazil, US)
Society Of Dramatic Authors And Composers (SACD) Prize
- Bright Sunshine In (Claire Denis, France); Lover For A Day (Philippe Garrel, France)
Illy Short Film Prize
- Back To Genoa City (Benoit Grimalt, France)
