Fjord wins Palme d'Or

Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Cristian Mingiu Photo: Film i Vast

Cristian Mungiu won his second Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival tonight with Fjord, 19 years after lifting the coveted prize with 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

His latest drama stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as a devotely Christian couple, one Norwegian, the other Romanian, who find themselves under scrutiny over the way they discipline their children.

Exiled Russian director took home the Grand Prix for Minotaur, taking the Grand Prix, while the Best Director prize was shared between Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s The Black Ball, and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Fatherland.

Fjord Photo: Film i Väst

The ceremony was hosted by French actress Eye Haidara, who also hosted the opening ceremony. Barbara Streisand had been due to receive an honorary Palme d’Or, but had to cancel her trip to France last week due recovering from a knee injury. Isabelle Huppert introduced a video message from the Yentl star.

At the jury press conference, jury president Park Chan-Wook joked that he didn’t want to give Palme d’Or to any of the films given that it’s the award he himself never received, but he had "No Other Choice.

Earlier in the day the FIPRESCI international critics announced their winners, with Christian Mungui's Fjord also triumphing in the main competition, Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo's Ben'Imana winning the Un Certain Regard accolade and Jing Zou's A Girl Unknown taking the Critics' Week prize. Fjord also won the François Chalais Prize, the Citizenship Award and the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

The stars of Ryusuke Hamaguchi's delicate tale of friendship and humanistic care All Of A Sudden, Tao Okamoto and Virginie Efira, shared the Best Actress prize, while the Best Actor prize was also shared by Valentin Campagne and Emmanuel Macchia for Lukas Dhont's LGBTQ war romance Coward.

The full list of winners is below:

• Palme d’Or -  Fjord, dir Cristian Mungiu 
• Grand Prix - Minotaur, dir Andrey Zvyagintsev
• Best Director - ex-aequo - Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi for The Black Ball; Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland
• Jury Prize - The Dreamed Adventure, dir Valeska Grisebach
• Best Actress - Tao Okamoto, Virginie Efira for All Of A Sudden
• Best Actor -  Valentin Campagne and Emmanuel Macchia for Coward
• Best Screenplay - Emmanuel Marre for A Man of His Time
• Camera d’Or for best first feature - Ben’Imana, dir Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo
• Short Film Palme d’Or - For The Opponents, dir. Federico Luis