Les Lauréats du 71e Festival de Cannes / The winners of the 71st Festival de Cannes📸#Cannes2018 #Palmarès #Awards pic.twitter.com/GvaLjciPYP
— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 19, 2018
CANNES
The Japanese family drama Shoplifters has received the coveted award for best film, the Palme d’Or, at the Cannes Film Festival today. The runner-up Grand Prix went to US director Spike Lee’s anti-racism satire black klansman.
On the last day on Saturday the head of the jury, Actress Cate Blanchett, announced Koreeda’s victory.
It was Koreeda’s 5th time to be in competition for the Palme d’Or and his first in 3 years. In 2013, his “Like Father, Like Son” won the jury prize.
“Shoplifters” is about family ties. It’s a story of a Tokyo family that lives on the pension benefits of one of its members. They shoplift when they are really hard up.
The last Japanese film to win the top honor at the festival was 21 years ago — director Shohei Imamura snatched the Palme d’Or in 1997 for his film “The Eel.”
Cannes is one of the 3 most prestigious film festivals in the world, the other two being Berlin and Venice.
Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski won the best director award for his love story Cold War. Little-known Italian actor Marcello Fonte won best actor for his role as a hapless cocaine-dealing dog groomer who faces down a thug in Dogman.
A special Palme d’Or was awarded to French-Swiss Jean-Luc Godard for the film Image Book. Led by actor Cate Blanchett, the jury announced their top picks after what was a politically charged festival. Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who sparked the #MeToo movement, was particularly called out.
Only three female directors were among the 21 in contention for the festival’s 71st top prize, many of which drew critical acclaim ahead of the famously unpredictable awards night.