Cannes Jury Picks Palme d'Or From 22 Films as 79th Festival Ends

3 articles · Updated · Aaj News · May 23

The 79th Cannes Film Festival closes Saturday with Park Chan-wook’s nine-member jury selecting the Palme d’Or from 22 competition films in one of the most open races in years.
Mixed reviews and Hollywood’s limited presence left Cannes without a clear consensus favorite, weakening the festival’s usual role as an early awards-season pace setter.
Strongly received contenders included Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden,” Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur” and Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord.”
A late surge came from Spanish drama “The Black Ball,” which drew one of the festival’s warmest reactions on the penultimate day and quickly became a closing-stage talking point.
Neon has distributed the last 6 Palme d’Or winners, while honorary recipient Barbra Streisand will miss the closing ceremony because of a knee injury.