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.

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