In a unanimous decision by the Cannes 2019 jury headed up by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Bong Joon-ho was awarded the Palme d’Or for his new thriller Parasite, marking the first South Korean director ever to do so. “With the terrific Parasite, Bong has crafted an angry, genre-inflected social allegory that in many ways functions as a Korean analog to Jordan Peele’s Us. A far superior craftsman than Peele, Bong is perhaps the contemporary master of entertaining, intelligent and resolutely political cinema. In our age of assembly line blockbusters, he’s a veritable treasure,” Giovanni Marchini Camia said in our review of the film, which will be released in the U.S. by NEON.
In additional, Mati Diop’s Atlantics picked up the Grand Prize, while Les Misérables and Bacurau tied for the Jury Prize. The Dardennes grabbed Best Director(s) for Young Ahmed, while Antonio Banderas and Emily Beecham picked up the top acting prizes. One of the most-praised films of the festival, Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, earned Best Screenplay.
In other sections, Karim Aïnouz’s The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, Nicolas Pariser’s Alice And The Mayor, Robert Eggers’s The Lighthouse, and more picked up prizes. See the full lists below and check back for more coverage from the festival.
Competition Winners
Palme d’Or: Parasite, directed by Bong Joon-ho
Grand Prix: Atlantics, directed by Mati Diop
Jury Prize: (tie) Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables and Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau
Best Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne for Young Ahmed
Best Actor: Antonio Banderas for Pain & Glory
Best Actress: Emily Beecham for Little Joe
Best Screenplay: Celine Sciamma for Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Un Certain Regard Winners
Un Certain Regard Prize: The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, Karim Aïnouz
Jury Prize: Fire Will Come, Oliver Laxe
Best Director: Beanpole, Kantemir Balagov,
Best Performance: Chiara Mastroianni, On a Magical Night
Special Jury Prize: Liberté, Albert Serra
Special Jury Mention: Joan of Arc, Bruno Dumont
Coup de Coeur Award: A Brother’s Love, Monia Chokri; The Climb, Michael Angelo Covino
Directors’ Fortnight Winners
Europa Cinemas Labele: Alice And The Mayor, Nicolas Pariser
SACD Prize: An Easy Girl, Rebecca Zlotowski
Illy Short Film: Stay Awake, Be Ready, Pham Thien An
Cinefoundation First Prize: Mano A Mano, Louise Courvoisier (CinéFabrique, France)
Second Prize:
Hiéu, Richard Van (CalArts, U.S.)
Third Prize (tie): Ambiance, Wisam Al Jafari (Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture, Palestine) and The Little Soul, Barbara Rupik (PWSFTviT, Poland)
Critics’ Week Winners
Nespresso Grand Prize: I Lost My Body, Jérémy Clapin
Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film: She Runs, Qiu Yang
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Ingvar E. Sigurðsson, A White, White Day
Gan Foundation Award for Distribution: The Jokers Films, French distributor for Vivarium by Lorcan Finnegan
SACD Award: César Díaz, Our Mothers
Canal+ Award for Short Film: Ikki Illa Meint, Andrias Høgenni
FIPRESCI Critics Awards
Competition: It Must be Heaven, Elia Suleiman
Un Certain Regard: Beanpole, Kantemir Balagov
Directors’ Fortnight/Critics’ Week: The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers