Cantet's "The Class" Earns Prestigious Honor at Cannes Film Festival

Laurent Cantet's The Class, a film based in Paris, France where a professor is challenged by tough junior high school students, received the Palme d'Or at the 61st Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. Cantet's film was awarded the Palme d'Or unanimously by a panel of ten judges, led by Jury President Sean Penn and distinguished actress Natalie Portman.

The Class won the Palme d'Or, the most prestigious honor given at the Cannes Film Festival, over 21 other films that were submitted. In his acceptance speech, Cantet explained how he was able to create the ideal film that he envisioned, despite the industry as a whole generally not being open to movies that are considered offbeat.

Cantet said in his speech, "The film we wanted to make was supposed to look like French society: multi-faceted, lively and complex, with conflicts that the film was not going to try to gloss over." Other films that received special praise and recognition included A Christmas Story and Clint Eastwood's film, Changeling.