The Cannes Film Festival winners were announced on Sunday, the final day of the world’s most important festival. Steven Spielberg and his jury picked Abdellatif Kechiche’s lesbian drama Blue is the Warmest Color for the Palme D’Or.
The film, which carries the French title La vie d’Adele, is about blue-haired 15-year-old Adele (Adele Exarchopoulos) who discovers her love for another woman. It clocks in at three hours and features graphic sex scenes, but the film won wide praise after its screening. Variety reports that Sundance Selects has nabbed U.S. rights to the film. Kechiche’s last film, The Secret of the Grain, was released by IFC Films in the U.S.
It will be interesting to see if the film can gain enough international traction throughout the rest of the year to remain on the radar come Oscar time. Last year’s winner, Michael Haneke’s Amour, went on to win the Oscar for Best Foreign film and was nominated for Best Picture.
The latest film from Joel and Ethan coen, Inside Llewyn Davis, captured the Grand Prix second prize. CBS Films quickly acquired distribution of the film in February.
Best Director went to Amat Escalante for Heli, while Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Like Father, Like Son won the Jury Prize.
Acting honors went to Berenice Bejo, who appears in Asghar Farhadi’s Le Passe, and veteran actor Bruce Dern, who stars in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska.
The Camera D’Or, which honors the best debut feature shown, went to Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo.
image: festival-cannes.fr/WILD BUNCH/QUAT’SOUS FILMS