Cannes: Cristian Mungiu's 'Fjord' wins the Palme d'Or at the 79th festival

Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” won the Palme d’Or at the 79th Festival de Cannes, according to the festival’s official winners list published after the closing ceremony on Saturday, May 23. The award gave the Romanian director his second Palme d’Or, nearly two decades after “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” won the prize in 2007, according to trade coverage published after the ceremony. (festival-cannes.com) Festival materials said the competition jury was chaired by South Korean director Park Chan-wook. Trade reports identified Neon as the film’s distributor and named Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as the film’s lead actors. (variety.com) ### Which official Cannes document confirmed the result? (festival-cannes.com) The Festival de Cannes posted “The 79th Festival de Cannes winners’ list” on May 23, listing “FJORD directed by Cristian MUNGIU” as the Palme d’Or winner. The same release set out the rest of the competition awards, including the Grand Prix for “Minotaure” by Andreï Zviaguintsev and the Jury Prize for “Das Geträumte Abenteuer” by Valeska Grisebach. A separate Cannes press note on the closing ceremony said the winners would be selected from 22 films in Competition and announced by the jury on May 23. That note also said Eye Haïdara hosted the closing ceremony after presenting the opening ceremony on May 12. (festival-cannes.com) ### Why is this a notable win for Cristian Mungiu? Variety and Deadline both reported that the award was Mungiu’s second Palme d’Or. Deadline said his first came for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” in 2007 and added that he had also won Cannes prizes for screenplay in 2012 and directing in 2016. (festival-cannes.com) Deadline reported that Mungiu became the 10th director to win two Palme d’Ors. Variety separately described “Fjord” as the latest film to extend Neon’s run at the festival. ### Who is in “Fjord,” and what has been reported about the film? The Hollywood Reporter’s awards coverage identified “Fjord” as starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. (festival-cannes.com) Screen Daily reported during the festival that the film was a family drama and described it as Mungiu’s first feature with an international cast. Deadline reported that “Fjord” was Mungiu’s first film since the 2022 drama “R.M.N.” One pre-awards festival report described the story as centered on a Romanian-Norwegian family in Norway after authorities remove their children over alleged abuse, though the official Cannes winners release did not include a plot synopsis. (deadline.com) (variety.com) ### Where does Neon fit into the story? Variety reported that Neon took the Palme d’Or for the seventh consecutive year with “Fjord.” Deadline also said the win extended the U.S. distributor’s Cannes streak, tracing it back to 2019. Trade coverage published after the ceremony framed the result as another Cannes acquisition and awards-season marker for Neon, though release timing and commercial rollout details were not included in the official Cannes materials reviewed. (msn.com) That is an inference based on the distributor identification in trade reporting and the absence of release-date information in the festival’s winners list. (deadline.com) ### What else did Cannes award on closing night? The Cannes winners list named Pawel Pawlikowski and the directing team of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi as joint Best Director winners, while Emmanuel Marre won Best Screenplay for “Notre Salut.” The festival also awarded Best Performance for an Actress to Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto for “Soudain,” and Best Performance for an Actor to Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for “Coward.” (variety.com) Festival de Cannes posted a separate winners press conference item on May 24 featuring remarks from the prize recipients after the ceremony. The full awards list, including Un Certain Regard, Caméra d’or and short film prizes, remains available on the festival’s official site. (variety.com) (festival-cannes.com 1) (festival-cannes.com 2)