Fjord wins Palme d'Or

Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” closed the 79th Cannes Film Festival with the Palme d’Or on Saturday, May 23, as the jury led by South Korean director Park Chan-wook announced the main competition prizes at the closing ceremony in Cannes, France. The official festival winners list named “Fjord” the top film of the year’s competition, capping a festival that ran from May 12 to May 23. (festival-cannes.com) Trade outlets including Deadline and IndieWire said the win gave Mungiu his second Palme d’Or, after “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” in 2007. (festival-cannes.com) ### Who won, and who handed over the prize? The Festival de Cannes said Tilda Swinton presented the Palme d’Or at the May 23 closing ceremony. (indiewire.com) The official winners list then recorded the award for “Fjord,” directed by Cristian Mungiu. Deadline reported that Mungiu accepted the prize for a drama starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. The festival’s press material listed “Fjord” among the 22 films selected for the main Competition. ### Why is this win notable for Mungiu? IndieWire said the Palme d’Or for “Fjord” was Mungiu’s second, following his 2007 win for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.” Deadline said that made the Romanian filmmaker the 10th director to win the award twice. (festival-cannes.com) Park Chan-wook, speaking after the ceremony in remarks published by the festival, joked that he had not wanted to award the Palme d’Or because he had never won one himself, before adding that “Fjord” “definitely deserved” it. (festival-cannes.com) The festival published those comments from the winners’ press conference on May 24. (deadline.com) ### What is “Fjord” about, based on festival and trade descriptions? Deadline described “Fjord” as a drama about a mixed Romanian and Norwegian couple, played by Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, who move with their children to a fjord village where the wife was born. Deadline said their planned new life is disrupted when they clash with another couple over sharply different views. (indiewire.com) The festival’s official selection announcement did not include a synopsis in the excerpt available through its press page, but it confirmed “Fjord” as one of the Competition titles unveiled in April. AP described the film as a Norway-set drama about political polarization. (festival-cannes.com) ### What else happened at the ceremony? The Festival de Cannes said Eye Haïdara hosted the closing ceremony and that Park Chan-wook chaired the jury. The official winners list showed Andreï Zviaguintsev’s “Minotaure” taking the Grand Prix, while the Best Director prize was shared by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for “La Bola Negra” and Paweł Pawlikowski for “Fatherland.” (deadline.com) The same winners list gave the Jury Prize to Valeska Grisebach’s “Das Geträumte Abenteuer,” screenplay honors to Emmanuel Marre for “Notre Salut,” and acting prizes to Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto for “Soudain,” and Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for “Coward.” IndieWire and Deadline both published matching awards rundowns on May 23. (festival-cannes.com) ### Who else was part of the closing-weekend Cannes picture? Vanity Fair’s live Cannes coverage identified “Fjord” as the Palme d’Or winner and tracked closing-weekend festival activity. The upstream coverage also pointed to fashion attention around Monica Bellucci, Bella Hadid and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan during the final days of the festival. (festival-cannes.com) Yahoo’s closing-weekend fashion recap also singled out Monica Bellucci, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Bella Hadid among the best-known red-carpet names in Cannes’ final stretch. That coverage ran alongside the awards announcements rather than as part of the official palmarès. (festival-cannes.com) ### What comes next for “Fjord”? Neon was identified by IndieWire as “Fjord’s” North American distributor, and IndieWire said the win marked the company’s seventh consecutive Palme d’Or victor. Deadline also identified Neon with the film in its awards coverage. (festival-cannes.com) The festival has already moved to post-ceremony coverage, publishing a winners’ press conference recap on May 24. The next public milestones are likely to come from distributor release plans and fall festival or awards-season calendars, with Neon positioned as the named company to watch on North American rollout. (festival-cannes.com) (indiewire.com) (festival-cannes.com)