The drama by Iranian director Jafar Panahi „An Ordinary Accident“ (Yek tasadef sadeh) was awarded for best feature film in the main competition program of the 78th Cannes Film Festival.
The grand prize, the „Palme d'Or“, was solemnly awarded to him at the closing ceremony of the film festival, which was broadcast on the France 2 television channel.
This is not the first award that the Iranian director has won at the Cannes Film Festival. Back in 1995, he was awarded the “Golden Camera“ for “Best Debut“ for “White Ball“ (Badkonake sefid, 1995). In 2018, the jury awarded his film “Three Faces“ (Se rokh, 2018) for best screenplay, and in 2022 he was awarded a special jury prize for the drama “Without Bears“.
The Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival - the second most important award - was awarded by the jury to the comedy-drama by Norwegian director Joachim Trier “Sentimental Value“ (Affeksjonsverdi).
The third highest award of the festival - the Jury Prize - was awarded simultaneously to two films: “Sirat“ by Franco-Spanish director Olivier Lachet and “The Sound of Falling“ by German director Masha Schilinski.
Actor Wagner Moura, who starred in the Brazilian film “Secret Agent“ (O Agente Secreto), won the award for best actor.
The award for best actress went to Nadia Meliti, who stars in Afsia Erzi's drama “The Younger Last“ (La Petite Derni re)
The award for best director was given to Brazilian Kleber Mendonça Filho, who presented his film “Secret Agent“.
The jury awarded the award for best screenplay to the brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for their film “Young Mothers“ (Jeunes m res).
The best short film of the festival was announced as “I'm Glad You're Dead Now“ by director Taufik Barhom.
“The Golden Camera“ - the award for best directorial debut, went to Hassan Hadi for the drama “The President's Cake“ (The President's Cake).
The Special Jury Prize went to the film “Resurrection“ (Kuang ye shi dai) by Chinese director Bi Gan.
“This is the best work in the world“, said French director Claude Lellouche, who presented the award for best director and himself won the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966 for the film “A Man and a Woman“, which brought him worldwide fame.
The 78th Cannes Film Festival was held at the Palais des Festivals and Congresses in Cannes from May 13 to 24. The jury was chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche. Two dozen films were selected to participate in the main competition for feature films. In total, almost three thousand films were presented at the festival.
On the opening day, the honorary “Palme d'Or“ for his long-standing contribution to the development of cinema was awarded to 81-year-old American actor Robert De Niro, whose creative career began in the 1960s and includes 110 films. The second honorary award went to American actor Denzel Washington, who has starred in more than 50 films.
The last day of the film festival was almost ruined by a major power outage that affected several municipalities in the Alpes-Maritimes department. And while the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was able to restore power relatively quickly with the help of mobile generators and continue screening films, cinemas in the neighborhood have not yet been able to resume their activities, which has affected the screenings of the festival's out-of-competition program.
Power has now been restored in the region. However, authorities are investigating the incidents that led to the power outage, which according to preliminary data were the result of “malicious acts“. The incident is linked to an alleged arson at an electrical substation in the neighboring department of Var and damage to poles on a high-voltage power line.