Status: 05/28/2022 11:29 p.m
The Swedish director Östlund won over the Cannes jury with his social satire “Triangle of Sadness”. The award for the best actress went to the Iranian Ebrahimi, the best actor went to the South Korean Song.
Swedish director Ruben Östlund has won the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival for the second time. The jury awarded his social satire “Triangle of Sadness” with the Palme d’Or on Saturday evening. The film is about models and the super-rich whose journey on a luxury cruise ship ends in disaster. “Our goal was to make an engaging film for audiences and thought provoking,” said Östlund upon accepting the hundred-diamond gold trophy. The 48-year-old director had already won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2017 with his film “The Square”.
Iranian Sar Amir Ebrahimi, who lives in exile in France, was awarded best actress at the gala for her role in “Holy Spider”. The award for the best actor went to the South Korean Song Kang Ho, known from the film “Parasite”, who convinced the jury in Cannes as the leading actor in the film “Broker”. The South Korean Park Chan Wook, whose film “Decision to Leave” competed in Cannes, was honored as the best director.
“Triangle of Sadness” wins the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival
Frederike Hofmann, ARD Paris, daily topics 11:15 p.m., May 29, 2022
21 films in competition
A total of 21 films had competed for the Palme d’Or in Cannes. A German contribution was not in the running. The nine-member jury, headed by French actor Vincent Lindon, included Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, his Norwegian colleague Joachim Trier and British actress and filmmaker Rebecca Hall.
Last year, the Palme d’Or went to the unconventional fantasy drama “Titane” by French filmmaker Julia Ducournau. It was only the second time in the festival’s history that a film directed by a woman had won the top prize – following New Zealander Jane Campion’s ‘The Piano’ in 1993. This year five female-directed films competed for the gold award Palme – a record number for Cannes.
War in Ukraine also discussed in Cannes
The film festival was also marked by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Both the Ukrainian director Sergej Losniza and the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikow, who now lives in Berlin, presented their new films in Cannes. The posthumously completed film by Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius, who was killed in April in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, was also shown. At the opening ceremony almost two weeks ago, the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyj surprisingly joined in. In his speech, he appealed to the film world to “raise its voice” against the war in Ukraine.
“Cinema Is Not Dead”
The famous festival on the Côte d’Azur celebrated its 75th edition this year. A gala with stars such as Sophie Marceau, Kristen Stewart, Diane Kruger and Guillermo del Toro took place on Tuesday evening. “Cinema is not dead, cinema is alive and will not die out,” festival director Thierry Frémaux summed up the film for the big screen. Hollywood productions such as the biopic “Elvis” by Baz Luhrmann and the action flick “Top Gun: Maverick” starring Tom Cruise also provided glamor on the Croisette this year. The film festival could take place this year without the obligation to wear masks. Last year it was postponed to the summer due to the corona pandemic, and it had to be canceled in 2020.