After 21 world premieres, nearly two weeks of red carpet parades and hundreds of thousands of camera flashes, the 76th Cannes Film Festival concluded on Saturday with its top award ceremony, the Palme d’Or Yellow.
One of cinema’s most sought-after awards will be decided by this year’s jury, chaired by two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund. The short ceremony will take place before the festival’s closing night film, the Pixar animated feature “Elemental”.
Any of the 21 films in the main Cannes competition can win the Palme d’Or. Among this year’s festival’s most critically-acclaimed pieces are Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a macabre adaptation by Martin Amis about a German family living next door to Auschwitz; “Falling Leaves,” End of filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki’s romance; and “Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet’s French Alps courtroom drama.
Two of them — “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest” — German actress Sandra Hüller, are likely contenders for best actress.
The festival’s Uncertain Interest category presented its prize on Friday, awarding top prize to Molly Manning Walker’s feature debut, “How to Have Sex.”
Saturday’s ceremony closes out a Cannes version with no shortage of spectacle, stars, or controversy.
The biggest capacity premieres came out of the competition. Martin Scorsese debuts the murder epic Osage Killers of the Flower Moon, a grand vision of American exploitation with Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Harrison Ford’s farewell film to Indy, debuted with a tribute to Ford. Wes Anderson premiered “Asteroid City”.
The festival opened with much controversy. “Jeanne du Barry,” a period drama starring Johnny Depp as Louis XV, premiered on opening night. The premiere marks Depp’s most prominent appearance since the end of his explosive trial last year with ex-wife Amber Heard.
The selection of “Jeanne du Barry” added to criticisms of Cannes being too hospitable to men accused of abusive behavior.
Cannes, which requires competing films to comply with France’s strict window rules, has remained deadlocked with Netflix in recent years. Interestingly, however, a Netflix release could potentially win the Palme d’Or. After Todd Haynes’ May December, starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, premiered in competition, Netflix purchased it for North American distribution for a reported $11 million.
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Follow AP Screenwriter Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
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For more information about this year’s film festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival
