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Japenese film Shoplifters wins highest prize at Cannes

Cannes - The 71st Cannes Film Festival culminated Saturday with the Palme d'Or awarded to Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters, a tender portrait of a poor, improvised family, while Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento vowed justice will come for sexual predators.

At the closing ceremony for the French Riviera festival, the Cate Blanchett-led jury selected one of the festival's most acclaimed entries, one hailed as a modest masterpiece from a veteran filmmaker renowned for his delicate touch. Shoplifters is about a small-time thief who takes a young, alone girl home to his family; after seeing scars from abuse, they decide to keep her and raise her as their own.


While many speculated that the Cate Blanchett-led jury might award only the second Palme d'Or to a film directed by a woman, the most likely contender — Lebanese director Nadine Labaki's Capernaum — was instead given Cannes' jury prize. The film drew a rousing standing ovation but less enthusiastic critic reviews for its tale of a 12-year-old boy living in poverty who sues his parents for neglect.

Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, the highest profile American film in competition at Cannes, was awarded the grand prize. The film ignited the French Riviera festival with its true tale of a black police detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Lee connected the film to modern day with real footage from last year's violent white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.

"I take this on the behalf of the People's Republic of Brooklyn, New York," said Lee, accepting his award.

GENDER EQUALITY DEBATE SHAKES UP CANNES

The 12-day festival, the first since the downfall of Weinstein, who was for decades an annual fixture in Cannes. And in the aftermath, this year's Cannes was shaken by debate over gender equality in the film industry and at Cannes. In a striking rally, 82 women — the same number of female filmmakers to ever be selected to Cannes competition lineup — stood on the Palais red-carpet steps, as Blanchett said, "a symbol of our determination to change and progress."

Some changes were swift. Just days later, with Blanchett's jury looking on, Cannes' Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux signed a pledge to make the festival's selection process more transparent and promised other measures to improve the festival's record of including female filmmakers.

It was also a part of Saturday's closing ceremony. Argento raised a fist raised high on the red carpet. The actress has said Weinstein raped her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. (Weinstein has denied all accusations of non-consensual sex.)

"In 1997, I was raped by Harvey Weinstein here at Cannes. I was 21 years old. This festival was his hunting ground," said Argento at the ceremony. "I want to make a prediction: Harvey Weinstein will never be welcomed here ever again."


"And even tonight, sitting among you, there are those who still have to be held accountable for their conduct against women for behaviour that does not belong in this industry," said Argento. "You know who you are. But more importantly, we know who you are. And we're not going to allow you to get away with it any longer."

Following last year's Cannes, jury member Jessica Chastain was critical about the female representation on view in that year's films. Blanchett told reporters Saturday that her concerns were primarily behind the camera. Three of this year's 21 films in competition were directed by women.

"All of us, men and women alike on the jury would love to see more female directorial voices represented," said Blanchett. "I feel that there's a very strong drive within the organisation of the Cannes Film Festival to make sure they explore, with a curious hat on, female perspectives. There perhaps weren't as many female driven narratives as I would have liked but there certainly some powerhouse female performances."

BEST SCREENPLAY PRIZE SPLIT

The prize for best screenplay was split between Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher's time-warped fable about a poor farm boy in rural Italy "Happy as Lazzaro" and Nader Saeivar and Jafar Panahi's script for Three Faces.


Panahi has been banned from traveling outside Iran since he was arrested for participating in "propaganda against the regime" in 2010 after supporting mass protests over the country's disputed 2009 election. Both Panahi and Russia's Kirill Serebrennikov were unable to attend their Cannes premieres because they are barred from traveling out of their home countries. Seats were left earlier empty Panahi and Serebrennikov, who received standing ovations in absentia.

A "Palme d'Or Speciale," a special award not previously awarded, was given to Jean-Luc Godard for "continually striving to define and refine what cinema can be," said Blanchett. Godard's Image Book is a film essay collage that contemplates the West's relationship to the Arab world. The 87-year-old French filmmaking legend called into his Cannes press conference via FaceTime.

The closing ceremony came ahead of the premiere of Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. Famously victim to countless delays and debacles, the film took nearly 30 years for Gilliam to complete. And its Cannes premiere was still almost cancelled because of an injunction sought by producer Paolo Branco, who insisted the festival needed his permission. French courts last week denied Branco's request, allowing the screening to move forward.


SEE THE FULL WINNER’S LIST HERE:

Palme d'Or
"Shoplifters" by Hirokazu Kore-Eda (Japan)

Grand Prix
"BlacKkKlansman" by Spike Lee (US)

Jury Prize: 
"Capernaum" by Nadine Labaki (Lebanon)

Special Palme d'Or:
Jean-Luc Godard (France, Switzerland) for "The Image Book"

Best director
Pawel Pawlikowski (Poland) for "Cold War"

Best actress
 Samal Yeslyamova (Kazakhstan) for "Ayka"

Best actor
Marcello Fonte (Italy) for "Dogman"

Best first film
"Girl" by Lukas Dhont (Belgium)

Best short film
"All these Creatures" by Charles Williams (Australia)

Special mention for short film
"On The Border" by Wei Shujun (China)

Best screenplay (tied)
Director Alice Rohrwacher (Italy) for "Happy as Lazzaro" and director Jafar Panahi (Iran) and scriptwriter Nader Saeivar (Iran) for "Three Faces"

READ NEXT: 41 pictures from the 71st Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony


(Photos: Getty Images)

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