On the 24th and 25th of May, the Cannes Film Festival announced its winners for the 2024 Un Certain Regard competition, and the official 77th Festival de Cannes competition.
The Un Certain Regard competition focuses on new voices in cinema, while the mainline official competition looks at both established and emerging filmmakers.
Here is a list of all the winners from this year’s festival.
All the Cannes Film Festival winners of 2024
Palme d’Or
Sean Baker, Anora
Synopsis: ‘Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.’
Directed by Sean Baker. Country of origin: United States.
Grand Prix
All We Imagine As Light
Synopsis: ‘In Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest.’
Directed by Payal Kapadia. Country of origin: France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg.
Jury Prize
Emilia Pérez
Synopsis: ‘Overqualified and undervalued, Rita is a lawyer at a large firm that is more interested in getting criminals off the hook than bringing them to justice. One day, she is given an unexpected way out, when cartel leader Manitas hires her to help him withdraw from his business and realize a plan he has been secretly preparing for years: to become the woman he has always dreamt of being.’
Directed by Jacques Audiard. Country of origin: France.
Read: Australian film projects and filmmakers head to market at Cannes
Best Director
Miguel Gomes, Grand Tour
Synopsis: ‘Rangoon, Burma, 1917. Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married. During his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what has become of Molly …Determined to get married and amused by Edward’s move, Molly follows his trail on this Asian grand tour.’
Country of origin: Portugal, Italy, France.
Best Screenplay
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Synopsis: ‘Have you ever dreamed of a better version of yourself? You should try this new product: The Substance. It changed my life. With The Substance, you can generate another version of yourself: younger, more beautiful, more perfect… Just share the time. One week for one, one week for the other. A perfect balance of seven days. Easy, isn’t it? If you follow the instructions, what could go wrong?’
Country of origin: United Kingdom, United States, France.
Best Actress
Adriana Paz, Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez
Best Actor
Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
Synopsis: ‘Three stories revolve around a man who tries to take control of his own life, a policeman whose wife seems like a different person, and a woman who searches for someone with a special ability.’
Honorary Palme d’Or
George Lucas
Special Award
Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Synopsis: ‘Iman, an investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, who grapples with mistrust and paranoia as nationwide political protests intensify and his gun mysteriously disappears.’
Country of origin: Germany, France, Iran.
Note: Sharmill Films has acquired The Seed of the Sacred Fig for Australian distribution.
Camera d’Or for Best First Film
Halfdan Ullman Tondel, Armand
Synopsis: ‘Armand, a 6-year-old boy, is accused of crossing boundaries against his best friend at elementary school. While no one knows what actually happened between the two boys, the incident triggers a series of events, forcing parents and school staff into a captivating battle of redemption where madness, desire and obsession arise.’
Country of origin: Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden.
Palme d’Or for Best Short Film
Nebojsa Slijepcevic, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Synopsis: ‘The film dramatizes the Štrpci massacre of 1993, when 24 Bosniak Muslims were pulled off a train by the Serbian White Eagles paramilitary group and massacred; it centres on Tomo Buzov (Dragan Mićanović), the sole non-Bosniak passenger on the train who tried to stand up against the attackers.’
Country of origin: Croatia, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia.
Palm Dog
Kodi, Dog on Trial
Synopsis: ‘Avril, a young lawyer specializing in the defense of animals, is ready to do anything to save her client, a recidivist dog, from capital punishment. Between belief in justice and growing difficulties to bear the contempt of humans for animals, it is this dog who will help Avril to accept her human complexity.’
Country: Switzerland, France.
Un Certain Regard Winners
Special mention
Norah, dir. Tawfik Alzaidi
Synopsis: ‘Set in 1996, years before cinema and other art forms were reintroduced to the Saudi mainstream, the film follows orphaned teenager Norah (Maria Bahrawi), who lives with her aunt’s family in a scant desert village with strict, God-fearing rules about gender separation and the impermissibility of art.’
Country: Saudi Arabia.
Youth Award
Holy Cow, dir. Louise Courvoisier
Synopsis: ‘After the death of his father, 18-year-old Totone must grow up quickly to look after his younger sister and their family farm in Jura. He assumes even more responsibility when he enters the competition for the best Comte cheese in the region.’
Country: France.
Best Actress
Anasuya Sengupta, The Shameless
Synopsis: ‘In the dead of night, Renuka escapes from a Delhi brothel after stabbing a policeman to death. She takes refuge in a community of sex workers in northern India, where she meets Devika, a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.’
Country of film’s origin: Switzerland, Bulgaria, France, Taiwan, India.
Read: Sophie Wilde to receive rising star award at Cannes
Best Actor
Aboue Sangaré, L’Histoire de Souleymane
Synopsis: ‘A Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker named Souleymane has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure legal residency.’
Country: France.
Best Director ex-aequo
Roberto Minervini, The Damned
Synopsis: ‘Winter 1862. In the midst of the Civil War, the US Army sends a company of volunteer soldiers to the western territories, with the task of patrolling the unchartered borderlands. As their mission ultimately changes course, the meaning behind their engagement begins to elude them.’
Country: United States, Belgium.
Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Synopsis: ‘On an empty road in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across the body of her uncle. As funeral proceedings begin around them, she and her cousins bring to light the buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family.’
Country: Zambia, United Kingdom, Ireland.
Jury Prize
L’histoire De Souleymane, dir. Boris Lojkine
Country: France.
Un Certain Regard Prize
Black Dog, dir. Guan Hu
Synopsis: ‘Erlang, who has been wandering for ten years, returns to his hometown and prepares to spend the rest of his life with a cynical philosophy of survival. Erlang joins a private dog-fighting team and spends his days transporting stray dogs. During transfers he meets a dog with the blood of a wolf named Mashing.’
Country: China.
For more information, head to the Cannes Film Festival website.
