The 68th annual Cannes Film Festival has come to a close, and this year's winners were announced on Sunday. Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan surprised everyone by taking home the Palme d’Or, Cannes' top prize.
Dheepan portrays the lives of a pseudo-family of Sri Lankan refugees living in Paris. Its win was unexpected, as reactions to the film were less than enthusiastic at Cannes. However, jury co-presidents Ethan and Joel Coen reportedly defended the decision at a press conference after the ceremony.
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“We all thought it was a beautiful movie,” Ethan said.
“This isn’t a jury of film critics," Joel added. "This is a jury of artists looking at the work.”
Here's a partial list of the major awards given at Cannes 2015, according to Variety:
Competition:
Palme d’Or: Dheepan (Jacques Audiard, France)
Grand Prix: Son of Saul (Laszlo Nemes, Hungary)
Director: Hou Hsiao-hsien, The Assassin (Taiwan)
Actor: Vincent Lindon, The Measure of a Man (France)
Actress (tie): Emmanuelle Bercot, Mon roi (France) and Rooney Mara, Carol (UK)
Jury Prize: Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster (Greece-Ireland-U.K.-Netherlands-France)
Screenplay: Michel Franco, Chronic (Mexico-France)
Other prizes:
Palme d’Honneur: Agnes Varda
Camera d’Or: Land and Shade (Cesar Augusto Acevedo, Colombia)
Palme d’Or for Short Film: Waves ’98 (Ely Dagher)
Ecumenical Jury Prize: My Mother (Nanni Moretti)