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 |  Subject: Turkish Film ‘Winter Sleep’ Wins Top Honor at Cannes  Sat May 24, 2014 9:41 pm | |
| The 67th Cannes Film Festival came to a restrained close Saturday night when the Palme d’Or was awarded to the Turkish film “Winter Sleep.” Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the 3 hour and 16 minute philosophical talkfest about life and death, good and evil, the beauty of the natural world and art of conversation, had been a critics’ favorite in a competition lineup many deemed solid if lacking in revelations.
“This is a great surprise for me,” Mr. Ceylan said in English. “This year is the 100th year of Turkish cinema, and it’s a good coincidence, I think.”
Mr. Ceylan dedicated his Palme to “the young people of Turkey, those who lost their lives during the last year.” With the grave deliberation that characterizes his movies, he repeated the dedication twice.
The French actor Lambert Wilson presided over the ceremony in the majestic Lumière Theater, the largest in the event’s headquarters. Jane Campion served as the president of this year’s main competition jury, which included several other directors and performers who sat onstage as the winners were announced.
The Caméra d’Or, given to the best first feature, was presented by the director Nicole Garcia and Gilles Jacob, the festival’s longtime programmer and president who is retiring this year. He was greeted by a sustained standing ovation.
The Caméra d’Or was given to “Party Girl,” a sentimental French film about a middle-age nightclub worker who struggles after she decides to quit the go-go life to settle down with one of her regulars. “My mother is a party girl,” said Samuel Theis, who was flanked by his female co-directors, Marie Amachoukeli and Claire Burger. They were soon upstaged by Mr. Jacob, who presented Ms. Campion with a bouquet — “Jane, you know what you mean to me” — before exiting the stage to a second standing ovation.
The prize for the best actor was given to Timothy Spall, who plays J. M. W. Turner in “Mr. Turner,” directed by Mike Leigh. Mr. Spall, who looked gobsmacked (“I’m a bit overcome”), explained that just four hours earlier he had been on his boat with his arm up a pipe when he had received a call telling him to return to Cannes. The best actress prize went to Julianne Moore for her comic performance as a terrifyingly ambitious Los Angeles actress in “Maps to the Stars,” the latest from David Cronenberg.
The screenwriting award was given to Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin, for “Leviathan,” a severely beautiful Russian film directed by Mr. Zvyagintsev. The Jury Prize was split by “Mommy,” from the young Canadian director Xavier Dolan, and “Goodbye to Language,” by Jean-Luc Godard, uniting the youngest director in the main competition with the oldest.
The best director prize went to the American filmmaker Bennett Miller for “Foxcatcher,” a true-crime tale about the heir John E. du Pont and the wrestling brothers Mark and Dave Schultz. The Grand Prize, introduced by Sophia Loren and effectively an award for the runner-up, went to the Italian director Alice Rohrwacher for “Le Meraviglie,” a coming-of-age story.
The Palme for the best short film was given to “Leidi,” directed by Simón Mesa Soto. On Friday night, the award for Un Certain Regard, a sidebar section, was presented to “White God,” an allegorical tale from the Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó about dogs who rise up against their masters.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/world/europe/turkish-film-winter-sleep-wins-top-honor-at-cannes.html?_r=0 |
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