Loading articles...

The Latest: Ostlund's "The Square" wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

Last Updated May 28, 2017 at 1:20 pm MDT

CANNES, France – The Latest on the Cannes Film Festival (all times local):

8:15 p.m.

The Cannes Film Festival jury has awarded its coveted Palme d’Or award to Ruben Ostlund’s “The Square.”

“Oh my god! OK,” the Swedish filmmaker exclaimed after he bounded onto the stage to collect the prize.

He led the crowd in a cheer, too.

Ostlund previously won the Jury Prize in the 2014 festival’s Un Certain Regard section for “Force Majeure.”

Dominic West, Elisabeth Moss and Claes Bang star in “The Square.”

Bang plays the curator of an art museum, who sets up “The Square,” an installation inviting passers-by to altruism.

But after he reacts foolishly to the theft of his phone, the respected father of two finds himself dragged into shameful situations.

___

8:05 p.m.

Sofia Coppola has won the Cannes Film Festival best director prize for “The Beguiled,” her remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 Civil War drama.

The French AIDS drama “120 Beats Per Minute” won the Grand Prize from the jury. The Grand Prize recognizes a strong film that missed out on the top prize, the Palme d’Or.

The jury also presented a special prize to celebrate the festival’s 70th anniversary, to actress Nicole Kidman.

Kidman wasn’t at the French Rivera ceremony, but sent a video message from Nashville, saying she was “absolutely devastated” to miss the show.

Jury member Will Smith made the best of the situation, pretending to be Kidman.

He fake-cried and said in halting French, “merci beaucoup madames et monsieurs.”

____

7:55 p.m.

Diane Kruger has been named best actress and Joaquin Phoenix best actor at the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival.

Kruger was honoured for her performance in Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade.”

She told the star-studded audience she was “overcome.” Kruger said. “Thank you a thousand times.”

Phoenix was recognized for his role in Lynne Ramsay’s thriller “You Were Never Really Here.”

He played a tormented war veteran trying to save a teenage girl from a sex trafficking ring.

Phoenix wore sneakers on stage as he collected the prize. He said his leather shoes had been flown ahead of him.

He apologized for his appearance, saying the prize was “totally unexpected.”

___

7:50 p.m.

The Cannes Film Festival jury has awarded two — not one — screenplay awards this year — for “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” and “You Were Never Really Here.”

Jury president Pedro Almodovar said as he announced the selection on Sunday night, “We have our first surprise.”

The jury prize went to Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless.”

The Palme d’Or award for short films has gone to the 15-minute-long Chinese movie “A Gentle Night” by Qiu Yang.

___

7:20 p.m.

The Cannes Film Festival awards show is underway, with Italian actress Monica Bellucci as host.

In her opening speech, the Italian actress defended the role of violence in movies, saying they only reflect the violence of the real world.

Bellucci said, “Cinema takes its inspiration from reality.”

“Nothing is more violent than reality,” she added. “Cinema only plays its role as a mirror.”

The festival has handed out its first award: the Golden Camera prize to Leonor Serraille for her French movie “Young Woman.”

The Camera d’Or is awarded to the best first film, with 26 films vying for it this year.

Bellucci also spoke out about the representation of women in the world of cinema. Three female filmmakers have movies among the 19 in competition this year for Cannes’ highest honour, the Palme d’Or.

___

7:10 p.m.

Among those spotted on the Cannes red carpet ahead of the award ceremony was filmmaker Robin Campillo. His AIDS drama “120 Beats Per Minute” earned some of the best reviews of the festival.

Campillo told French broadcaster Canal Plus he had returned to Paris after the screening of his film, but returned after getting a call asking him back for Sunday’s award ceremony.

Does that suggest a possible Palme d’Or? Time will tell.

Campillo’s movie centres on the activist group ACT UP in Paris in the 1990s during the AIDS crisis.

___

7:05 p.m.

The red carpet at Cannes is humming with stars ahead of the ceremony that will award the coveted Palme d’Or prize.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, looking fabulous in a white dress with red patterning on the front, said she and other members of the jury led by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar wrestled Sunday with “a very difficult choice.”

The actress told broadcaster Canal Plus, “We saw beautiful films.”

Fellow jury member Will Smith was bubbly as ever, saying: “I’m ecstatic. This has been a beautiful experience.”

Diane Kruger, in a sober black dress, said: “My heart is beating very, very fast.”

___

5:51 p.m.

The Cannes Film Festival Jury has done its job. But its president isn’t letting slip which film it has picked for the coveted Palme d’Or award.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar told a French BFM television reporter who managed to squeeze a few words out of him that the award deliberations Sunday were “very fast.”

Almodovar said: “We did our work.”

But for the names of the winners: Stay tuned.

___

4:41 p.m.

The Cannes Film Festival is gearing up to award its prestigious Palme d’Or at a glitzy award ceremony.

No single movie has emerged as the clear favourite among the 19 in competition for the coveted prize being awarded Sunday evening.

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar presided over the competition jury. Almodovar has made clear that he doesn’t want the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize, to go to a movie that isn’t shown on big screens.

That could bode ill for Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” and Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories,” the first Netflix releases ever selected to be in competition for the Palme d’Or.

Regarded as cinema’s most prestigious festival, Cannes is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Organizers have declared that next year, streaming-only films will not be accepted for the competition.