The Winners at Cannes

In what is as much a political gesture as a cinematic prize, the top honor of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival was awarded to Thailand’s Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat (Oncle Boomee qui se souvient de ses vies antérieures, or Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), by director Aichatpong Weerasethakul.

The Grand Prize went to a French entry, Des Hommes et Des Dieux (Of God and Men) by Xavier Beauvois, based on the still disputed 1996 kidnapping and murder of seven Trappist monks from the Tibhirine monastery in Algeria.

French actor and director Mathieu Amalric won Best Director for Tournée (On Tour), in which he stars as a French producer on tour with an American burlesque troupe of well-endowed showgirls. Juliette Binoche won Best Actress for Copie Conforme (Certified Copy) by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, and the Best Actor award was a tie between Javier Bardem for Biutiful by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita (Our Life) by Italian director Daniele Luchetti.

Un Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man), by Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, won the Jury Prize.