French Director Julia Ducournau's 'Titane'... Lee Byung-hun Presents Best Actress Award
The Palme d'Or, the highest honor at the 74th Cannes International Film Festival, was awarded to a female director for only the second time in history. The recipient was French director Julia Ducournau. Her film "Titane" was announced as the winner at the closing ceremony held on the 17th (local time) at the Lumi?re Grand Theatre in Cannes, France. It has been 28 years since a female director won the Palme d'Or, following Jane Campion for "The Piano" in 1993.
"Titane" is a thriller depicting the reunion of a child who disappeared 10 years ago and their father amid a series of unsolved murder cases. It was regarded as the most provocative and violent film among this year's competition entries. In her acceptance speech, Ducournau said, "Every year watching the Cannes awards, I thought, 'Those films on stage must be perfect,'" adding, "Today I am on the same stage, but my film is not perfect." She continued, "I believe no film can ever be perfect in the eyes of its creator," and expressed gratitude to the jury for accepting a film that some might consider monstrous.
At the press conference, Ducournau responded to the praise of being the second female director to win the Palme d'Or by saying, "I hope the award I received is not related to the fact that I am a woman." She added, "I thought about how the first female winner, Campion, must have felt," and expressed hope that other female winners would follow in her footsteps.
Renate Reinsve (Norway) for 'The Worst Person in the World' and Caleb Landry Jones (USA) for 'Nitram' won Best Actress and Best Actor awards, respectively. Actor Lee Byung-hun took the stage as the presenter for the Best Actress award and said, "This film festival is very special to me. Director Bong Joon-ho opened the door, and fellow actor Song Kang-ho was on the jury." He then pointed to Jury President Spike Lee and made a joke about sharing the same surname, eliciting laughter.
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