2012 Cannes Film Festival

The 65th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 16 to May 27, 2012.^[1][2] Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition^[3] and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section.^[4] French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.^[5]

The festival opened with the US film Moonrise Kingdom, directed by Wes Anderson and closed with the late Claude Miller's final film Thérèse Desqueyroux.^[6] The main announcement of the line-up took place on April 19. The official poster of the festival features Marilyn Monroe, to mark the 50th anniversary of her death.^[7]

The Palme d'Or was awarded to Austrian director Michael Haneke for his film Amour. Haneke previously won the Palme d'Or in 2009 for The White Ribbon. The jury gave the Grand Prize to Matteo Garrone's Reality, while Ken Loach's The Angels' Share was awarded the Jury Prize.

Official selection

The official selection was announced on 19 April at Grand Hôtel in Paris. Among comments after the announcement, journalists noted the unusually high number of Hollywood films in the line-up, the absence of any female director in the main competition, as well as the absence of competing first-time feature film directors.^[8][9] The festival's artistic leader Thierry Frémaux responded that people should not focus only on the competition films: "The selection is an ensemble; you have to consider the whole package."^[9]

Competition

The following films were selected as In Competition:^[10][11]

Un Certain Regard

The following films were screened in the Un Certain Regard section:^[10]

Out of Competition

The following films were screened out of competition:^[10]

Midnight Screenings

65th Anniversary

Special Screenings

The following films were screened in the Special Screenings section:^[10]

Short Films

Out of 4,500 submissions, the following films were selected for the short film competition:^[12]

Cinéfondation

The Cinéfondation section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The following entries were selected, out of more than 1,700 submissions from 320 different schools:^[12]

Parallel sections

Directors' Fortnight

The line-up for the Directors' Fortnight was announced at a press conference on 24 April.^[13] The following films were selected:^[14]

Feature films

Short films

International Critics' Week

The line-up for the International Critics’ Week was announced on 23 April at the section's website. The feature competition consists entirely of directorial debuts, something the section's artistic director Charles Tesson stressed was not intentional, but only the way it turned out when the submissions had been judged by quality.^[15] The following films were selected:^[16]

Feature films

Short and medium length films

Special Screenings

Cannes Classics

The following films were screened in the Cannes Classics section.^[17][18] The Hungarian "montage film" Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen, directed by György Pálfi, was selected as the closing film for the Cannes Classics section.^[17]

Restorations

Documentaries

Key

*	Directorial debut feature; eligible for the Caméra d'Or
†	Winner of the main award for best film in its section
The opening and closing films are screened during the opening and closing ceremonies respectively.

Juries

The main competition jury; from left to right: Alexander Payne, Andrea Arnold, Jean Paul Gaultier, Hiam Abbass, Emmanuelle Devos, Raoul Peck, Diane Kruger, Nanni Moretti, Ewan McGregor, and festival president Gilles Jacob

Nanni Moretti, head of the main competition jury

Competition

• Nanni Moretti, Italian filmmaker (President)^[19]
• Hiam Abbass, Palestinian actress and director
• Andrea Arnold, English filmmaker
• Emmanuelle Devos, French actress
• Jean Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
• Diane Kruger, German actress
• Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
• Alexander Payne, American filmmaker
• Raoul Peck, Haitian filmmaker

Un Certain Regard

• Tim Roth, British actor (President)
• Leïla Bekhti, French actress
• Tonie Marshall, French actress and filmmaker
• Luciano Monteagudo, Argentine film critic
• Sylvie Pras, French responsible for cinemas at the Pompidou Centre and artistic director of the festival of La Rochelle

Caméra d'Or

• Carlos Diegues, Brazilian film director (President)^[20]
• Gloria Satta, Italian film journalist
• Rémy Chevrin, French cinematographer
• Hervé Icovic, French art director
• Michel Andrieu, French film director
• Francis Gavelle, French film critic

Cinéfoundation and short films

• Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgian filmmaker (President)^[21]
• Arsinée Khanjian, Canadian actress
• Karim Aïnouz, Brazilian filmmaker
• Emmanuel Carrère, French novelist and filmmaker
• Yu Lik-wai, Chinese cinematographer and director

International Critics' Week

Nespresso Grand Prize^[22]

• Bertrand Bonello, French film director (President)
• Francisco Ferreira, Portuguese film critic
• Akiko Kobari, Japanese film and dance critic
• Robert Koehler, American film critic
• Hanns-Georg Rodek, German film critic

France 4 Visionary Award ^[22]

• Céline Sciamma, French film director
• Victor-Emmanuel Boinem, Belgian film student and blogger
• Kim Seehe, South Korean student and film critic
• Ryan Lattanzio, American student and lead film critic at The Daily Californian
• Bikas Mishra, Indian founder and editor of DearCinema.com

Nikon Discovery Award for Short Film ^[23]

• João Pedro Rodrigues, Portuguese film director (President)
• Danny Lennon, Canadian film curator
• Marianne Khoury, Egyptian film director and producer
• Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazilian film director, curator, and critic
• Jakub Felcman, Czech film curator

Awards

Official selection

In Competition^[24]

The Palme d'Or was won by the French-language film Amour directed by Michael Haneke. Haneke previously won the award for The White Ribbon in 2009.^[25] Love tells the story of an elderly couple preparing for death.^[26] During his acceptance speech, the director said "A very, very big thanks to my actors who have made this film. It's their film. They are the essence of this film."^[25]

Moretti said that none of the winners had been selected unanimously, and described such an outcome as "a middle ground that would have pleased no one". He revealed that Holy Motors, Paradise: Love and Post Tenebras Lux were the entries that most had divided the jury.^[27]

• Palme d'Or – Amour by Michael Haneke
• Grand Prix – Reality by Matteo Garrone
• Best Director – Carlos Reygadas for Post Tenebras Lux
• Best Screenplay – Beyond the Hills by Cristian Mungiu
• Best Actress – Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan for Beyond the Hills
• Best Actor – Mads Mikkelsen for The Hunt
• Jury Prize – The Angels' Share by Ken Loach

Un Certain Regard^[24]

• Prize of Un Certain Regard – Después de Lucía by Michel Franco
• Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize – Le grand soir by Benoît Delépine, and Gustave de Kervern
• Un Certain Regard Special Distinction – Children of Sarajevo by Aida Begić
• Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actress:
  • Émilie Dequenne in Loving Without Reason
  • Suzanne Clément in Laurence Anyways

Short Films^[24]

• Short Film Palme d'Or - Silent by L. Rezan Yesilbas

Cinéfondation^[24]

• 1st Prize – The Road to by Taisia Igumentseva
• 2nd Prize – Abigail by Matthew James Reilly
• 3rd Prize – The Hosts by Miguel Angel Moulet

Golden Camera^[24]

• Caméra d'Or - Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin

Parallel sections

Directors' Fortnight^[28]

• Art Cinema Award – No by Pablo Larraín
• Europa Cinemas – The Repentant by Merzak Allouache
• Prix SACD – Camille Rewinds by Noémie Lvovsky
• Premier Prix Illy for Short Filmmaking – The Curse by Fyzal Boulifa
• Special mention Prix SACD - Ernest & Celestine by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner
• Special mention Prix Illy – The Living Also Cry by Basil da Cunha

Critics' Week^[29]

• Grand Prix Nespresso – Aqui y alla by Antonio Méndez Esparza
• France 4 Visionary Award – Sofia's Last Ambulance by Ilian Metev
• Prix SACD – God's Neighbors by Meni Yaesh
• ACID/CCAS Prize – The Wild Ones by Alejandro Fadel

Independent awards

FIPRESCI Prize^[30]

• In Competition - In the Fog by Sergei Loznitsa
• Un Certain Regard - Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
• Directors' Fortnight - Hold Back by Rachid Djaïdani

Ecumenical Jury^[30]

• Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - The Hunt by Thomas Vinterberg
• Special Mention - Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin

Prize of the Youth Jury^[31]

• Prix de la Jeunesse - Holy Motors by Leos Carax
• Prix Regard Jeune - Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin

Queer Palm Jury^[32]

• Queer Palm Award - Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan
• Short Film Queer Palm - It's Not a Cowboy Movie by Benjamin Parent

Palm Dog Jury^[33]

• Palm Dog Award - Smurf in Sightseers
• Grand Jury Prize - Billy Bob in Le grand soir

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

• Official Cannes Festival Site (in English)
• Short Film Corner catalogue
• 65th Cannes Film Festival 2012
• 65ème Festival de Cannes