# 1996 Cannes Film Festival

The 49th Cannes Film Festival took place from 9 to 20 May 1996. American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola served as jury president for the main competition. Sabine Azéma hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
British filmmaker Mike Leigh won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama film Secrets & Lies.
The festival opened with Ridicule by Patrice Leconte, and closed with Flirting with Disaster by David O. Russell.

## Juries
### Main competition

* Francis Ford Coppola, American filmmaker - Jury President
* Michael Ballhaus, German cinematographer
* Nathalie Baye, French actress
* Henry Chapier, French journalist, presenter and director
* Atom Egoyan, Canadian filmmaker
* Eiko Ishioka, Japanese artist and costume designer
* Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Polish screenwriter
* Greta Scacchi, Italian actress
* Antonio Tabucchi, Italian writer
* Trần Anh Hùng, Vietnamese-French filmmaker

### Camera d'Or

* Françoise Fabian, French actress - Jury President
* Gian Luca Farinelli, Cinephile
* Ramon Font, Critic
* Sandrine Gady, Cinephile
* Jacques Kermabon, Critic
* Daniel Schmid, Swiss director
* Antoine Simkine, French member of the Fédération Nationale des Industries

## Official Selection
### In competition

The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Breaking the Waves | Breaking the Waves | Lars von Trier | Denmark, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Italy, Germany, United States |
| My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument | Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle) | Arnaud Desplechin | France |
| Crash | Crash | David Cronenberg | Canada |
| Drifting Clouds | Kauas pilvet karkaavat | Aki Kaurismäki | Finland |
| Earth | Tierra | Julio Medem | Spain |
| The Eighth Day | Le huitième jour | Jaco Van Dormael | Belgium, France |
| Fargo | Fargo | Joel Coen | United States, United Kingdom |
| Goodbye South, Goodbye | 南國再見,南國 | Hou Hsiao-hsien | Taiwan, Japan |
| Kansas City | Kansas City | Robert Altman | United States |
| The Quiet Room | The Quiet Room | Rolf de Heer | Australia |
| Ridicule (opening film) | Ridicule (opening film) | Patrice Leconte | France |
| The Second Time | La seconda volta | Mimmo Calopresti | Italy |
| Secrets & Lies | Secrets & Lies | Mike Leigh | United Kingdom, France |
| A Self-Made Hero | Un héros très discret | Jacques Audiard | France |
| Stealing Beauty | Beauté volée / Io ballo da sola | Bernardo Bertolucci | France, Italy, United Kingdom |
| The Sunchaser | The Sunchaser | Michael Cimino | United States |
| Temptress Moon | 風月 | Chen Kaige | China |
| Thieves | Les voleurs | André Téchiné | France |
| Three Lives and Only One Death | Trois vies & une seule mort | Raúl Ruiz | France |
| Too Late | Prea târziu | Lucian Pintilie | Romania |
| Tree of Blood | Po di Sangui | Flora Gomes | Guinea-Bissau, France |
| The Van | The Van | Stephen Frears | Ireland |

### Un Certain Regard

The following films were selected for Un Certain Regard section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| At Full Gallop | Cwał | Krzysztof Zanussi | Poland |
| Bastard Out of Carolina | Bastard Out of Carolina | Anjelica Huston | United States |
| La Bouche de Jean-Pierre | La Bouche de Jean-Pierre | Lucile Hadžihalilović | France |
| Buenos Aires Vice Versa | Buenos Aires viceversa | Alejandro Agresti | Argentina, Netherlands |
| The Ferry | Pramis | Laila Pakalniņa | Latvia |
| Few of Us | Mūsų nedaug | Šarūnas Bartas | Lithuania |
| Fourbi | Fourbi | Alain Tanner | France, Switzerland |
| Gabbeh | گبه | Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Iran, France |
| Haifa | Haifa | Rashid Masharawi | Palestine |
| Hard Eight | Sydney | Paul Thomas Anderson | United States |
| I Shot Andy Warhol | I Shot Andy Warhol | Mary Harron | United States, United Kingdom |
| Irma Vep | Irma Vep | Olivier Assayas | France |
| Looking for Richard | Looking for Richard | Al Pacino | United States |
| Love Serenade | Love Serenade | Shirley Barrett | Australia |
| Lulu | Lulu | Srinivas Krishna | Canada |
| The Mail | Pasts | Laila Pakalniņa | Latvia |
| Mossane | Mossane | Safi Faye | Senegal |
| No Way to Forget | No Way to Forget | Richard Frankland | Australia |
| The Pallbearer | The Pallbearer | Matt Reeves | United States |
| The Pillow Book | The Pillow Book | Peter Greenaway | Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg |
| A Saturday on Earth | Un samedi sur la terre | Diane Bertrand | France |
| Some Mother's Son | Some Mother's Son | Terry George | Ireland, United States |
| A Summer's Tale | Conte d'été | Éric Rohmer | France |
| Traveling Companion | Compagna di viaggio | Peter Del Monte | Italy |
| The Waste Land | The Waste Land | Deborah Warner | United Kingdom |

### Out of Competition

The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| The Elective Affinities | Le affinità elettive | Paolo and Vittorio Taviani | Italy, France |
| Flirting with Disaster (closing film) | Flirting with Disaster (closing film) | David O. Russell | United States |
| Girl 6 | Girl 6 | Spike Lee | United States |
| Microcosmos | Microcosmos: Le peuple de l'herbe | Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou | France, Switzerland, Italy, United Kingdom |
| Opening Day of Close-Up (short) | Il giorno della prima di Close Up | Nanni Moretti | Italy |
| Runaway Brain (short) | Runaway Brain (short) | Chris Bailey | United States |
| Trainspotting | Trainspotting | Danny Boyle | United Kingdom |

### Short Films Competition

The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:
* 4 maneras de tapar un hoyo by Guillermo Rendon Rodriguez, Jorge Villalobos de La Torre
* Attraction by Alexeï Diomine
* Brooms by Luke Cresswell, Steve Mcnicholas
* Estoria do gato e da lua by Pedro Miguel Serrazina
* Film Noir by Michael Liu
* Les fourmis rouges by Pierre Erwan Guillaume
* Oru Neenda Yathra by Murali Nair
* Passeio com Johnny Guitar by João César Monteiro
* Petite Sotte by Luc Otter
* Sin #8 by Barbara Heller
* Small Deaths by Lynne Ramsay
* Szél (Wind) by Marcell Iványi
* The Beach by Dorthe Scheffmann
* This Film Is a Dog by Jonathan Ogilvie

## Parallel sections
### International Critics' Week

The following films were screened for the 35th International Critics' Week (35e Semaine de la Critique):
Feature film competition
* Les Aveux de l’innocent by Jean-Pierre Améris (France)
* Yuri by Yoonho Yang (South Korea)
* Mi ultimo hombre by Tatiana Gaviola (Chile)
* The Empty Mirror by Barry J. Hershey (United States)
* The Daytrippers by Greg Mottola (United States)
* A Drifting Life by Lin Cheng-sheng (Taiwan)
* Not Me! (Sous sol) by Pierre Gang (Canada)
Short film competition
* Planet Man by Andrew Bancroft (New Zealand)
* A Summer Dress (Une robe d’été) by François Ozon (France)
* La Grande migration by Youri Tcherenkov (France)
* Le Réveil by Marc Henri Wajnberg (Belgium)
* The Slap by Tamara Hernandez (United States)
* La Tarde de un matrimonio de clase media by Fernando Javier León Rodríguez (Mexico)
* Derrière le bureau d’acajou by Johannes S. Nilsson (Sweden)

### Directors' Fortnight

The following films were screened for the 1996 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalizateurs):
* A toute vitesse by Gaël Morel
* Beautiful Thing by Hettie MacDonald
* A Chef in Love by Nana Djordjadze
* Le Cri de la soie by Yvon Marciano
* Edipo Alcalde by Jorge Ali Triana
* Encore by Pascal Bonitzer
* Flame by Ingrid Sinclair
* Vaska Easoff (Haggyállógva, Vászka) by Peter Gothar
* Inside by Arthur Penn
* Youth Without God (Jeunesse sans Dieu) by Catherine Corsini
* Jude by Michael Winterbottom
* Kids Return by Takeshi Kitano
* Prisoner of the Mountains (Kavkazskiy plennik) by Sergei Bodrov
* La Promesse by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
* Lone Star by John Sayles
* Macadam Tribu by José Laplaine
* Mondani a mondhatatlant: Elie Wiesel üzenete by Judit Elek
* Perfect Love (Parfait amour!) by Catherine Breillat
* Pasajes by Daniel Calparsoro
* Salut cousin ! by Merzak Allouache
* Select Hôtel by Laurent Bouhnik
* Trees Lounge by Steve Buscemi
* White Night (Layla Lavan) by Arnon Zadok
* Will It Snow for Christmas? (Y aura t’il de la neige à Noël ?) by Sandrine Veysset
    Short films
* La Faim by Siegfried (18 min.)
* La Fille et l’amande by Bénédicte Brunet (15 min.)
* Vacances A Blériot by Bruno Bontzolakis (25 min.)
* Virage Nord by Sylvain Labrosse (15 min.)

## Official Awards
### In Competition

* Palme d'Or: Secrets & Lies by Mike Leigh
* Grand Prix: Breaking the Waves by Lars von Trier
* Best Director: Joel Coen for Fargo
* Best Screenplay: A Self-Made Hero by Jacques Audiard and Alain Le Henry
* Best Actress: Brenda Blethyn for Secrets & Lies
* Best Actor: Daniel Auteuil and Pascal Duquenne for The Eighth Day
* Jury Special Prize: Crash by David Cronenberg

### Caméra d'Or

* Love Serenade by Shirley Barrett

### Short Film Palme d'Or

* Szél by Marcell Iványi
* Jury Prize: Small Deaths by Lynne Ramsay

## Independent Awards
### FIPRESCI Prizes

* Secrets & Lies by Mike Leigh (In competition)
* Prisoner of the Mountains by Sergei Bodrov (Directors' Fortnight)
* The Mail & The Ferry by Laila Pakalnina (Un Certain Regard)

### Commission Supérieure Technique

* Technical Grand Prize: The whole technical team for Microcosmos

### Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

* Secrets & Lies by Mike Leigh
** Special Mention:
*** A Drifting Life by Lin Cheng-sheng
*** Drifting Clouds by Aki Kaurismäki

### Award of the Youth

* Foreign Film: White Night by Arnon Zadok
* French Film: Les aveux de l'innocent by Jean-Pierre Améris

### International Critics' Week

* Mercedes-Benz Award: Les aveux de l'innocent by Jean-Pierre Améris
* Canal+ Award: Planet Man by Andrew Bancroft

### Award the First Multimedia Day at the 49th Cannes Film festival

* Best Cyber Poster Award: The Visionary by Beny Tchaicovsky