2012 Cannes Film Festival

2012 Cannes Film Festival
The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
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. The main announcement of the line-up took place on 19 April. The official poster of the festival features Marilyn Monroe, to mark the 50th anniversary of her death.
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.
Juries
Μain competition
The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature films of the 2012 Official Selection:
Nanni Moretti, Italian filmmaker - Jury President
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 - Jury President
Leïla Bekhti, French actress
Tonie Marshall, French actress and filmmaker
Luciano Monteagudo, Argentine film critic
Sylvie Pras, French chief of the Pompidou Centre and artistic director of the festival of La Rochelle
Caméra d'Or
Carlos Diegues, Brazilian filmmaker - Jury President
Gloria Satta, Italian film journalist
Rémy Chevrin, French cinematographer
Hervé Icovic, French art director
Michel Andrieu, French filmmaker
Francis Gavelle, French film critic
Cinéfoundation and short films
Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgian filmmaker - Jury President
Arsinée Khanjian, Canadian actress
Karim Aïnouz, Brazilian filmmaker
Emmanuel Carrère, French novelist and filmmaker
Yu Lik-wai, Chinese cinematographer and director
Independent juries
The following independent juries awarded films in the frame of the Critics' Week.
Nespresso Grand Prize
Bertrand Bonello, French filmmaker - Jury 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
Céline Sciamma, French filmmaker
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
João Pedro Rodrigues, Portuguese film director - Jury President
Danny Lennon, Canadian film curator
, Egyptian film director and producer
Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazilian film director, curator, and critic
Jakub Felcman, Czech film curator
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. 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."
In Competition
The following films were selected as In Competition. The Palme d'Or winner has been highlighted:
(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as directorial debut feature.
Un Certain Regard
The following films were screened in the Un Certain Regard section. The Un Certain Regard Prize winner has been highlighted:
(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as directorial debut feature.
Out of Competition
The following films were screened out of competition:
(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as directorial debut feature.
Special Screenings
The following films were screened in the Special Screenings section:
(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as directorial debut feature.
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. The winner of the Cinéfondation First Prize has been highlighted:
Short film Competition
Out of 4,500 submissions, the following films were selected for the short film competition. The Short film Palme d'Or winner has been highlighted.
Cannes Classics
The following films were screened in the Cannes Classics section. The Hungarian "montage film" Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen, directed by György Pálfi, was selected as the closing film for the Cannes Classics section.
Documentaries about Cinema
Restored Prints
World Cinema Foundation
Cinéma de la Plage
The Cinéma de la Plage is a part of the Official Selection of the festival. The outdoors screenings at the beach cinema of Cannes are open to the public.
Parallel Sections
Critics' Week
The line-up for the 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. The following films were selected.
Feature films - The winner of the Grand Prix Nespresso has been highlighted:
(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as directorial debut feature.
Short and Medium Length Films
Special Screenings
Directors' Fortnight
The line-up for the Directors' Fortnight was announced at a press conference on 24 April. The following films were selected:
Feature Films - The winner of the Art Cinema Award has been highlighted:
(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as directorial debut feature.
Short Films - The winner of the Premier Prix Illy for Short Filmmaking has been highlighted:
Official Awards
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. Love tells the story of an elderly couple preparing for death. 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."
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.
The following films and people received the 2012 Official selection awards:
In Competition
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
Prix 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
Golden Camera
Caméra d'Or: Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
Cinéfondation
1st Prize: The Road to by Taisia Igumentseva
2nd Prize: Abigail by Matthew James Reilly
3rd Prize: The Hosts by Miguel Angel Moulet
Short Films Competition
Short Film Palme d'Or: Silent by L. Rezan Yesilbas
Independent Awards
FIPRESCI Prizes
In the Fog by Sergei Loznitsa (In Competition)
Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin (Un Certain Regard)
Hold Back by Rachid Djaïdani (Directors' Fortnight)
Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist
Vulcan Award: Charlotte Bruus Christensen (cinematography) for The Hunt
Ecumenical Jury
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: The Hunt by Thomas Vinterberg
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, Special Mention: Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
Critics' Week
Grand Prix Nespresso: Aquí y allá 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
Directors' Fortnight
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
Prize of the Youth Jury
Prix de la Jeunesse: Holy Motors by Leos Carax
Prix Regard Jeune: Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
Prix François Chalais
Horses of God by Nabil Ayouch
Queer Palm
Queer Palm Award: Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan
Short Film Queer Palm: It's Not a Cowboy Movie by Benjamin Parent
Palm Dog Jury
Palm Dog Award: Smurf in Sightseers
Grand Jury Prize: Billy Bob in Le grand soir
References
External links
Official website Retrospective 2012
65ème Festival de Cannes, cinema-francais.fr
Cannes Film Festival: Awards for 2012 at Internet Movie Database
2012
2012 in French cinema
2012 film festivals
2012 festivals in Europe