Cannes movie marathon ends as prizes start to roll out

CANNES - The Cannes Film Festival comes to a close Sunday with the race for top honours coming down to less than a handful of films.

Headed by US director Tim Burton, Cannes’ nine-member jury is due to hand out the festival’s coveted Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) at a gala ceremony set down for Sunday.

But already a series of other prizes began to roll out in Cannes.

South Korean director Hong Sang-soo’s comedy “Hahaha” about two men who meet and realize they’ve met the same people in their travels won the prize for one of the 12-day movie marathon’s key sections.

The award was made as part of the Un Certain Regard section, which showcases new and emerging filmmakers.

Hong Sang-soo’s film formed part of a strong lineup of movies from Asia, which were screened at this year’s Cannes festival.

Among them included two films from South Korea in the race for the Palme d’Or.

Latin American cinema also triumphant in the Un Certain Regard awards, with Jury Prize going to “Octubre” (October) from Peruvian directors Daniel and Diego Vega.

“Octubre” tells the story of a pawnbroker whose life is thrown off course after he is forced to look after a baby.

In handing out the awards, the Un Certain Regard jury, headed by French director Claire Denis had to chose from 19 films from 19 countries.

French director Mathieu Amalric won the Fipresci international critics’ award for the festival’s main competition.

Amalric’s “Tournee” (On Tour) told the story of a French manager taking a troupe of American burlesque artists on a tour of France.

The Fipresci award for the Un Certain Regard section went to “Pal Adrienn” by Hungarian filmmaker Agnes Kocsis. Her film was about an obese nurse searching for her supposed best friend at school.

Spain’s Olivier Laxe’s “Todos vos sodes capitans” won the international critics’ prize for best debut in another festival section, the Directors’ Fortnight or Critics’ Week.

In a sense the series of awards act as a curtain-raiser for the announcement the festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or.

Among the leading contenders for the festival’s top awards include films from Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Britain’s Mike Leigh and France’s Xavier Beauvois.

The 43-year-old Beauvois’ compelling “Des Hommes et des Dieux” (Of Gods and Men) Saturday won the festival’s ecumenical jury prize for works promoting religious understanding.

The film tells the story of a group of monks living in Algeria during a period of rising Islamic fundamentalist violence.

Other favourites to emerge for Cannes’ top honours include Mahamat Saleh Haroun’s “Un Homme qui Crie” (A Screaming Man), which represented Chad’s first ever entry in Cannes’ main competition.

The views on the Croisette, the palm-lined beachfront boulevard that cuts through Cannes, have been more divided about some other possible candidates for prizes.

This includes avant-garde Bangkok-born director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s tale about both animism in the Thai jungle and a man celebrating his past lives: “Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat” (Uncle Boonmee who can recall his past lives).

It would be hard to imagine that Cannes will not want to make a statement about the jailing of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who had been invited to join this year’s jury.

This could strengthen the chances of Tehran-born director Abbas Kiarostami leaving Cannes with a top award for his bittersweet romantic comedy “Certified Copy”.