The Winners of the 64th Festival de Cannes

The Jury headed by Robert De Niro

The controversy filled 2011 Cannes Film Festival ended yesterday with a Palme d'Or for Terrence Malick's  much talked about "The Tree of Life."  The eleven day (May 11 -22) festival of World Cinema also saw Jodie Foster's bizarre "The Beaver" starring Mel Gibson, Michel Hazanavicius' surprising black & white silent movie "The Artist," Lynne Ramsay's dark drama "We Need to Talk About Kevin," as well as "18 Days," 10 short films about the Egyptian revolution (that just happened 3 months ago), which resulted in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.  But the biggest controversy involved a formal statement by the board of directors of the Festival declaring Lars von Tier persona non grata at Cannes, after the director openly declared (in a press conference) that he was a Nazi and was glad that he was not of Jewish heritage.

Here is a list of the 2011 Awardees:

Palme d'Or - "The Tree of Life" by Terence Malick

Grand Prix - "Once Upon A Time in Anatolia" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, "The Kid with a Bike" by Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Best Director -  Nicolas Winding Refn for "Drive"

Jury Prize - "Poliss" by Maiwenn

Best Actor - Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"

Best Actress - Kirsten Dunst in "Melancholia"

Best Screenplay - Joseph Cedar for "Footnote"

Palme d'Or for Short Film - "Las Acacias by Pablo Giogelli

Jury Prize - "Badpakje 46" by Wannes Destroop

Camera d'Or - "Las Acacias"




--Picture courtesy of the Los Angeles Times.  Trailer from YouTube.com