The Palme d'Or at Cannes Festival Goes to Swedish Film 'Triangle of Sadness'

The Swedish film 'Triangle of Sadness' directed by Ruben Östlund, with a theme satirizing the contemporary art world, won the Palme d'Or for Best Film at the 70th Cannes Film Festival. The closing ceremony of this year's festival was held on Sunday evening at the Lumière Hall of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, attended by festival guests and hosted by Monica Bellucci. The jury, chaired by Pedro Almodóvar, selected 'Triangle of Sadness' as the best film. The film had captured the attention of critics since its screening in the early days of the festival. The director's previous film, 'Force Majeure,' had also won the Best Film award in the Un Certain Regard section three years ago. The film '120 Beats Per Minute' by Robin Campillo from France also received the significant Grand Jury Prize. This year, a special award was given to American actress Nicole Kidman in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Cannes Festival. Ms. Kidman appeared in four films in various sections of the festival this year. One of the contenders for the Palme d'Or this year was Michael Haneke, the renowned Austrian filmmaker, who was vying for the award for the third time with his film 'Happy End'; however, this film did not win any awards at the closing ceremony. The jury awarded other prizes to the following films: Jury Special Prize: 'Loveless' (Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russia); Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix ('You Were Never Really Here,' UK); Best Actress: Diane Kruger ('In the Fade,' Germany); Best Screenplay: 'You Were Never Really Here' (Lynne Ramsay, UK) and 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' (Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland and UK); Best Director: Sofia Coppola ('The Beguiled,' USA); Golden Camera for Best First Film: 'Young Woman' (Leonor Serraille, France); Palme d'Or for Best Short Film: 'A Quiet Night' (Zhao Yang, China). This year, Iranian cinema did not have a representative in the feature film competition at Cannes, but the short film 'Lunch Time' by Alireza Ghasemi competed with eight other films for the Palme d'Or for Best Short Film. A day before the closing ceremony, the film 'Lord' by Mohammad Rasoulof had won the Best Film award in the Un Certain Regard section. The short film 'Animal' by Bahman and Bahram Ark also received the second prize for Best Film in the Cinefondation section, dedicated to student films. '24 Frames' by Abbas Kiarostami was screened in the official section of the festival. The jury for this year's Cannes Film Festival, in addition to Pedro Almodóvar as president, included Jessica Chastain (American actress), Paolo Sorrentino (Italian director), Park Chan-wook (Korean director), Agnès Jaoui (French director), Fan Bingbing (Chinese actress), Gabriel Yared (French musician), Will Smith (American actor), and Maren Ade (German director). Babak Ghafouri Azar, a producer at Radio Farda, follows developments in the cinema and theater sectors. He joined Radio Farda in 2010 and has published various investigative reports on events during the first decade of the establishment of the Islamic Republic. Babak Ghafouri Azar began journalism in Iran in 2001.