A Man Of Integrity (LERD) by Mohammad Rasoul of Iran, is the winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
Un Certain Regard 2017 presented in competition 18 films hailing from 22 different countries. 6 of the works were first films. The Opening film was Barbara by Mathieu Amalric.
Under the presidency of Uma Thurman (actress – United States), the Jury was comprised of Mohamed Diab (director – Egypt), Reda Kateb (actor – France), Joachim Lafosse (director – Belgium) and Karel Och (artistic director of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival – Czech Republic).
The Jury commented “We feel enormous gratitude to have had the honor of serving on the Jury for this historic 70th anniversary of the Festival de Cannes. We are proud to present an esthetically diverse and beautiful awards list for Un Certain Regard.“
“UN CERTAIN REGARD” PRIZE
LERD (A MAN OF INTEGRITY)
by Mohammad Rasoulof
Reza (35), having distanced himself from the ur- ban quagmire, leads a simple life along with his wife and sole son, somewhere in a remote village in Northern Iran. He spends his days working in his gold fish farm. Nearby, a private company with close links to the government and local authori- ties, has taken control of nearly every aspect of the regional life. Its shareholders, accumulating wealth, power and economic rents, have been pushing local farmers and small owners to dilap- idate their belongings, farms and estates, to the benefit of the Company’s influential net- work and its monopoly. It is under their pressure that many villagers have them- selves become local rings of the larger network of corruption.
PRIZE FOR BEST ACTRESS
JASMINE TRINCA for FORTUNATA by Sergio Castellitto
Fortunata has a difficult life, a daughter of eight and a failed marriage behind her. She works as a hairdresser in people’s houses, leaving from the outskirts to cross the city, going to the homes of the well-off to do women’s hair. Fortunata fights every day with determination to achieve her dream: opening her own salon and challenging fate, in an attempt at emancipating herself and gaining her independence and the right to some happiness. She knows that to achieve her dreams she has to be firm: she has thought of everything, she is ready for anything, but she had not considered the variable of love, the one subversive force capable of sweeping aside every certainty. Also because, perhaps for the first time, someone looks at her as the woman she is and truly loves her.
PRIZE FOR THE BEST POETIC NARRATIVE
BARBARA de Mathieu Amalric
An actress, Brigitte, is playing Barbara in a film that soon begins shooting.
Brigitte works on her character, her voice, the songs and scores, the imitation of her gestures, her knitting, the lines to learn. Things
move along. The character grows inside her. Invades her, even…
Yves, the director, is also working – via encounters, archival footage, the music. He seems inhabited and inspired by her…
But by whom? The actress or Barbara?
PRIZE FOR BEST DIRECTION
Taylor Sheridan for WIND RIVER
WIND RIVER is a chilling thriller that follows a rookie FBI agent who teams up with a local game tracker with deep community ties and a haunted past to investigate the murder of a local girl on a remote Native American Reservation in the hopes of solving the mysterious death. Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, WIND RIVER also stars Gil Birmingham, Jon Bernthal, Julia Jones, Kelsey Asbille, and James Jordan.
JURY PRIZE
LAS HIJAS DE ABRIL (APRIL’S DAUGHTER) by Michel Franco
Valeria is 17 and pregnant. She lives in Puerto Vallarta with Clara, her half-sister.
Valeria has not wanted her long-absent mother, April, to find out about her pregnancy, but due to the economic strain and the overwhelming responsibility of having a baby in the house, Clara decides to call their mother.
April arrives, willing to help her daughters, but soon it will be clear why Valeria had kept her away.