Julia Ducournau won the Palme d’Or for her film Titane at Cannes Film Festival, becoming only the second female director to win the top prize at the festival. In the film starring Agathe Rousselle, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier and Laïs Salameh, following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years.

Julia Ducournau said, “There is so much beauty and emotion to be found in what cannot be pigeonholed. Thank you to the Jury for calling for more diversity in our film experiences and in our lives. And thank you to the Jury for letting the monsters in.”

Watch the first trailer for Titane

The awards ceremony got off to weird start when jury president Spike Lee announced the win in error early in the awards ceremony. As reported by Deadline, “The event’s hostess asked Lee, in French, if he could reveal the “first prize” of the evening. Instead of reading that as the chronological first prize, Lee seemed to take it as ‘first place’, going on to say Titane had scooped the Palme.”

The hostess quickly corrected the error by moving on to the correct order of the ceremony.

Watch the video below.

The other top prize – second prize, the Grand Prix was a tie, and awarded to to Asghar Farhadi for “A Hero” and Juho Kusomanen for “Compartment No.6.”

Asghar Farhadi said, “I remember, it was thirty-six years ago. I was thirteen years old and I made my first short film with the resources I had available. Since then, I have been writing and making films, despite the difficulties, despite the pressures. I continue to have the hope of questioning society around me and raising awareness.”

Watch the trailer for Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero”

Juho Kusomanen said, “The last two weeks have seemed so long. This film is the story of a relationship between two people, but all stories involve relationships between people.”

Watch the trailer for Juho Kusomanen’s “Compartment No.6.”

2021 Cannes Film Festival Awards

FEATURE FILMS

Palme d’or
TITANE directed by Julia Ducournau

Grand Prix (ex aequo)
GHAHREMAN (A Hero) directed by Asghar Farhadi
HYTTI N°6 (Compartment N°6) directed by Juho Kusomanen

Best Director
Leos Carax for ANNETTE

Best Screenplay
Hamaguchi Ryusuke & Takamasa Oe for DRIVE MY CAR

Jury Prize (ex aequo)
MEMORIA directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
HA’BERECH (Ahed’s Knee) directed by Nadav Lapid

Best Performance by an Actress
Renate Reinsve in VERDENS VERSTE MENNESKE (The Worst Person in the World) directed by Joachim Trier

Best Performance by an Actor
CalebLandry Jones in NITRAM directed by Justin Kurzel

SHORT FILMS

Palme d’or
TIAN XIA WU YA (All the Crows in the World) directed by Tang Yi

Special Mention
CÉU DE AGOSTO (August Sky) directed by Jasmin Tenucci

CAMERA D’OR
MURINA directed by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović unveiled in the frame of Directors’ Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs)

HIGHER TECHNICAL COMMISSION(CST)

CST Award for Technical Artistry
Vladislav Opeliants (Russia), Chief Director of Photography, PETROV’S FLU by Kirill Serebrennikov

CST Young Film Technician Award
Armance Durix, Head Sound Engineer, MI IUBITA, MON AMOUR by Noémie Merlany