71st Palme d'Or Goes to 'Shoplifters'

Yesterday afternoon, the 2018 Cannes Film Festival came to a conclusion, with their annual awards ceremony. Much speculation was centered on how the jury this year, led by Cate Blanchett, would choose to hand out the prizes. Would they try to make a political statement? Could they opt to highlight female/minority filmmakers in an expanded way? What, if any, Oscar correlation might be found? Well, the 71st edition of the fest managed to throw some curveballs, even with a wide open race for the Palme d'Or. That's been the cases lately, so recent festival tradition held true. Read on to see what Blanchett and company picked.

Taking the top prize, the coveted Palme d'Or, was "Shoplifters" from Hirokazu Kore-eda. This marked only the second time in a century that an Asian filmmaker won the award. The runner up, receiving the Grand Prix award, was "BlacKkKlansman" from Spike Lee. That potential Academy Award player was thought of as a potential Palme d'Or winner, though Blanchett's jury went for Kore-eda's work instead. The full slate of winners can be seen below, straight from the Cannes Film Festival website itself.

Here are all of the Cannes 2018 award winners, including the previously covered Un Certain Regard prizes:

The curtain has come down on the 71st Festival de Cannes, which for the last 12 days has featured artists and films from all four corners of the globe on its screens. Onstage at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, the Master of Ceremonies, Edouard Baer, welcomed the Feature Film Jury presided over by Cate Blanchett, for the announcement of the 2018 winners.
The event culminated on the Red Carpet, where the prizewinners and jury were treated to a live musical surprise by Sting and Shaggy!

FEATURE FILMS

PALME D'OR

MANBIKI KAZOKU (Shoplifters) directed by KORE-EDA Hirokazu
The Palme d'or was awarded by Cate Blanchett.

GRAND PRIX

BLACKKKLANSMAN (Black Klansman) directed by Spike LEE
The Grand Prix was awarded by Benicio Del Toro and Chang Chen.

JURY PRIZE

CAPHARNAÜM directed by Nadine LABAKI
The Jury Prize was awarded by Gary Oldman and Léa Seydoux.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR

Marcello FONTE in DOGMAN directed by Matteo GARRONE
The Best Performance by an Actor Prize was awarded by Khadja Nin and Roberto Benigni.

BEST DIRECTOR PRIZE

ZIMNA WOJNA (Cold War) directed by Pawel PAWLIKOWSKI
The Best Director Prize was awarded by Abderrahmane Sissako, Kristen Stewart and Denis Villeneuve.

BEST SCREENPLAY EX-ÆQUO

Alice ROHRWACHER for LAZZARO FELICE (Happy as Lazzaro)
Jafar PANAHI for SE ROKH (3 Faces) directed by Jafar PANAHI
The Best Screenplay Prizes were awarded by Robert Guédiguian and Chiara Mastroianni.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS

Samal YESLYAMOVA in AYKA directed by Sergey DVORTSEVOY
The Best Performance by an Actress Prize was awarded by Ava Duvernay and Asia Argento.

SPECIAL PALME D'OR

LE LIVRE D’IMAGE (Image Book) directed by Jean-Luc GODARD
The Special Palme d'or was awarded by Cate Blanchett.

SHORT FILMS - COMPETITION

PALME D'OR

ALL THESE CREATURES directed by Charles WILLIAMS

SPECIAL DISTINCTION BY THE JURY

YAN BIAN SHAO NIAN (On the Border) directed by WEI Shujun
The Palme d'or and the Jury Special Mention for Shorts Films were awarded by the President of the Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury, Bertrand Bonello.

UN CERTAIN REGARD

UN CERTAIN REGARD PRIZE

GRÄNS by Ali ABBASI

PRIZE FOR BEST SCREENPLAY

SOFIA by Meryem BENM’BAREK

PRIZE FOR BEST PERFORMANCE

Victor POLSTER for GIRL by Lukas DHONT

PRIZE FOR BEST DIRECTOR

Sergei LOZNITSA for DONBASS

JURY SPECIAL PRIZE

CHUVA É CANTORIA NA ALDEIA DOS MORTOS (The Dead and the Others) by João SALAVIZA and Renée NADER MESSORA

CAMÉRA D’OR

GIRL directed by Lukas DHONT presented as part of UN CERTAIN REGARD
The Caméra d'or Prize was awarded by Ursula Meier, President of the Caméra d'or Jury.

CINÉFONDATION

FIRST PRIZE

EL VERANO DEL LEÓN ELÉCTRICO (The Summer of the Electric Lion) directed by Diego CÉSPEDES
Universidad de Chile - ICEI, Chili

SECOND PRIZE EX AEQUO

KALENDAR (Calendar) directed by Igor POPLAUHIN
Moscow School of New Cinema, Russie

DONG WU XIONG MENG (The Storms in Our Blood) directed by SHEN Di
Shanghai Theater Academy, Chine
THIRD PRIZE

INANIMATE directed by Lucia BULGHERONI
NFTS, Royaume-Uni

Going forward, the likely awards player, besides Best Foreign Language Feature contenders, is obviously "BlacKkKlansman." Lee's most feted work in almost a decade should play well to audiences and critics alike, which is an excellent starting point. Plus, it's one of the timelier films of the year. In the meantime, congrats to all the winners!

THOUGHTS ON THIS YEAR'S PALME D'OR WINNER? DISCUSS IN THE COMMENTS!

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