Cannes Jury Prize for Aki Kaurismäki, Icelandic short Fár gets Special Mention
NOTE: This article is a republication- Source: Nordisk Film & TV Fond (by Annika Pham).
Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves was among the hottest contenders for the Palme d’or, which was ultimately granted by Ruben Östlund and his jury to Anatomy of a Fall.
Kaurismäki wasn’t on hand at Saturday’s closing ceremony at the prestigious Palais des Festivals in Cannes, but his humour and warmth came across the short message read on stage by Fallen Leaves’ co-stars Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen. “I am deeply honoured for being able to participate in this great film festival, which continues to keeps cinema well alive. Twist and shout!”
The day before on May 26, Pöysti and Vatanen had collected another prize on behalf of…Alma the dog-aka Chaplin in the film, recipient of the Palme Dog’s Grand Jury Prize.
Fallen Leaves was among the international critics’ favourite films and was unanimously hailed for its deep humanistic and heart-warming take, with an anti-Putin and anti-war in Ukraine message.
The Jury Prize came on top of Kaurismäki’s earlier Cannes wins for The Man Without A Past (Grand Jury Prize, Best Actress to Kati Outinen and Ecumenical Prize in 2002).
The film produced by Sputnik, Bufo, in co-production with Germany’s Pandora, is due to open in Finland September 15 via B-Plan.
Among the international distributors that will launch it in their respective territories are MUBI (North America, the UK, Ireland, Turkey), Lucky Red (Italy), Diaphana (France), Folkets Bio (Sweden), Arthaus (Norway) and Camera Film (Denmark).
The 76th Cannes was another very strong year for film as an art-form, where the ultimate Palme d’or was handed out for the third time to a female director: French-born Justine Triet for her court room drama Anatomy of a Fall.
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