Meet the winners of the 74th edition of the Festival de Cannes

Shorts:

Tang Yi – Palme d’or

It's often said that women speak too loudly, but I wanted to raise my voice. You have to have faith in yourself and not be afraid of making mistakes. All the greats have made mistakes.

Jasmin Tenucci – Special Mention from the Jury

I was elated, this is such an honour. It's unimaginable for me, and it's made all the more moving by two women winning awards. Women have become emancipated, they are giving themselves permission to speak up, to speak louder, to not aim to please everyone. Film is a powerful tool that helps spark change.

Caméra d’or :

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, represented by her co-screenwriter Frank Grazziano

Simply being there in the room was a dream come true in itself. Even after having seen all the photographers, and having stepped outside to catch my breath, I still couldn't believe what I had there in my hand. This week has been a fairy-tale for Antoneta. Her film came to Cannes, she has had her first child, and now she has won the Caméra d’or. So much emotion, and a lot of pride.

Mélanie Thierry, President of the Caméra d’or

Films are a passport to the world. They whisk you off around the globe. Although the urges, the preferences, the perspectives differ, there are themes that come back again and again, such as family, political issues, women's empowerment. Murina draws on myth and goddesses, and there's something quite dazzling, mysterious and poetic about it. She shoots the seabed in a way that has never before been shown. We were spellbound by her film, and we all felt the same about it. It felt innately right.

Best Screenplay Award:

Ryusuke Hamaguchi

This award owes so much to the original work and the power of its characters. For me, what was important was taking the time to show how feelings come to blossom. The fluidity of the screenplay is crucial too, because in a film of this length, we needed to avoid weighing the audience down. The way in which the characters grow is what shaped the structure.

Best Director Award:

Leos Carax, represented by Sparks, who co-wrote the screenplay for Annette

Ron Mael: Carax always has musical sequences in his films, and we had complete faith in him. We couldn't be happier with the result. We had ideas for scenes in our mind's eye, and this film was so much better than we could ever have imagined.

Russell Mael : He's an incredibly unique director, and he saw something unique in this story, too. We spent eight years collaborating, working between Los Angeles and Paris. We had the same vision of what a contemporary musical might look like, moving away from Broadway and Hollywood clichés.

Best Actor Award:

Caleb Landry Jones

When we finished the film, I had this feeling that we had really accomplished something. It was quite a new way of working. We then had a duty and responsibility to pull it all together to the very best of our abilities. It was wonderful to see how the public responded. I feel the film was understood.

Grand Prix (tied):

Asghar Farhadi

I write in a free-flowing way, putting down whatever springs to mind. I try to take the approach of a storyteller, weaving a narrative that doesn't bore my audience. I don't like to create barriers between members of the public, distinguishing between 'movie buffs' and 'the others'. I want everyone to approach the film in the same way. My secret, or at least the technique I draw on, is to simply tell stories. Every human being likes that.

Juho Kuosmanen

I always like working with people I know, people I feel at ease with. How various people make me feel has an impact on how I film. This was an intimate movie, with a small crew. Initially, I thought this was a film about how two different people meet. But then I realised that the people weren't different, they were the same, you get the sense they are almost twins. From pre-production to filming, we travelled 30,000 kilometres across Russia by train.

Jury Prize (tied):

Nadav Lapid

Everyone described my film as high-impact, like a punch to the gut, but it isn't a violent film, with tense scenes. It's just words, images that are fused to create a sense of shock, a slap to the face, a jolt. Every human being who goes to see my film will see a feature film full of rage, anger, and sadness, but a huge amount of intimacy, too. Without rage and anger, there is no intimacy. It's too easy to be indifferent. It felt as if the film was overpowering me. The thoughts and emotions are tinged in a thousand different colours, and when you combine that with the camera movements, you're on another planet.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

I am extremely satisfied, and this mark of recognition fills me with joy. Simply having the opportunity to be screened was a huge honour. This award will help give this film visibility. Tilda is the anchor for this film. She faces life head-on, she's fearless and yet shows a vulnerable side, too. She taught me so much. We have a mutual love of cinema, and we built Memoria over the foundations of this love, like a sculpture. I think the world of thoughts is a form of escapism. When you can't handle reality, the world of thoughts and dreams is your own safe space.

Best Actress Award:

Renate Reinsve

It's a highly personal story, and yet we wanted to express a universal message. I feel very close to this character, I see something of myself in her. There are times when I feel like the worst person in the world, and things are always up in the air. It's very difficult to pinpoint who you are, and to stick to that for life. It's an inner conflict. We rehearsed a lot, there was very little improvisation, but Joachim's style is very free and loose. We let ourselves go, we grew alongside the film.

Palme d’or : 

Julia Ducournau

I'm proud of myself. I hope the prize says something about my film, and not about my gender. My gender doesn't define me. As the second woman to win this award, Jane Campion was very much on my mind, and coming after her inspires me, it makes me feel I'm part of a movement on the rise. There will be a third, a fourth, a fifth. Being free is never easy, whatever the circumstances. Freedom is never a given. It's an everyday struggle.

Vincent Lindon

I have loved Julia for so long now, and I'm so proud to be in this film. A few years ago, I might not have grasped all of its nuances, and I might not have accepted the part. There's a 'before Titane' and 'after Titane' for me. It taught me to let go and get out of the comfort zones actors settle into. It's one of the best film experiences of my life.