CANNES: &quot;Fjord&quot;, a thought-provoking drama about domestic violence and left-wing prejudices by Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu, won the best film prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday at a star-packed closing ceremony. In his second Palme d&#39;Or-winning film, Mungiu explored the contradictions of Scandinavia&#39;s supposed tolerance in a drama featuring Norwegian star Renate Reinsve (&quot;Sentimental Value&quot;) and Sebastian Stan (&quot;The Apprentice&quot;). It follows a devoutly Christian Norwegian-Romanian couple and their five children who move to a remote village. &quot;This is a message about tolerance, inclusion and empathy. These are wonderful values that we all cherish, but we need to put them into practice more often,&quot; Mungiu told the audience. The movie is based on true events and is notable for how it questions the supposedly progressive values of Norwegian society, as well as religious bias in the country&#39;s child welfare system. Russian drama &quot;Minotaur&quot; by Andrey Zvyagintsev, which depicts a callous businessman caught up in Russia&#39;s invasion of Ukraine, won the Grand Prix second prize. Zvyagintsev&#39;s films offer bleak portraits of modern Russia under Vladimir Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022. &quot;Put an end to the carnage, the whole world is waiting for it,&quot; Zvyagintsev, who now lives in exile in France, told the audience in a message addressed to Putin. The director nearly died during the Covid 19 pandemic, spending more than a month in a coma during treatment in Europe. Double winners Among the other prizes, Belgium&#39;s Virginie Efira and Japanese actor Tao Okamoto shared the best female performance award for their roles in nursing home drama &quot;All of a Sudden&quot; by Japan&#39;s Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Belgian duo Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne from gay World War I drama &quot;Coward&quot; also shared the male best actor award for their roles in the Lukas Dhont-directed movie. Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo won the Camera d&#39;Or for best first film for her genocide drama &quot;Ben&#39;Imana&quot; which she dedicated to &quot;the women of my country&quot;. Other critics&#39; favorites in Cannes included arty black-and-white historical drama &quot;Fatherland&quot; and &quot;La Bola Negra&quot;, a big-budget Spanish drama about multiple gay lives. They both took home prizes for best director. Talking points The Cannes Film Festival is the world&#39;s biggest, providing a crucial platform for independent cinema, as well as a showcase for fashion and celebrities to rival the Academy Awards or the Met Gala. The 79th edition of the festival was packed with its usual stable of A-listers, from John Travolta to Cate Blanchett and Vin Diesel, but Hollywood was under-represented. No major US studio agreed to launch a blockbuster at Cannes this year, or at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, raising questions about why giants such as Universal, Disney or Warner are dodging European events. Other big talking points included the use of artificial intelligence in filmmaking, as well as the continued under-representation of women in the industry. Only five of the 22 films in the main competition this year were directed by women. Geena Davis, star of &quot;Thelma &amp; Louise&quot; which features on the Cannes Festival poster this year, reflected on how the 1991 movie was meant to be a breakthrough for women as she presented a prize. &quot;All these years later, we have to acknowledge that the change is happening slowly,&quot; she said. Other prizes in Cannes include best documentary for &quot;Rehearsals for a Revolution&quot;, by actress and director Pegah Ahangarani. &quot;Elephants in the Fog&quot; &ndash; Nepal&#39;s first-ever film in competition at Cannes &ndash; won the jury prize of the official Certain Regard section Friday for its story about the country&#39;s traditional transgender community. And the best actor prize in the Certain Regard section went to 18-year-old Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset, who was discovered in a street audition in the Central African capital Bangui for the crowd-pleasing &quot;Congo Boy&quot;, a refugee rap drama.

Entertainment

Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” wins Cannes top prize for best film, with the drama explores domestic violence, prejudice and tensions in a Norwegian-Romanian family living in a remote village.

'Fjord' by Romania's Cristian Mungiu wins Cannes best film prize

CANNES: The Cannes Film Festival has signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with social network giant and major AI investor Meta, the company announced Monday, despite fears about the impact of its new video tools on the cinema industry.&nbsp;Meta said in a statement that it was &quot;proud to be an official partner of the Festival de Cannes in a new multi-year strategic partnership&quot;, replacing social video platform TikTok.&nbsp;The group is set to organize a series of promotional events for its video-enabled Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which are becoming increasingly popular among influencers but have sparked privacy fears.&nbsp;It will also showcase its new artificial intelligence-powered video generative technology, which has been embraced by Oscar-winning &quot;Traffic&quot; director Steven Soderbergh for his latest film.&nbsp;Soderbergh partnered with Meta for a documentary about the last interview given by Beatles songwriter John Lennon before his death, which will premiere at the Cannes Festival.&nbsp;The film features AI-generated footage of Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono -- a major talking point in an industry which mostly views the technology as a threat to jobs, as well as a danger for copyright and original storytelling.&nbsp;Soderbergh told Deadline magazine last week that AI-generated video comprises about 10 percent of the film and was used for &quot;sequences that have images that are impossible to shoot&quot;.&nbsp;The use of AI was central to the 2023 strikes that shut down Hollywood, as actors and writers warned that unchecked technology threatened their livelihoods.&nbsp;Thousands of French actors and filmmakers warned in an open letter in February that AI tools were &quot;plundering&quot; talent across the industry, comparing them to a &quot;devouring hydra&quot;.&nbsp;The Cannes Festival kicks off on Tuesday and runs until May 23.

Artificial Intelligence

Cannes Film Festival signs a multi-year sponsorship deal with Meta, replacing TikTok. The partnership showcases AI video tools and Ray-Ban Meta glasses amid concerns over AI’s impact on jobs, copyright and original storytelling in the film industry.

Articles tagged with "Cannes film festival"

'Fjord' by Romania's Cristian Mungiu wins Cannes best film prize

Cannes Festival signs up Meta as sponsor amid AI fears

'Fjord' by Romania's Cristian Mungiu wins Cannes best film prize