If I, Daniel Blake is truly Ken Loach's final film then he went out the way every director hopes to; on top of his game. In what may be his last time at the Cannes Film Festival, Loach won the coveted Palm d'Or, his second since winning for the first time in 2006 for The Wind that Shakes the Barley.
While that decision appears to have gone over well, there are some pretty heated debates going on about the other choices made by the jury led by Mad Max: Fury Road director, George Miller. For instance, Xavier Dolan's polarizing It's Only the End of the World nabbed the Grand Prix, while Andrea Arnold continued her Cannes hot streak by winning the Jury Prize for American Honey, a film that has split with critics.
There was a rare tie for the Best Director award, shared between Christian Mungiu for Graduation and Olivier Assayas for his Kristen Stewart-led Personal Shopper, the latter film not having received a ton of good reviews. Asghar Farhadi did well once again this year as The Salesman took two awards, one for Best Screenplay and another for Shahab Hosseini in the Best Actor category. Jaclyn Rose tearfully accepted the Best Actress award for her performance in Ma'Rosa, directed by Brillante Mendoza.
So keep an eye out for all of these films in the coming months because surely some of them are going to factor into the awards season race. See the full list of winners below:
Palme d’Or: I, Daniel Blake by Ken Loach
Grand Prize: It’s Only the End of the World by Xavier Dolan
Best Direction: Olivier Assayas (Personal Shopper) & Cristian Mungiu (Graduation)
Best Screenplay: The Salesman by Asghar Farhadi
Best Actress: Jaclyn Jose in Ma’Rosa by Brillante Mendoza
Jury Prize: American Honey by Andrea Arnold
Best Actor: Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman by Asghar Farhadi
Honorary Palme: Jean-Pierre Léaud
Caméra d’Or: Divines by Houda Benyamina
Palme d’Or Short Film: Timecode By Juanjo Gimenez
Short Film Special Distinction: The Girl Who Danced With The Devil by João Paolo Miranda Maria
