Shocker: 'Dheepan' takes top prize at Cannes
French director Jacques Audiard's immigration drama Dheepan took the Palme d'Or, the highest honor at the Cannes Film Festival, at its closing ceremony on Sunday night.
The gritty depiction of Tamil refugees trying to build a new life in France was a surprise selection at the end of the 12-day festival in the south of France.
Industry website Variety called the win "unexpected" and said the award "was greeted with some surprise and a mixture of boos, shrugs and applause from the international press corps watching the ceremony at the Palais."
Dheepan premiered to mixed reviews at the Cannes festival.
The runner-up prize, the Grand Prix, was awarded to Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes for Holocaust drama Son of Saul, his feature directorial debut.
American actress Rooney Mara was awarded the best actress honor at Cannes for her role in Carol alongside Cate Blanchett. Mara shared the acting award with French actress Emmanuelle Bercot for her role in My King.
The main Cannes jury was led by directors Joel and Ethan Coen and included American actor Jake Gyllenhaal, Mexican director Guillermo del Toro, Canadian director Xavier Dolan, French actress Sophie Marceau and British actress Sienna Miller.
The jury watched 19 films in the main competition over the last week and a half to reach the prize verdict.
Variety quoted the Coen brothers discussing Dheepan at a press conference afterwards.
"We all thought it was a beautiful movie," Ethan Coen said. To which Joel Coen added, "This isn't a jury of film critics. This is a jury of artists looking at the work."
Other prizes included:
• Vincent Lindon won best actor for his role in The Measure of a Man, directed by Stephane Brize.
• Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-Hsien won the best director prize for the martial arts film The Assassin, starring Shu Qi.
• The jury prize went to The Lobster, the surreal drama by Yorgos Lanthimos starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz.
• The Camera d'Or, honoring best first feature film, was given to La Tierra y la Sombra, directed by César Augusto Acevedo
• Waves '98 by Ely Dagher of Lebanon won the short film award.
• On Saturday, Isabella Rossellini's Un Certain Regard jury gave their top prize to the Icelandic comedy Rams, a film about the relationship between farmers and sheep in a remote valley.