White Ribbon by writer-director Michael Haneke takes the Palme d’Or at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival. The film paints and tells the story of a northern German town on the brink of the World War I. This drama from the writer-director depicts a series of violent and secretive incidents among the families of the pastor, the baron, the doctor and the tenant farmers. This movie that was shot in black in white by Christian Berger was already picked by Sony Pictures Classics for a run in the United States. The Grand Prix, considered by many as the runner-up prize went to the French prison drama, “A Prophet”. Austrian-born actor Christoph Waltz won as best actor for his portrayal of a Nazi officer. For the best actress honors, Charlotte Gainsbourg took home the award. She plays the role of the grieving mother whose vacation with her husband goes poorly.

One coveted award and that for Best Director went to someone unexpected, as Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza won the directing prize for his movie “Kinatay”. “Kinatay tells the story of a police academy student who witnessed as series of depraved acts that was committed against an exotic dancer. The winning director accepted his award amidst the growing hoots from the press corps. In accepting the award, Mendoza was surprised as anyone. He referred to his movie as “my kind of cinema”. The veteran filmmaker Alain Resnais was the recipient of a sustained ovation coming from the attendees for his lifetime achievement award.

An American film also won an award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Quentin Tarantino’s film won for an acting award, and the award went to Christop Waltz. The actor thanked the director and said “with your passion and conviction, you gave me my vocation back”. According to some, most of the choices reflected the jury’s preference for darkness over light, and this was seen in the selection for Best Director. Another ‘unpopular’ movie in the competition is the ‘Spring Fever’ yet it won for Best Screenplay for writer Feng Mei.

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