JACQUES AUDIARD'S DHEEPAN IS SHOCK WINNER OF CANNES PALME D'OR 2015

On a slate of winners packed full of expected parties, though not all in their expected positions, and peppered with shock upsets, the greatest upset of all occurred in the greatest category of all: the Palme d'Or. Contrary to reviews declaring it to be a 'minor' work (or thereabouts) from director Jacques Audiard, his immigrant drama Dheepan took home the Cannes Film Festival's top award today, Sunday the 24th of May 2015. Audiard beat a host of acclaimed titles to the prize, many of whom were honoured in other categories. One such film was Todd Haynes' Carol, which had been predicted to at least bring home the gold for star Cate Blanchett if it failed to win any of the top awards - it did win the Best Actress prize, but not for Blanchett, as her co-star Rooney Mara shared the award with Emmanuelle Bercot, fending off the negative reports she and her film, Maiwenn's Mon Roi, received, and with a heavy oul trophy to give her extra clout. Full details of the Coen brothers' jury's decisions below, alongside Camera d'Or, Palme d'Or (Short Film) and Palme d'Or d'Honeur results below:

Palme d'Or

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)

Grand Prix

Son of Saul (Nemes Laszlo)

Prix du Jury

The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)

Prix de la Mise-en-Scene

Hou Hsiao Hsien (The Assassin)

Prix d'Interpretation Feminine

Emmanuelle Bercot (Mon Roi)

Rooney Mara (Carol)

Prix d'Interpretation Masculine

Vincent Lindon (The Measure of a Man)

Prix du Scenario

Michel Franco (Chronic)

Camera d'Or

Land and Shade (Cesar Augusto Acevedo)

Palme d'Or (Short Film)

Waves '98 (Ely Dagher)

Palme d'Or d'Honeur

Agnes Varda

CANNES 2015 - CONTENDERS ALIGN AS AWARDS CEREMONY APPROACHES

Films have been showing at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for eleven days now, and awards have been rolling in for the past two. 19 films are competing for the festival's final set of awards, decided upon by Ethan and Joel Coen's jury and topping out with the prestigious Palme d'Or. Below, a brief analysis of the seven categories which the Coens and their fellow jury members are set to present later today, at the Cannes Closing Ceremony, beginning at 17:50 GMT.

Palme d'Or

The festival's top award is often handed out to one of Cannes' grandest titles, perhaps a work of particular social or artistic importance. Plenty of those in competition this year, with a variety of highly-acclaimed films vying for this prize. With consideration to the lineup of jury members this year, genre fare is expected to do well.

The Contenders: Hou Hsiao Hsien's The Assassin, Todd Haynes' Carol, Yorgos Lanthimos' The Lobster, Justin Kurzel's Macbeth, Jia Zhang Ke's Mountains May Depart, Nemes Laszlo's Son of Saul, Matteo Garrone's Tale of Tales, Paolo Sorrentino's Youth

Grand Prix

In the past, the Grand Prix has gone to a wide variety of types of film. You might expect a more broadly liked, rather than loved, title than that which wins the Palme, or perhaps a film awarded more as a commendation than as a recommendation. Or perhaps this might be a more high-profile title than the Palme winner, since a less well-known film may benefit more from winning the bigger prize.

The Contenders: See above - this prize is virtually indistinguishable from the Palme d'Or, only this is the Silver, and the Palme is (literally) the Gold.

Prix du Jury

Last year there was a tie in this category: one to the youngest filmmaker in the competition (current jury member Xavier Dolan) and one to the oldest (Jean-Luc Godard). This is the perfect forum to recognise innovation or creativity, even if the film itself is somewhat lacking in comparison to the winners of the Palme and the Grand Prix.

The Contenders: Again, this award will likely be taken from the remaining films after the two above prizes have been catered to.

Uh-oh, here comes a cut! There's plenty more to read underneath it though!

CANNES QUEER PALM GOES TO CAROL

It's the sixth year of Cannes' Queer Palm, and the winner may well be the award's most acclaimed title yet. Todd Haynes' Carol, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt, wins the award for its depiction of a gay relationship in the 1950s, between Cate Blanchett's title character and Rooney Mara's shopgirl. Despite it not actually containing any gay characters, Yorgos Lanthimos' The Lobster receives a Special Mention.

UN CERTAIN REGARD 2015 AWARDS - RAMS WINS TOP PRIZE

A generous spreading of the wealth by Isabella Rossellini's Un Certain Regard jury, as a variety of acclaimed titles won awards for Cannes' secondary strand. Icelandic comedy Rams won the top prize, the Prix Un Certain Regard, with awards being shared across the globe, from the aforementioned Northern European island nation to India, Romania, Japan, Croatia and Iran! Full details of voting below:

Prix Un Certain Regard

Rams (Grimur Hakonarson)

Jury Prize

The High Sun (Dalibor Matanic)

Best Direction

Kurosawa Kiyoshi (Journey to the Shore)

Prix Un Certain Talent

Corneliu Porumboiu (The Treasure)

Special Jury Prizes for Debut Films

Masaan (Neeraj Ghaywan)

Nahid (Ida Panahandeh)

BEYOND MY GRANDFATHER ALLENDE WINS FIRST L'OEIL D'OR

The l'Oeil d'Or is a new award at Cannes, presented to the best documentary screening as a part of any of the festival's several programmes. Fourteen films competed for the award, with the winner revealed as Marcia Tambutti's Beyond My Grandfather Allende from the Directors' Fortnight stream. The runner-up was also announced: Stig Bjorkman's Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words received a Special Mention from the jury. It hails from this year's Cannes Classics stream.

ECUMENICAL PRIZE AT CANNES AWARDED TO MIA MADRE

The Ecumenical Prize at Cannes is decided upon each year by the Ecumenical Jury, a collection of Christian filmmakers, upholding a historic tradition at Cannes of honouring a film of supreme social, moral or religious conscience. This year, two of their three selections were taken from the main competition, with an Un Certain Regard title also in the mix. Their choices can be seen below:

Ecumenical Prize
Mia Madre (Nanni Moretti)

Special Mention
The Measure of a Man (Stephane Brize)
Taklub (Brillante Mendoza)

CANNES 2015 FIPRESCI PRIZES: SON OF SAUL, MASAAN, PAULINA WIN

Almost as eagerly-anticipated as the main competition jury prizes each year out of Cannes are the FIPRESCI prizes. The international critical federation hands out three official awards at each annual Cannes Film Festival, among very many others throughout the year - one for the main comp, one for Un Certain Regard and one for Critics' Week and Directors' Fortnight combined. Below are their 2015 results:

In Competition
Son of Saul (Nemes Laszlo)

Un Certain Regard
Masaan (Neeraj Ghaywan)

Critics' Week / Directors' Fortnight
Paulina (Santiago Mitre)

CANNES REPORT - REVIEW ROUNDUP

Here's a handful of films which showed at Cannes 2015 and weren't featured in individual posts or in other review roundups. Many of these films are new titles from the Cannes Classics strand, most others featured in Special Screenings.

Han Jun Hee's Coin Locker Girl
Pierce Conran at Twitch
Leslie Felperin at The Hollywood Reporter

Benoit Forgeard's Gaz de France
Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter

Renaud Fessaguet and Richard Melloul's Gerard Depardieu: Larger Than Life
Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter

Stig Bjorkman's Ingrid Bergman In Her Own Words
Deborah Young at The Hollywood Reporter

Samuel Benchetrit's Macadam Stories
Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter

Elisabeth Kapnist's Orson Welles: Shadows & Light
Boyd van Hoeij at The Hollywood Reporter
Ben Kenigsberg at RogerEbert.com

Souleymane Cisse's Our House
Deborah Young at The Hollywood Reporter

Pavle Vuckovic's Panama
Boyd van Hoeij at The Hollywood Reporter

Emilie Brisavoine's Pauline
Boyd van Hoeij at The Hollywood Reporter

Eric Hannezo's Rabid Dogs
Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter

Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna's Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans
Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter

Clara Kuperberg and Julia Kuperberg's This Is Orson Welles
Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter

Louis Garrel's Two Friends
Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter

CANNES REPORT - UN CERTAIN REGARD ROUNDUP

The Un Certain Regard awards at Cannes are traditionally held the evening before the main ceremony, and 2015 will continue that tradition. Isabella Rossellini's jury will choose from 19 titles - an equal number to those in the main competition - most of which have featured in individual posts here. A few haven't, though, so here's a roundup of all of the remaining Un Certain Regard screeners:

Laurent Lariviere's I Am a Soldier
Jonathan Romney at Screen Daily
Jon Frosch at The Hollywood Reporter

Nerraj Ghaywan's Masaan
Barbara Scharres at RogerEbert.com
Allan Hunter at Screen Daily

Roberto Minervini's The Other Side
Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter

CANNES REPORT - GUEDIGUIAN'S DON'T TELL ME THE BOY WAS MAD

A Special Screening at Cannes played host to the premiere of Robert Guediguian's Don't Tell me the Boy Was Mad. The film concerns the Armenian genocide, a fitting topic from the French-Armenian director; reviews have been fair and respectful, though not suggestive that Guediguian's latest will enjoy a significant international berth either with critics or audiences any time soon, unfortunately.

David Rooney at The Hollywood Reporter
Thomas Humphrey at Cineuropa
Andrew Pulver at The Guardian

CANNES REPORT - KURZEL'S MACBETH

Shakespeare's Macbeth isn't exactly all sunshine and roses, and thus it's somewhat fitting that the critical reaction toward Justin Kurzel's adaptation shouldn't be either. It's reportedly as brutal as one would expect a version of this play to be from the director of Snowtown; critics remark on the artistic risks of Kurzel's proposition, finding some more successful than others. There's mixed reaction on the whole toward the lead performances from Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender, though most reviewers are typically impressed by the work of these two estimable actors.

Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian
David Jenkins at Little White Lies
David Sexton at Evening Standard
Guy Lodge at Variety
Leslie Felperin at The Hollywood Reporter
Robbie Collin at the Telegraph
Kaleem Aftab at IndieWire
Screen Daily

CANNES REPORT - PORUMBOIU'S THE TREASURE

Corneliu Porumboiu isn't the only Romanian New Wave filmmaker with a film in this year's Cannes selection - Radu Muntean already debuted One Floor Below in the Un Certain Regard segment, where Porumboiu's The Treasure is also showing. The film has drawn some pretty positive write-ups in from critics, who note a change of pace from the filmmaker which they broadly welcome.

Eric Kohn at IndieWire
Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter
Screen Daily

CANNES REPORT - MENDOZA'S TAKLUB

Brillante Mendoza is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival, though there'll be no chance of him pulling off a shock Best Director victory in tomorrow's awards ceremony... because he won't be competing for it! His latest, Taklub, which means 'trap', screens in Un Certain Regard, and critics have responded to the Filipino auteur's bleak drama with mixed reactions. One element of the film that has united reviewers, however, is lead actor Nora Aunor's strong performances, and much of her native media has speculated regarding her shot at an award tonight. She certainly seems like the film's likeliest shot at winning any gold from Cannes.

Maggie Lee at Variety

Clarence Tsui at The Hollywood ReporterS

Screen Daily

CANNES REPORT - ZELEKE'S LAMB

Lamb is the first Ethiopian feature to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in its history. Hooray! And better still, the film has drawn some fantastic responses out of attending journalists. Showing in Un Certain Regard, reviewers note Lamb's impressive visuals and director Yared Zeleke's inherent sensitivity toward the presentation of his native land within the film. It could be a contender for awards at tonight's prize-giving ceremony.

Dan Fainaru at Screen Daily

Jordan Hoffman at The Guardian

Boyd van Hoeij at The Hollywood Reporter

CANNES REPORT - ABUNASSER AND ABUNASSER'S DEGRADE

Don't hate, but I'm late... Critics' Week screener Degrade focuses on a beauty parlour on the Gaza Strip, and uncomfortably straddles a line between comedy and drama, according to critics at Cannes this year. Reviews are mixed, though not particularly encouraging on the whole. The film is written and directed by brothers Arab and Tarzan Abunasser.

Deborah Young at The Hollywood Reporter

Allan Hunter at Screen Daily

Jordan Hoffman at The Guardian

CANNES REPORT - JONES' HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT

Among a selection of new documentaries about film legends screening in the Cannes Classics sidebar at this year's festival is Kent Jones' Hitchcock/Truffaut. The latter filmmaker's interview series with the former's is explored here, with further interviews conducted with some of current cinema's leading figures. And critics enjoyed the result very much, noting its great potential to find an equally receptive audience among film buffs worldwide.

Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian

Fionnuala Halligann at Screen Daily

Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter

CANNES REPORT - PANAHANDEH'S NAHID

An Iranian socio-realist melodrama that's drawing reviews good enough to attract comparison's to 2011's Berlin Golden Bear winner, Asghar Farhadi's A Separation. Ida Panahandeh's film Nahid has shown at Cannes to excellent response from critics; the film actually stars A Separation's Sareh Bayat in its leading role, and the performances are Nahid's most valuable asset, according to reviews.

Allan Hunter at Screen Daily

Jordan Mintzer at The Hollywood Reporter

Scott Foundas at Variety

CANNES REPORT - HAKONARSON'S RAMS

Such a small country, and so isolated, yet Iceland's film production continues to impress. Grimur Hakonarson's Un Certain Regard entry Rams has screened at Cannes 2015 to some excellent, encouraging responses from critics. The film looks to have significant potential for international distribution, with the online reaction to the comedy one of the most positive of the entire Cannes Film Festival this year.

Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter

Alissa Simon at Variety

Allan Hunter at Screen Daily

CANNES REPORT - MATANIC'S THE HIGH SUN

There's much praise coming out of Cannes for Dalibor Matanic's The High Sun. The triptych of stories is showing in the festival's Un Certain Regard segment, where it could be a strong contender for prizes tonight. The acting and visuals alike come in for particularly good write-ups, even if the structure doesn't reap equal benefits for viewers.

Jay Weissberg at Variety

Deborah Young at The Hollywood Reporter

Allan Hunter at Screen Daily

2015 DIRECTORS' FORTNIGHT WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The list of winners has been announced for Cannes 2015's Directors' Fortnight section, and it's a predictably faultless batch of honorees, considering the quality of this year's lineup. Prizes were distributed evenly between six different titles: three feature films and three short films. Check out all the winners below, and be sure to check these films out if they come to an arthouse near you.

SACD Prize

My Golden Days (Arnaud Desplechin)

Europa Cinemas Label

Mustang (Deniz Gamze Erguven)

Art Cinema Award

Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra)

Illy Prize

Rate Me! (Fyzal Boulifa)

Special Mention

The Exquisit Corpus (Peter Tscherkassky)

Oceans Prize

Pape (Nicolas Polixene)