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The Palme d’Or was awarded to Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon. Michael Haneke accepted the distinction from the hands of Isabelle Huppert with these words: “Thank you very much. Sometimes my wife asks me a very feminine question: that is, am I happy. Well, let me say that at this moment in time, I am very happy. Much thanks also to Thierry Frémaux for including me in this prestigious competition; to my producers, for letting me do what I wanted; to the funding sources which financed the film, and to the children, who were an enormous gift to me.…

Burbank, California, May 24th 2009 – Cinema Without Borders announced that Hollie Miller, a CWB film critic, will be running Cinema Without Borders’ BLOGS as CWB BLOGS Editor.“We had been lucky to have such a great writer as our Blogs Editor. Hollie Miller’s BLOGS has interesting and challenging subjects and she has a very good understanding about what film related Blogs should be. Hollie’s love for international cinema and BLOGS medium makes her a unique blog editor” Says Bijan Tehrani, Editor In Chief of Cinema Without Borders.Hollie Miller is a copywriter by trade, graduating in 2006 with an Honors BA…

The Competition feature Map of the Sounds of Tokyo by Spanish director Isabel Coixet tells a story of love and vengeance in the Japanese megacity. Coixet recalls the genesis of her film: “Films, like tunes or poems, spring from strange encounters, from odd associations that can be completely incongruent but full of magic. In the case of Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, I “saw” the story (I don’t want to sound like some kind of visionary, but this is how I felt it happen) at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. I suppose the smells of fresh tuna, seaweed and…

Palestinain director Elia Suleiman, presenting his feature The Time That Remains in Competition, gave a press conference about the film today. Selected excerpts.Elia Suleiman on the meaning of the title:”The Time That Remains is linked to the narrative of the film, it’s linked to the narrative of the global situation that we live in. It is linked to the very personal story that the film tells. The subtitle of the film [Arab-Israelis] is a political term that describes the Palestinians who remained on their own land, who were considered as absentees while they lived on their own land after 1948.…

Screening in Un Certain Regard Wind Journeys is the second feature-length film by Ciro Guerra. Born in Rio de Oro in 1981, he studied cinematography at the National University of Colombia. At the age of 20, after having directed multi-award-winning shorts, he wrote, produced, and directed his first feature, The Wandering Shadows, acclaimed at festivals all over the world. “This is the story of a journey,” Guerra begins. “A journey towards the beginning, towards the spirit. Towards our soul. For centuries, we’ve asked ourselves: What keeps up apart? Now it is time to ask what brings us together.”Ignacio Carrillo travelled…

Presided by Italian director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino, the UCR Jury panel included actress Julie Gayet, Toronto Festival Director Piers Handling, and journalists Uma Da Cunha and Marit Kapla. At tonight’s closing ceremonies in Salle Debussy, the following prizes were announced: UN CERTAIN REGARD AWARDFONDATION GROUPAMA GAN POUR LE CINEMAKynodontas (Dogtooth) by Yorgos LanthimosThe Jury AwardPolice, Adjective by Corneliu PorumboiuUN CERTAIN REGARD 2009 Special AwardKasi Az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh (No One Knows About Persian Cats) by Bahman GhobadiFather of my Children by Mia Hansen-Løve

Coming into the second week of the Cannes Film Festival, Jaz Films has acquired the last screenplay written by celebrated Lifetime Achievement Academy Award Winner, and two-time Academy Award nominated Italian visionary Michelangelo Antonioni (L’Avventura, La Notte, BlowUp). The script titled Two Telegrams was the last script he penned just before he passed away in 2007. Jaz Films Partners, Zev Guber and Jeremy Wall acquired the project from the estate of Michelangelo Antonioni.Two Telegrams is co-written with screenplay veteran, Rudy Wurlitzer (Little Buddha, Voyager and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid). Two Telegrams, inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni’s short story of…

Reporters from the international press were able to meet the entire crew of the feature Broken Embraces. Voluble as ever, director Pedro Almodóvar was accompanied by cast members Penélope Cruz, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, Lluis Homar, Tamar Novas, and Rubén Ochandiano, as well as producer Augustin Almodóvar. Excerpts follow.Pedro Almodóvar on how he directs actors: “First of all, the way in which I work with the actors depends on who the actor is. I believe that someone who fails to understand the human dimension, who can’t communicate well, could never be a good director. The actors I work with…

The Certain Regard selection opens its doors to a Greek film today, Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos. This second feature, following debut film Kinetta in 2005, portrays a deranged, dysfunctional family cut off from the outside world. Living a recluse existence, the three children have no choice but to abide by the rules their father has imposed. The only person allowed to visit is Christina, an employee at the father’s business, to satisfy the sexual urges of the son…Yorgos Lanthimos studied directing in Athens, at the Stavrakou school. Since 1995, he has juggled filmmaking, theater directing, dance videos and a number…

In 2008, Bong Joon-Ho was a member of the trio directing Tokyo! which screened in Certain Regard, his co-filmmakers being Leos Carax and Michel Gondry. This year, Certain Regard has selected the Korean director’s latest film, the suspenseful Mother. A widow, determined to prove that her son is innocent of the murder accusation leveled against him, single-mindedly pursues the real killer herself. Bong, whose monster movie The Host, which screened at Directors Fortnight in 2006, won him international renown, focuses here on portraying the inner strength of a mother in search of truth, and her emotional fluctuations and doubts. The…