‘Fjord’ by Romania’s Mungiu wins Cannes Film Festival’s top prize

By Miranda Murray

CANNES, France, May 23 (Reuters) – “Fjord,” the drama by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or top prize on Saturday. 

It is the second time Mungiu has won the prize, after 2007’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.” 

The film starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve is centred around the clash of values that ensues when a religious family relocates from Romania to a Norwegian village.

The second-place Grand Prize went to “Minotaur,” a drama about a wife’s infidelity, from Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev.

The best director prize was shared between Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski for his Thomas Mann drama “Fatherland” and the Spanish duo known as “Los Javis,” Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, for the Spanish Civil War epic “The Black Ball.”

The best actress prize was handed to the two leads of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden,” France’s Virginie Efira and Japan’s Tao Okamoto, both of whom wiped away tears as they took to the stage.

The best actor prize was also shared by the two main stars of Belgian World War One gay love story “Coward,” Valentin Campagne and newcomer Emmanuel Macchia.

The jury prize went to “The Dreamed Adventure,” a drama about an archaeological dig in Bulgaria, by German film director Valeska Grisebach.

Famed U.S. singer and actor Barbra Streisand was given an honorary Palme d’Or in absentia, after she could not attend the ceremony due to a knee injury.

French screen icon Isabelle Huppert accepted the award on Streisand’s behalf.

Streisand, the 84-year-old star of movies including “Yentl” and “Funny Girl” praised cinema’s ability to unite people, in a video message accepting the award.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray in Cannes, France; Editing by Matthew Lewis)