After handing over their awards, the Jury of the 70th Festival de Cannes met for the final time at a press conference. Pedro Almodóvar and his Jury members.
Pedro Almodóvar on the Jury discussions:
There was a great deal of respect within the Jury. Yet we didn’t necessarily share the same assessment criteria.
Agnès Jaoui on the Palme d’or: The Square by Ruben Östlund.
This is an intelligent, subtle and funny film that raises important issues: how to help the poor, how to deal with the media and attract them by creating a shock factor. And I also fell for the lead actor!
And Pedro Almodóvar added:
The film looks at the dictatorship of political correctness. It offers several examples of this. It is a very funny film, the actors are excellent and we considered giving the lead actor a Best Actor Award.
Pedro Almodóvar on the Grand Prix: 120 Battements par minute (BPM (Beats per Minute)) by Robin Campillo.
The most important work, but also the least visible, is done by the “head hunters”, who search all over the world and at festivals in order to find the most promising directors
I was very moved by the scenes in this film, from the beginning to the end, and even afterward. The overwhelming majority loved Campillo’s film. I’m sure it will be well received. Campillo tells the story of heroes who saved many lives, and he brought this to our attention.
The women on the Jury responded to a question about the position of women in film:
Fan Bingbing: We want to encourage films by women, with women and directed by women.
Maren Ade: We all want the film industry to reflect society as it really is.
Will Smith on world cinema:
As Jury members, we talked a lot about the future of the Festival de Cannes, building bridges with films from communities all over the world. With Park Chan-wook, we are keen to work with Thierry Frémaux and Pierre Lescure to create a kind of board that would build bridges between films from remote communities and Cannes, so they could be better represented.
Have fun!