66th Cannes film festival ends, `La Vie d`Adele` wins Palme d`Or

Paris: The 66th Cannes Film Festival drew its curtain down Sunday after 12 days of competition with French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche`s ‘La Vie d`Adele - Chapitre 1&2’ (‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’) taking the prestigious Palme d`Or. The film, starring Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux, is a three-hour love story based on a graphic novel by Julie Maroh, Xinhua reported. It is a story about a teenage girl who falls in love with a slightly older woman. the movie about sexual awakening, heartbreak, and self-discovery. The runner-up award, the Grand Prix, was given to ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ directed by the Coen brothers, who were absent from the closing ceremony. The Coen brothers had won the Palme d`Or in 1991. The Jury Prize went to Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda for ‘Like Father, Like Son’. Mexico`s Amat Escalante won the best director prize for his film ‘Heli’. Hollywood veteran Bruce Dern took the best actor prize for his performance in ‘Nebraska’ and Argentine-born Frenchwoman Berenice Bejo was awarded the best actress prize for her role in ‘The Past’. Jia Zhangke, the 43-year-old Chinese director, scooped the prize for best screenplay for ‘Tian Zhu Ding’ (‘A Touch of Sin’), which mirrors the life of the contemporary Chinese society. The awards were decided by a nine-member jury led by US filmmaker Steven Spielberg, joined by Australian actress Nicole Kidman and Oscar-winning director Ang Lee among others, after reviewing 20 films in competition. In 2012, the Palme d`Or was awarded to ‘Amour’ (‘Love’), a French-language drama film written and directed by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke. As one of the world`s most prestigious film events, this year`s Cannes festival opened May 15 with Australian director Baz Luhrmann`s lavish film "The Great Gatsby" starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In 12 days, nearly 80 movies were showed at the festival. English-language French-produced crime film ‘Zulu’, directed by Jerome Salle, premiered after the closing ceremony. IANS