Fahrenheit 9/11 wins Palme d'Or at Cannes!

The BBQ Pit
1

I posted this in Cafe Society, but gobear mentioned putting it in the Pit, so here it is. I have no comment myself at this time other than I’m very happy about it.
Results stolen from another site
**Cannes 2004 WINNERS **

Palme d’Or
Fahrenheit 9/11

Grand Jury Prize
Old Boy

Jury Prize
(TIE) Tropical Malady and **Irma P. Hall for her role in The Ladykillers **

Best Director
Tony Gatlif, Exils

Best Actor
Yagira Yuya, Nobody knows (he’s 14 years old!)

Best Actress
Maggie Cheung, Clean

Best Screenplay
**Comme une Image (Look At Me) **
The Competition Jury was comprised of: Hong Kong helmer Tsui Hark, Finnish critic Peter von Bagh, vet director Jerry Schatzberg, Belgian comedian Benoit Poolevoorde, British thesp Tilda Swinton, actresses Kathleen Turner and Emmanuelle Beart, writer Edwidge Danticat, and headed by Quention Tarantino.
Fahrenheit 9/11 was the first documentary to win Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or since Jacques Cousteau’s “The Silent World” in 1956.

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Full 2004 Cannes Film Festival lineup:

OPENING FILM

Bad Education, Spain, Pedro Almodovar

CLOSING FILM

De-Lovely, U.S. Irwin Winkler

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

La Nina Santa - Argentina, Lucrecia Martel
Clean - France-U.K., Olivier Assayas
Comme Une Image - France, Agnes Jaoui
Exiles - France, Tony Gatlif
Life is a Miracle - France, Emir Kusturica
The Edukators - Germany, Hans Weingartner
2046 - Hong Kong, Wong Kar-wai
Le Conseguenze Dell’Amore - Italy, Paolo Sorrentino
Innocence - Japan, Mamoru Oshii
Nobody Knows - Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda
Old Boy - South Korea, Park Chan-wook
Woman is the Future of Man - South Korea, Hong Sang-soo
Tropical Malady - Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Fahrenheit 9/11 - U.S., Michael Moore
The Ladykillers - U.S., Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers - U.S.-U.K., Stephen Hopkins
The Motorcycle Diaries - U.S.-U.K., Walter Salles
Shrek 2 - U.S., Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon

OUT OF COMPETITION

Cineastes a Tout Prix - Belgium, Frederic Sojcher
House of Flying Daggers - China-HK, Zhang Yimou
10e Chambre: Instants d’Audiences - France, Raymond Depardon
La Porte Du Soleil - France-Egypt, Yousry Nasrallah
Five - Iran-France, Abbas Kiarostami
Our Music - Switzerland, Jean-Luc Godard
Bad Santa, US, Terry Zwigoff
Dawn of the Dead - US, Zack Snyder
Kill Bill Vol. 2 - U.S., Quentin Tarantino
Mondovino - U.S., Jonathan Nossiter
Troy - U.S., Wolfgang Petersen
SHORT FILMS COMPETITION

Accordeon - Michele Cournoyer
Closer - David Rittey
Der Schwimmer - Klaus Huettmann
Flatlife - Jonas Geirnaert
Gerard Mon Amour - Madeleine Andre
L’Evangile du Cochon Creole - Michelange Quay
La Derniere Minute - Nicolas Salis
Quimera - Erik Rocha
Thinning the Herd - Rie Rasmussen
Trafic - Catalin Mitulescu
UN CERTAIN REGARD 2004

OPENING FILM

Bienvenue en Suisse - Switzerland, Lea Fazer

CLOSING FILM*

La Rage au Coeur - Youssef Chahine

MAIN PROGRAM

Terre et Cendres - Afghanistan, Atiq Rahimi
Somersault - Australia, Cate Shortland
Hotel - Austria, Jessica Hausner
Passages - China, Yang Chao
A Tout de Suite - France, Benoit Jacquot
Nelly - France, Laure Duthilleul
Marseille - Germany, Angela Schanelec
Control - Hungary, Antal Nimrod
10 on Ten - Iran-France, Abbas Kiarostami
Don’t Move - Italy, Sergio Castellitto
Cronicas - Mexico, Sebastían Cordero
Dark Night - Portugal, Joao Canijo
Schizo - Russia, Gulshad Omarova
Moolaade - Senegal, Ousmane Sembene
Sword in the Moon - South Korea, Kim Eui-suk
Poids Leger - Switzerland, Jean-Pierre Ameris
Dear Frankie - UK, Shona Auerbach
Whisky - Uruguay, Juan-Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll
The Assassination of Richard Nixon - U.S., Niels Mueller

2

What a travesty.

3

The only reason I was so tolerant of Bowling for Columbine is that he didn’t seem to put forth any answers. I thought it was fairly honest of a guy like Michael Moore to ask and ask and ask and then let the viewer decide his or her own answer. I hope Fahrenheit 9/11 has at least one broadly redeeming quality like this.

What’s the latest news on whether or not we’ll see this in the theatres?

4

Yes, it’s awful that… wait, why? Movie unseen, the problem = ?

Roger Ebert writes of Moore, “He said he expects to sign a U.S. distribution deal this week at Cannes.”

By the way, and I hope this doesn’t ruin the bashing, but only one judge was French. There rest were four Americans, a Brit, a Finn, a Belgian, and a Hong Kong…ian.

5

I haven’t had a chance to keep up closely with this, but last I heard, the Weinsteins were going to buy back the movie from Disney with their own money, and they’re working on getting different partners for the various outlets (one for theatrical release, one for video/DVD, one for worldwide distribution and whateverever else).

An announcement is supposed to be made soon.

I heard that Focus wanted to distribute it but there was a problem. Some say Moore wanted too much money, but I’m not taking that at face value. He wants his movie seen, and he didn’t make it for the bucks, so any rumor that smacks of “making Moore look bad” gets taken with a grain of salt until I hear confirmation, at which point I’ll decide how I feel.

Focus is a good company. They were responsible for bringing us several excellent films, such as 21 Grams, Lost In Translation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

6

I have to admit that I feel really bad for why this makes me feel good.

On the one hand, Moore seems to be strangely popular with young people 18-24. He is also vehemently anti-Bush. This means that he could sway a key, typically non-voting demographic, and have a substantial effect on the election if this film is released before November (but not too soon, since that same demographic quickly forgets and fades back into apathy.)

On the other hand, Moore is also known for [at least somewhat] dishonest filmmaking. I don’t what people voting based on half-truths or misconceptions.

I’m not going too far in judging the film until I see it though. I’m hopeful (and it is likely) that he has matured both as a filmmaker and as a storyteller since his last film.

7

That matters not in the film & entertainment industry. IMHO any chance the majority of them get to take a stab at Bush would only delight them. As I stated in the Cafe Society thread, if they had rewritten Gigli and inserted some “Bush Sucks” comments, it may have won as well.

8

Right. That’s why these people decided to dedicate their careers and at least to some extent their lives to film…because they hate Bush. They don’t care about the cinematic experience or the artistry of filmmaking, they just saw it as a quick and easy way to advance Bush-bashing. What amazing foresight these men and women from so many parts of the world had to enter the film industry years ago and build up their reputations just so they’d be ready for the great day when they could finally realize their dreams and hand a prestigious award to a movie solely because it criticized George W. Bush.

9

A Bush bashing film went over well in France?

I’m shocked!!!

Just shocked, I say!

10

I wonder how much artistic merit played in the award.
Play-along Hollywood politics wasn’t enough for Embedded?

If I were to judge it in that setting, I’d judge it as a film telling a story. Movies about historical events always indulge in ‘artistic license’ of some sort. *Matter of fact even movies based on previously recorded fiction get tweaked. *

On the other hand, if someone used the film for a citation in GD…

11

Are you insane? this has nothing to do with France! If it had been a pro-bush film that won would you be saying that?

if it won the Best film award at the Sundance film festival you’d just resort to “Hollywood liberals” tripe.

you’re pathetic.

12

Funny, I was under the impression that there was bush-sucking in Gigli.

[sub]gobble, gobble[/sub]

13

Right, and the members entertainment industry have kept their noses out of political activism and wouldn’t stoop to taking a swipe at any administration with which they don’t agree. Are you really that naive?

14

It’s one thing to stand up on stage and “denounce” the Bush administration (or the Clinton administration, or take your pick)-- like, say, the Dixie Chicks. It’s a completely different thing to carry out what you, and others, are suggesting… in fact, it’s almost seems a little paranoid, to me.

Considering the plethora of crappy movies that have been coming out lately, here in the U.S., maybe Fahrenheit 9/11 actually deserved the award. :eek:

LilShieste

15

I agree with you about BfC. I was surprised it wasn’t an anti-gun screed, and it seems a lot of people still don’t get that. I saw at least one recent article about “Farenheit 9/11” that called BfC an anti-gun film.

It really looks like F911 is purely an anti-Bush flick, but hopefully it will have some kind of “let the view decide” element to it as well. I don’t really need to hear any more Bush-bashing, it’s preaching to the choir for me. Unless new (and believably truthful) accusations are made, it’s a waste. Something that leaves conclusions up to the viewer would be a much better film, likely.

16

so the film can’t possibly be any good or have any truth, right?

17

It’s possible, although from the news associated with the film it sounds like it’s purely a anti-Bush political hack job. However, don’t get me wrong. Moore has every right to express his views in his films (at least he does in the free part of the world). Just as I have every right not to support his views by not paying to see it.

On the same token, can you agree that there is at least a chance that political motivation entered into how this film was received (and judged) in Cannes?

18

I can, and will, agree that there is a chance that that is the case. I would just like people to not blindly dismiss the film as such, without going to see it (or waiting for more reviews… when it is officially released).

Agreed. I will be very pissed if I pay money to see the film, and only come out of the theater thinking I just watched a MoveOn ad*.

LilShieste

    • Yeah, there are some of these ads I like, but I lump most of them with in the Truth ads.
19

The news report that I heard today said that the film may never be shown in the USA because Disney have told MIramax not to distribute it in America. Apparently they own the rights.

20

This CNN piece indicates that while Disney will prevent Miramax distributing the movie, Moore can make other arrangements if he wishes.