A French film has taken the top prize at the Festival de Cannes for the first time in 21 years
THE HOST country took the top prize at the Festival de Cannes for the first time in 21 years when The Class( Entre les Murs), one of the three French films in competition, won the event's most coveted prize, the Palme d'Or, last night.
Robert De Niro, who starred in the film industry satire, What Just Happened?, which was the closing film at Cannes last night, presented the award to director Laurent Cantet.
Substantially improvised and featured a cast of non-professional actors, The Classfollows an eventful year in the lives of a young teacher and his 14-year-old pupils at a Paris school.
As it addresses the hopes, dreams, failures and family circumstances of its multi-racial class, the film presents a microcosm of contemporary France.
It is based on a book by Francois Bégaudeau, a real-life teacher who plays the teacher in the film. Cantet brought the film's 25 young actors on stage last night as he received his Palme d'Or.
The last time a French film won that prize was in 1987, when it was given to director Maurice Pialat for Under Satan's Sun.
Coincidentally, there had been a 21-year gap since another French film had won the prize, when A Man and a Womantook the Palme d'Or in 1966.
The runner-up prize at Cannes, the Grand Prix du Jury, was presented by Roman Polanski to Italian director Matteo Garrone for Gomorra, his tough, edgy picture of the Camorra, the notorious Neapolitan equivalent of the Mafia, who, the film alleges, have been responsible for more murders - over 4,000 - in the past 30 years than any criminal or terrorist group.
The Cannes jury award for best director went to Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys, a riveting moral drama that begins when a politician falls asleep at the wheel, causes a hit- and-run accident and bribes his driver to take the rap for him.
A real-life politician, former Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti, is the subject of the fascinating Italian film, Il Divo, which took the minor prize, the Prix du Jury.
Benicio Del Toro was voted best actor for his portrayal of Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's two-part epic Che, which was shown as a work in progress at Cannes.
For her first feature film, Brazilian actress Sandra Corveloni was named best actress for her portrayal of an impoverished, pregnant single mother in the Sao Paulo-set drama Linha de Passe.
There was a sustained standing ovation when Cannes jury president Sean Penn announced special awards for two great veterans with films in competition this year: Catherine Deneuve, who turns 65 later this year, and Clint Eastwood, who will be 78 next Saturday.