Cannes: 2023 has proven to be a good year for women filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival. French director Justine Triet won the highest prize Palme d'Or for her thriller 'Anatomy of a Fall'.
She is the third woman to win the top prize. During her acceptance speech, she criticised French President Emmanuel Macron for increasing the retirement age. She added that the award deeply touched her. "I am very pleased to be the third woman who has gotten this prize, things are truly changing and for the best."
A record seven women were among the 21 entries competing for the top prize this year. German actress Sandra Hueller led Anatomy of a Fall with her brilliant performance but did not win an award. However, she also starred in another film by British director Jonathan Glazer 'The Zone of Interest' which won the runner-up Grand Prix.
Anatomy of a Fall is a courtroom about a writer accused of her husband's murder after he is found dead in the snow. The Zone of Interest is about the private life of a Nazi family at Auschwitz concentration camp. Hueller plays the wife of the Nazi commandant who happily tends the garden and calls herself "the queen of Auschwitz'.
Aki Kaurismaki's Finnish film 'Fallen Leaves" won third place Jury Prize.
Vietnamese-born French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung won best director for 'The Pot-au-Feu'. The movie was a homage to French cuisine. He gave the credit to his actress Juliette Binoche and said she was "quite extraordinary in the film".
Japan's Koji Yakusho won the best actor award for 'Perfect Days'. He thanked director Wim Wenders for creating a "magnificent character". The movie is about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo who has a complex past. Turkey's Merve Dizdar won best actress for 'About Dry Grasses' directed by former Palme winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
The jury of nine was led by last year's winner Ruben Ostlund who told the media that this year, there was a very strong lineup and they had "a lot of intense, fun discussions." Hollywood actress Brie Larson was also part of the jury.
Legendary actress Jane Fonda presented the Palme d'Or and spoke about the first time she came to Cannes in 1963. "There were no women directors competing at that time and it never even occurred to us that there was something wrong with that. We have come a long way."