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CANNES 2016 Awards

Olivier Assayas finally gets an award at Cannes

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- CANNES 2016: The filmmaker has won the Best Director Award with Personal Shopper; several French co-productions were also singled out with prizes

Olivier Assayas finally gets an award at Cannes
Olivier Assayas with his Best Director Award (© C Duchêne / Cannes Film Festival)

Olivier Assayas has won the Best Director Award at the 69th Cannes Film Festival with Personal Shopper [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Artemio Benki
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile
]
, thus finally being singled out in a personal capacity for this, his fifth appearance in competition, following Les destinées (2000), Demonlover [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2002), Clean [+see also:
trailer
film profile
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(Best Actress Award in 2004) and Clouds of Sils Maria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charles Gillibert
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile
]
(2014). Personal Shopper was produced by Charles Gillibert for CG Cinéma, and co-produced by Arte France Cinéma, German outfit Detail Film, Belgium’s Scope Invest and Czech firm Sirena Film. Pre-purchased by Canal+, the feature will be distributed in France by Les Films du Losange on 19 October, while the international sales are handled by MK2

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France also stands out in the winners’ list through its involvement in four films by British, Romanian, Iranian and Canadian filmmakers. 

The 2016 Palme d'Or winner, I, Daniel Blake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by British director Ken Loach,was 25% produced by France via Why Not Productions, together with the United Kingdom (65%) and Belgium (10%). Co-produced by France 2 Cinéma, and pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the film will be distributed in France by Le Pacte and is being sold by Wild Bunch.

With Why Not as its co-producer, Le Pacte as its French distributor and Wild Bunch as its international sales agent, the French co-produced Graduation [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
film profile
]
earned Romanian director Cristian Mungiu the Best Director Award ex-aequo with Assayas’ film. 25% produced by France, with a 65% stake for Romania and 10% for Belgium, the feature was also co-produced by France 3 Cinéma, with pre-purchases by Canal+ and Ciné+.

Memento Films also ranked very highly in the winners’ list with The Salesman [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, as Alexandre Mallet-Guy’s Paris-based outfit produced it, will distribute it in France on 2 November and is selling it overseas. The title snagged the Best Actor and Best Screenplay Awards at Cannes.

It’s Only the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Canada’s Xavier Dolan, which took home the Grand Prix, was 36% co-produced by France via MK2 and France 2 Cinéma, with pre-purchases by Canal+ and Ciné+. Its French release will be handled by Diaphana on 21 September.

Another tip of the hat went to Marc-Benoît Créancier’s relatively new company Easy Tiger, with the Caméra d'Or pocketed by Divines [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Houda Benyamina
film profile
]
by Houda Benyamina. Co-produced by France 2 Cinéma and backed by the CNC’s advance on receipts, and the Centre and Ile-de-France regions, the movie will be distributed in France by Diaphana and is being sold by German company Films Boutique.

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(Translated from French)

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