Chinese director Hu Guan’s “Black Dog” has been named the best film in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a jury headed by director Xavier Dolan announced at an awards ceremony on Friday night.
The film stars Eddie Peng as a stunt motorcyclist who returns to his hometown after serving a jail term. The film was one of 18 in the Un Certain Regard section, which is typically devoted to younger or lesser known filmmakers than the ones who compete in Cannes’ Main Competition.
Other Un Certain Regard awards include the jury prize to Boris Lojkine’s “The Story of Souleymane,” the directing award to Roberto Minervini for “The Damned” and Rungano Nyoni for “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” and performance awards to Anasuya Sengupta for “The Shameless” and Abou Sangare for “The Story of Souleymane.”
In other Cannes awards announced at different times, the festival’s first-ever immersive award was given to “Colored” by Tania de Montaigne, Stephane Foenkinos and Pierre Alain-Giraud, while the LaCinef Prize for a student film went to “Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know” by Chidananda S. Naik from FTII in India.
In awards that are not official Cannes prizes, Federico Luis won the Grand Prize in the Critics’ Week sidebar for “Simon of the Mountain,” while the audience award in the Directors Fortnight sidebar went to “Universal Language” by Matthew Rankin.
The Palm Dog, a tongue-in-cheek award given to the best canine performance in Cannes, went to Kodi for “Dog on Trial.”
The highest-profile Cannes awards, including the Palme d’Or, will be handed out on Saturday evening at the festival’s closing ceremony.
The list of awards:
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Grand Prix: “Black Dog,” Hu Guan
Jury Prize: “The Story of Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine
Best Director: Roberto Minervini, “The Damned” and Rungano Nyoni, “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”
Performance Award: Anasuya Sengupta, “The Shameless” and Abou Sangare, “The Story of Souleymane”
Youth Prize: “Holy Cow,” Louise Courvoisier
Special Mention: “Nora,” Tawfik Alzaidi
IMMERSIVE COMPETITION
Best Immersive Work: “Colored,” Tania de Montaigne, Stephane Foenkinos, Pierre Alain-Giraud
LA CINEF PRIZES
First Prize: “Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know…”
Chidananda S. Naik
FTII, Pune, India
Joint Second Prize:
“Out the Window Through the Wall”
Asya Segalovich
Columbia University, United States
“The Chaos She Left Behind”
Nikos Kolioukos
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Third Prize: “Bunnyhood”
Mansi Maheshwari
National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
FIPRESCI PRIZES
In Competition: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
Un Certain Regard: “The Story of Souleymane,” Boris Lojkine
Parallel section (first features): “Desert of Namibia,” Yoko Yamanaka
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Audience Award: “Universal Language,” Matthew Rankin
Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film: “The Other Way Around,” Jonas Trueba
SACD Prize for Best French Film: “This Life of Mine,” Sophie Fillieres
CRITICS’ WEEK
Grand Prize: “Simon of the Mountains,” Federico Luis
French Touch Prize of the Jury: “Blue Sun Palace,” Constance Tsang
Leitz Cine Discover Prize for Short Film: “Montsouris Park,” Guil Sela
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Richardo Teodoro, “Baby”
Gan Foundation Award for Distribution: “Julie Keeps Quiet,” Leonardo Van Dijl
Canal+ Award for Short Film: “Absent,” Cam Demirer
SACD Award: “Julie Keeps Quiet”
L’Œil d’or Award: “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” Raoul Peck
“The Brink of Dreams,” Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir
Queer Palme: “Three Kilometers to the End of the World,” Emmanuel Parvu
Best Short Film: “Southern Brides,” Elena Lopez Riera
Prix de la Citoyennete Citizenship Prize: “Bird,” Andrea Arnold
Prix des Cinemas Art et Essai Art House Cinema Award: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
Special mention: “All We Imagine as Light,” Payal Kapadia
PALM DOG
Palm Dog Award: Kodi, “Dog on Trial”
Grand Jury Prize: Xin, “Black Dog”
Mutt Moments: “Bird,” “Kinds of Kindness,” “Megalopolis”
