Diego Céspedes’ “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” has been named the best film of the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, the UCR jury announced on Friday.
The film follows an 11-year-old girl growing up in the early 1980s in a queer family in a small Chilean mining town, where suspicion is growing over a mysterious disease that is rumored to be spread by glances between gay men.
Simón Mesa Soto’s “A Poet” won the Jury Prize, the second-place award.
The directing award went to Tarzan and Arab Nasser for “Once Upon a Time in Gaza,” while Cléo Diara and Frank Dillane won the performance prizes for “I Only Rest in the Storm” and “Urchin,” respectively. Writer-director Harry Lighton won the screenplay award for “Pillion.”
Un Certain Regard focuses on films from younger directors and often spotlights experimental work. This year, UCR was also the section of Cannes that contained the well-received directorial debuts of three actors: Kristen Stewart’s “The Chronology of Water,” Scarlett Johansson’s “Eleanor the Great” and Harris Dickinson’s “Urchin.”
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The awards were given out by a jury headed by British writer-director Molly Manning Walker. The panel also included director Louise Courvoisier, film festival director Vanja Kaludjercic, writer-director Roberto Minervini and actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart. Courvoisier and Minervini were winners in the UCR competition last year, while Walker won the top award two years ago.
In other Cannes awards, Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake” won the second annual People’s Choice Award in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, and Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s “A Useful Ghost” won the jury award in the Critics’ Week section.
Elsewhere, Michel van der Aa’s “From Dust” won the top prize in the Cannes Immersive competition.
Panda, an Icelandic Sheepdog who appeared in the film “The Love That Remains,” won the tongue-in-cheek Palm Dog for the festival’s best canine performance.
The main Cannes awards, including the Palme d’Or, will be handed out at a ceremony on Saturday evening.
The awards:
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Grand Prix: “The Muysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Diego Cespedes
Jury Prize: “A Poet,” Simón Mesa Soto
Best Director: Tarzan and Arab Nasser, “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”
Performance Awards: Cléo Diara, “I Only Rest in the Storm” and Frank Dillane, “Urchin”
Best Screenplay: Harry Lighton, “Pillion”
IMMERSIVE COMPETITION
Best Immersive Work Award: “From Dust,” Michel van der Aa
SHORT FILMS AND LA CINEF JURY AWARDS
First Prize: “First Summer,” Heo Gayoung
Second Prize: “12 Moments Before the Flag-Raising Ceremony,” Qu Zhizheng
Troisieme Prix ex aequo: “Ginger Boy,” Miki Tanaka; “Winter in March,” Natalia Mirzoyan
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice Prize: “The President’s Cake,” Hasan Hadi
Directors’ Fortnight SACD Coup de Coeur Auteurs Prize: “Wild Foxes,” Valery Carnoy
Directors’ Fortnight Europa Cinema Cannes Label Award for Best European Film: “Wild Foxes,” Valery Carnoy
CRITICS’ WEEK
Critics’ Week Grand Prize: “A Useful Ghost,” Ratchaboom Boonbunchachoke
French Touch Prize of the Jury: “Imago,” Deni Oumar Pitsaev
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Theodore Pelleriin, “Nino”
Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film: “L’mina,” Randa Maroufi
SACD Prize: Guillermo Galoe and Victor Alonso-Berbel, “Sleepless City”
Gan Foundation Award for Distribution: Le Pacte, distributor of “Left-Handed Girl”
Canal+ Award for Short Film: “Erogenesis,” Xandra Popescu
Palm Dog: Panda the Icelandic Sheepdog, “The Love That Remains”
Global Sustainability Award: “Love Hurts”
