- Title: FRANCE: 50TH CANNES FILM FESTIVAL ENDS
- Date: 18th May 1997
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 18, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) YOUSSEF CHAHINE (SOUNDBITE FRENCH) SPEAKING ABOUT HIS AWARD
- Embargoed: 2nd June 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE/ FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Reuters ID: LVA1U9ELSUCJW5NARHDHVFHNQ7TY
- Story Text: A parade of stars mounted Cannes' famous Palais des Festivals steps on Sunday (May 18) to see the final curtain of the festival fall on the winners of the 50th Palme D'Or (Golden Palm).
Thousands of fans thronged the entrance as limousines deposited stars, directors and guests at the edge of the red-carpeted stairs.
The festival jury must have been feeling particularly generous as in the end it gave the coveted award to two directors - Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami ('The Taste Of The Cherry') and Japanese Director Shohei Imamura ('Unagi' or 'The Eel') - in a strong show of support for their battles against censorship.
Censorship overshadowed celebrations at the festival with China banning both Zhang Yimou and Zhang Yuan from showing films in Cannes this year.
Kiarostami's film almost missed the competition after Tehran authorities initially banned him from coming.
The film is a meditation on suicide and the Moslem religion, while Imamura's is a quirky and often hilarious tale of a former prisoner, obsessed by his pet eel, who rebuilds his life from scratch.
'Unagi' tells the story of Takuro Yamashita, played by Koji Yakusho, who leaves prison after serving eight years for killing his wife to start life in a small town.
His closest companion is a pet eel, which kept him company throughout his time behind bars.
Freed from the physical confines of jail, Takuro slowly begins to open up and make friends. His life changes again when he saves the life of a young woman, Keiko (Misa Shimizu), trying to commit suicide.
The attempted suicide brings them together, but they must also face their pasts before they can move on.
Kiarostami entered 'The Taste Of The Cherry' at Cannes after Iran's Foreign Ministry intervened to overturn a ban imposed by its Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Kiarostami said the culture ministry had told him he would be banned because it should be shown first at the Fajr (Dawn) festival in Tehran in February, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
He has said that the film was not ready for the Fajr festival because of production delays.
"The Taste of the Cherry" courted controversy in the Islamic republic because it depicts a young soldier who refuses to help a man kill himself.
Some of Kiarostami's previous work has been controversial in Iran for dealing with sensitive issues, such as shortcomings of the country's school system.
A special 50th anniversary prize went to Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, whose earlier movie 'The Migrant' was banned after protests from Moslem fundamentalists.
The veteran Chahine was in competition with 'Destiny', but his award was for his life's work.
Egyptian-born and Canadian-raised Atom Egoyan won the Grand Jury Prize, widely seen as the runner-up to the Golden Palm, for 'The Sweet Hereafter', a gripping account of a small Canadian town coping with a school bus accident.
Sean Penn and Kathy Burke won the best actor and best actress prizes respectively for Nick Cassavetes' 'She's So Lovely' and Gary Oldman's first movie "Nil By Mouth".
"Nil By Mouth" is the portrait of a dysfunctional London working-class family which is a deeply personal film its director Gary Oldman, who's drawn on many of his memories of life in the dreary projects of southeast London.
Sean Penn stars with his real life partner Robin Wright as a married couple in 'She's So Lovely'.
The film, which also stars John Travolta, Harry Dean Stanton and Debi Mazar, premiered at the Cannes festival.
Penn plays Eddie, an alcoholic and an unreliable, unstable husband to Maureen. The pair are passionately in love and Maureen is pregnant.
But true to form, Eddie vanishes and as she tries to find him, Maureen is brutally attacked by her neighbour.
Eddie hits back and he ends up being committed to a mental institution where he remains for 10 years. When he's released, he expects to be reunited with Maureen, who has other plans.
Critics' polls by trade magazines had failed to pick a clear favourite for the Golden Palm, with Ang Lee's 'The Ice Storm' on a New York suburban family and Curtis Hanson's fast-paced thriller 'LA Confidential' in a narrow lead.
In fact only Lee picked up a best script prize for its author James Schamus.
At the winners' news conference following the prize-giving ceremony, the 72-year-old Chahine swiftly used his award to make a plea to censors the world over.
Asked about the political problems that have dogged his work, he answered, 'Filmmakers are not loved by governments. Instead of trying to stifle us they should give us more room to breathe.' Chahine labelled his prize 'a hope for future generations' of filmmakers.
Kiarostami was more tight-lipped, saying only, 'I'm very happy, I can't believe that I get such a big prize. I believe that It's a great chance for me and for Iranian cinema.' British actress Kathy Burke described the experience of winning as 'a bit strange', but added, 'I'm so thrilled because I'm extremely proud of this film, I think Gary (Oldman) has done an amazing job.' American actor Sean Penn said his film 'She's So Lovely' had been important to him. 'It was the kind of film that could only be made with great affections between the people that make it,' he added. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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