Cannes Film Festival Jury Picks The Winners

The jury awarded a special prize for Cannes’ 60th anniversary to Gus Van Sant, who already won the festival’s top prize in 2003 for “Elephant.” The American’s impressionistic “Paranoid Park” focuses on a teenage skateboarder whose life turns upside down when he accidentally kills a security guard.

Two films shared the jury prize: “Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi’s moving, funny adaptation of her graphic novel about growing up during and after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, which she co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud; and “Stellet Licht” (Silent Light), Carlos Reygadas’ tale of forbidden love set among Mennonite farmers of northern Mexico.

Acting honors went to Russia’s Konstantin Lavronenko, who played a troubled husband “The Banishment,” a Russian drama about a couple whose marriage disintegrates during a stay in the country. The prize for best actress went to South Korea’s Jeon Do-yeon, who played a widow struggling to cope with her husband’s death in “Secret Sunshine.”

German director Fatih Akin’s “The Edge of Heaven,” a German-Turkish cross-cultural tale of loss, mourning and forgiveness, won the prize for best screenplay. Akin both wrote and directed the film.

Earlier this weekend, a Romanian director posthumously won a secondary Cannes competition called “Un Certain Regard.” Cristian Nemescu died in a car crash last year at age 27, leaving his “California Dreamin”’ incomplete. Jurors had initially decided not to judge the film, about American soldiers in a small Romanian village, but changed their minds when they saw it.

Awards given Sunday at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, selected by a nine-member jury headed by British director Stephen Frears:

—Palme d’Or (Golden Palm): “4 Luni, 3 Saptamini Si 2 Zile” (”4 Months, 3 weeks and 2 days”), Cristian Mungiu, Romania

—Grand Prize: “Mogari No Mori” (The Mourning Forest), Naomi Kawase, Japan

—Jury Prize:”Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, Iran and France; and “Stellet Licht” (Silent Light), Carlos Reygadas, Mexico

—60th Anniversary Prize: Gus Van Sant, “Paranoid Park,” United States

—Best Director: “Le Scaphandre et le papillon” (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,) Julian Schnabel, United States

—Best Actor: Konstantin Lavronenko, “The Banishment,” Russia

—Best Actress: Jeon Do-yeon, “Secret Sunshine,” South Korea

—Best Screenplay: “The Edge of Heaven,” Fatih Akin, Germany

—Golden Camera (first-time director): “Meduzot,” Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen, Israel

—Best Short Film: “Ver Llover,” (Watching it Rain), Elisa Miller, Mexico