Cannes

French film wins Palme d'Or

Article published on the 2008-05-25 Latest update 2008-05-27 10:38 TU

Director Laurent Cantet and the actors who starred in award-winning film "The Class."
(Photo : AFP)

The French film Entre les Murs a gritty tale about classroom life using real students and teachers, has won top honours at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Laurent Cantet,and titled The Class in English, the film is a fly-on-the-wall classroom story based on an autobiographical novel by François Begaudeau, about his life as a young teacher.

It's the first time in two decades that a home-grown entry has won the Cannes Film Festival.

The film comes as French teachers have been striking over conditions in schools and when the issue of classroom violence has been highlighted in the press.

46-year-old director Laurent Cantet said he was interested in telling the story of one school rather than making an overall point.

"Obviously the film touches on one of the most sensitive subjects of the moment so we couldn't deal with it in an entirely impassive manner but what we tried to avoid above all was ideology," Cantet told a news conference.

"We are very, very happy," said Jean-Claude Defaux, head of the school in eastern Paris where the film was made, "they are very, very good in the film, but they are first and foremost great teenagers - and some have exams to pass."

The Best Actor prize went to Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro for his performance as "Che" Guevara in US director Steven Soderbergh's film on the Argentinian revolutionary hero.

Brazil's Sandra Corveloni won the Best Actress prize for her role as a pregnant single-mother in Sao Paolo in Line of Passage.

The Best Director award went to Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan, for his family drama Three Monkeys.

Cannes also rewarded French actress Catherine Deneuve and 78-year-old actor-director Clint Eastwood, for their lifetime acheivement in cinema.

Eastwood had entered his film The Exchange, in the 22-film competition.  It's a drama starring Angelina Jolie as a single-mother whose son is kidnapped.