EU-backed films honoured at Cannes
Three films supported by the EU's Creative Europe MEDIA programme received awards at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. The jury, chaired by Jane Campion, awarded the Grand Prix in the main competition to Italian director Alice Rohrwachter for The Wonders (Les Merveilles). Jean-Luc Godard's Adieu Au Langage (Goodbye to Language) received the Jury Prize and Timothy Spall received the award for Best Actor for his performance in Mike Leigh's Mr Turner. In the 'Un Certain Regard' section, the Jury Prize went to the Swedish film Turist by Ruben Ostlund.
"I am proud that, once again, the MEDIA programme is associated with some of the best prize-winning films at Cannes. Over the years, MEDIA has had an exceptional record of success at the festival – and long may that continue," commented European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou.
Alice Rohwachter made her debut at Cannes with the acclaimed Heavenly Body in 2011. The Wonders, her second film, is a coming-of-age story full of surreal characters and scenery, shot in Italy's central-northern landscape. The film was supported by the MEDIA programme's distribution scheme.
Jean-Luc Godard, the one-time enfant terrible of French cinema, now 83, presented Adieu Au Langage in 3D. The Swiss-French co-production shared the Jury's Prize with 25-year-old Canadian director Xavier Dolan for Mummy.
Mr Turner is a biopic about the last 25 years of the life of the British artist J.M.W. Turner. The film, written and directed by Mike Leigh, received development support from MEDIA.
Swedish-Norwegian drama Turist was one of most talked about films in Cannes this year. It focuses on a 'happy' family caught in an avalanche of emotions during a ski holiday in the French Alps.
