Austrian director Michael Haneke’s sombre black-and-white drama the “White Ribbon”, a chilling account of a German village in the build up to World War 1 walked away with the Palme d’ Or for the Best Film at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Haneke beat off competition from French director Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet, Jane Campion’s period drama Bright Star, Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces and Quentin Tarantino’s World War 2 film Inglourious Basterds to win the top prize on Sunday night in a gala award ceremony. The Austrian helmer, who had won the best director prize at Cannes in 2005 for his French film Cache( Hidden ), examines themes of communal guilt, distrust and puinishment among residents of small German village on the eve of World War 1 through his brilliantly crafted 20th century drama.
French director Jacques Audiard, who was a favourite to win Palme d’Or, managed to scoop runner-up Grand Prix award for his gripping prison story A Prophet. The Jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert, which included Indian actress Sharmila Tagore, Hollywood’s Robin Wright Penn, Italy’s Asia Argento and Taiwan’s Shu Qi, handed out the Best Director trophy to Brilliante Mendoza from the Phillipines for Kinatay, a story based on kidnap, rape and murder incidents.