Saturday, May 21, 2005
CANNES, France (AP) -- The Belgian film "The Child," about a young petty crook suddenly faced with the responsibilities of fatherhood, won top honors Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.
It was the second time a movie by sibling filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne won the prestigious Palme d'Or. Their teen drama "Rosetta" took the prize six years ago.
The award was presented by Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman, who won Academy Awards in February for Clint Eastwood's boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby."
Receiving the second-place grand prize was U.S. director Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers," a droll drama starring Bill Murray.
Tommy Lee Jones was honored as best actor for "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," his feature-film directing debut in which he plays a Texas ranch hand who forces his best friend's killer (Barry Pepper) to dig up the body and haul it for reburial in Mexico. The film also won the screenplay award for Mexican writer Guillermo Arriaga.
Hanna Laslo earned the best-actress prize for her role as a gabby cabdriver in Israeli director Amos Gitai's "Free Zone."
Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke received the directing award for "Hidden," his thriller about a couple menaced by a video stalker.
The award for best film by a first-time director was shared by U.S. filmmaker Miranda July for "Me and You and Everyone We Know" and Vimukthi Jayasundara of Sri Lanka for "The Forsaken Land."
On Friday, Romanian director Cristi Puiu's "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," a tale of a lonely widower living with three cats, won the top prize in a secondary Cannes competition called "Un Certain Regard." July's "Me and You and Everyone We Know," took main honors in a third Cannes category overseen by critics.