2024 Cannes Film Festival

The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2024. American filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig served as jury president for the main competition. American filmmaker Sean Baker won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the comedy-drama film Anora.

The official poster for the festival featuring a still image from the movie Rhapsody in August (1991) by Akira Kurosawa, selected for the 44th edition, was designed by Hartland Villa. French actress Camille Cottin hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.

During the festival, three Honorary Palme d'Or were awarded: the first was awarded to Meryl Streep during the festival's opening ceremony; the second was awarded to Studio Ghibli; and the third was awarded to George Lucas during the festival's closing ceremony.

Few days before the opening ceremony, festival workers called for a general strike. The Broke Behind the Screens (Sous les écrans la dèche) collective made public a complaint about the precarious nature of film festival work.

Following the official announcement of The Seed of the Sacred Fig's selection for the main competition, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof was sentenced to eight years in prison as well as flogging, a fine, and confiscation of his property, on the charge of "propaganda against the regime." Cast and crew were interrogated and pressured to convince Rasoulof to withdraw the film from the festival. Shortly after, Rasoulof and some crew members managed to flee from Iran to Europe, and attended the film's world premiere on 24 May 2024. On the red carpet, Rasoulof held up images of stars Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh, who were unable to leave Iran for the premiere, and had their passport confiscated. The film received a 12-minute standing ovation, while cast and crew protested in solidarity with Iranian women fight for rights.

The festival opened with French comedy-film The Second Act by Quentin Dupieux.

Juries

Main Competition

Greta Gerwig, American actress and filmmaker – Jury President
J. A. Bayona, Spanish filmmaker
Ebru Ceylan, Turkish actress and screenwriter
Pierfrancesco Favino, Italian actor and producer
Lily Gladstone, American actress
Eva Green, French actress
Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japanese filmmaker and producer
Nadine Labaki, Lebanese actress and filmmaker
Omar Sy, French actor

Un Certain Regard

Xavier Dolan, Canadian filmmaker and actor – Jury President
Maïmouna Doucouré, French-Senegalese filmmaker
Asmae El Moudir, Moroccan filmmaker and producer
Vicky Krieps, Luxembourgish-German actress
Todd McCarthy, American filmmaker, writer and film critic

Cinéfondation and Short Films Competition

Lubna Azabal, Belgian actress – Jury President
Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, French filmmaker and producer
Paolo Moretti, Italian programmer
Claudine Nougaret, French producer
Vladimir Perišić, Serbian filmmaker

Caméra d'Or

Baloji, Belgian-Congolese singer and filmmaker – Jury Co-president
Emmanuelle Béart, French actress – Jury Co-president
Pascal Buron, French TSF board member
Nathalie Chifflet, French journalist
Gilles Porte, French cinematographer and filmmaker
Zoé Wittock, Belgian filmmaker

L'Œil d'Or

Nicolas Philibert, French filmmaker and actor – Jury President
Dyana Gaye, French-Senegalese filmmaker
Elise Jalladeau, French producer and executive director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Mina Kavani, Iranian-French actress
Francis Legault, Canadian filmmaker and director at Ici Radio-Canada Première

Critics' Week

Sylvie Pialat, French producer – Jury President
Ben Croll, Canadian film critic and journalist
Iris Kaltenbäck, French filmmaker
Virginie Surdej, Belgian cinematographer
Eliane Umuhire, Rwandan actress

Queer Palm

Lukas Dhont, Belgian filmmaker – Jury President
Hugo Bardin, French singer and director
Sophie Letourneur, French filmmaker
Juliana Rojas, Brazilian filmmaker
Jad Salfiti, British-Palestinian journalist

Official Selection

In Competition

The following films were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or:

(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as a feature directorial debut.

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Un Certain Regard

The following films were selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section:

(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as a feature directorial debut.

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Out of Competition

Besides the world premieres of Hollywood, French and Chinese blockbusters, alongside the Midnight Screenings section, the festival also screened four Studio Ghibli short films at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, three of them never screened outside of Japan before, as a part of the celebration for Ghibli's Honorary Palme d'Or. The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Cannes Premiere

The following films were selected to be screened in the Cannes Premiere section:

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Special Screenings

The following films were selected to be screened in the Special Screenings section:

(ŒdO) indicates film eligible for the L'Œil d'or as documentary.

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Short Films Competition

Out of 4.420 entries, the following eleven short films were selected to compete for the Short Film Palme d'Or:

Cinéfondation

The Cinéfondation (or La Cinéf) section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The Cannes Film Festival allocates a €15,000 grant for the winner of the First Prize, €11,250 for the winner of the Second Prize and €7,500 for the winner of the Third Prize. The following 18 shorts (14 live-action and 4 animated films) were selected from among the 2,263 films submitted by schools from all over the world:

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Cannes Classics

The first part (3 hours and 40 minutes) of the new restoration print of Abel Gance's silent masterpiece Napoléon (1927), edited by Georges Mourier in association with the Cinémathèque Française and support of the CNC, opened the Cannes Classics section on May 14. The following films were selected to be screened:

(ŒdO) indicates film eligible for the L'Œil d'or as documentary.

Cinéma de la Plage

The Cinéma de la Plage section line-up includes classics films, commemorations and world premieres of new productions at the Cannes's Plage Macé. Tales from Earthsea (2006) and Porco Rosso (1992) will be screened as part of Studio Ghibli Honorary Palme d'Or commemorations, alongside the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise (1974). The following films were selected to be screened:

(ŒdO) indicates film eligible for the L'Œil d'or as documentary.

Immersive Competition

The Immersive Competition of the Festival de Cannes will be a new competition dedicated to immersive works. Besides the eight immersive work selected for the competition, six non-competitive productions will be featured at the exhibition exploring the evolution of the medium and drawing parallels between virtual reality, virtual production, cinema and collective storytelling. The following films were selected to be screened:

Parallel sections

Critics' Week (Semaine de la critique)

The Critics' Week is a parallel selection dedicated to first and second films. The following films were selected to be screened in competition:

(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as a feature directorial debut.

(ŒdO) indicates film eligible for the L'Œil d'or as documentary.

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des cinéastes)

In partnership with The Fondation Chantal Akerman, for the first time ever, the audience will award one of the films in the main selection with the "Audience Award" or "Choix du Public". It is the first ever official award presented by the section, since its creation in 1969. The following films were selected to be screened in the Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des cinéastes) section:

(CdO) indicates film eligible for the Caméra d'Or as a feature directorial debut.

(ŒdO) indicates film eligible for the L'Œil d'or as documentary.

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

ACID

The following films were selected to be screened in the ACID (Association for the Distribution of Independent Cinema) section:

(QP) indicates film in competition for the Queer Palm.

Cannes Écrans Juniors

Cannes Écrans Juniors is a selection of eight international feature films of particular interest to young audiences from age 13. Below are the films featured in this selection:

Cannes Écrans Seniors

Cannes Seniors Club takes the spotlight with three premiere screenings for the club's film enthusiasts. Below are the films featured in competition:

Golden Horse Goes to Cannes

The section is a new program collaborated by the Golden Horse Awards and Marché du Film with the support of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture. Five upcoming Taiwanese projects that feature numerous Golden Horse Awards-winning cast members and filmmakers were selected to be screened during the film festival, including:

Fantastic Pavilion Gala

The 2nd edition of the Fantastic Pavilion Gala selected the following seven titles:

Official awards

In Competition

The following awards were presented for films shown in Competition:

Palme d'Or: Anora by Sean Baker
Grand Prix: All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia
Jury Prize: Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard
Best Director: Miguel Gomes for Grand Tour
Special Jury Prize: The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof
Best Actress: Adriana Paz, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez
Best Actor: Jesse Plemons for Kinds of Kindness
Best Screenplay: The Substance by Coralie Fargeat

Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard Prize: Black Dog by Guan Hu
Un Certain Regard Jury Prize: Souleymane's Story by Boris Lojkine
Un Certain Regard Best Director:
- The Damned by Roberto Minervini
- On Becoming a Guinea Fowl by Rungano Nyoni
Un Certain Regard Performance Prize:
- Anasuya Sengupta for The Shameless
- Abou Sangare for Souleymane's Story
Un Certain Regard Youth Prize: Holy Cow by Louise Courvoisier
Special Mention: Norah by Tawfik Alzaidi

Honorary Palme d'Or

Meryl Streep
Studio Ghibli
George Lucas

Caméra d'Or

Armand by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
- Special Mention: Mongrel by Chiang Wei Liang and You Qiao Yin

Short Film Palme d'Or

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Nebojša Slijepčević
- Special Mention: Bad for a Moment by Daniel Soares

Cinéfondation

First Prize: Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know... by Chidananda S Naik
Second Prize:
- Out of the Window Through the Wall by Asya Segalovich
- The Chaos She Left Behind by Nikos Kolioukos
Third Prize: Bunnyhood by Mansi Maheshwari

Immersive Competition

Colored by Tania de Montaigne, Stéphane Foenkinos, Pierre-Alain Giraud

Independent awards

FIPRESCI Prizes

In Competition: The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof
Un Certain Regard: Souleymane's Story by Boris Lojkine
Parallel section (first features): Desert of Namibia by Yôko Yamanaka

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof

Critics' Week

Grand Prize: Simon of the Mountain by Federico Luis
French Touch Prize of the Jury: Blue Sun Palace by Constance Tsang
Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film: Montsouris Park by Guil Sela
Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Ricardo Teodoro for Baby
Gan Foundation Award for Distribution: Julie Keeps Quiet by Leonardo Van Dijl
Canal Award for Short Film: Absent by Cem Demirer
SACD Award: Julie Keeps Quiet by Leonardo Van Dijl

Directors' Fortnight - Audience Award

Universal Language by Matthew Rankin

Directors' Fortnight

Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film: The Other Way Around by Jonás Trueba
SACD Prize for Best French Film: This Life of Mine by Sophie Fillières
Golden Coach: Andrea Arnold