On the same day we gave a link to the trailer for Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the film was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. The Thai director has enjoyed previous success at the festival: in 2002, Blissfully Yours won the Un Certain Regard Prize and in 2004 Tropical Malady scooped the Jury Prize.Weerasethakul, whose film beat Mike Leigh's Another Year, Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful and Ken Loach's late entry Route Irish among others, said: "For me, cinema is a personal quest. I tried to present a different type of cinema, which pushes boundaries and challenges the audience and I hope it will be an inspiration, particularly for young people. Cinema can work towards a better understanding of different cultures."
Elsewhere, the festival jury, headed by Tim Burton, handed the Grand Prize to Xavier Beauvois's Of Gods and Men and honoured Mathieu Almaric with Best Director for his film On Tour, which was also awarded the International Critics' Prize by this year's FIPRESCI jury.
Javier Bardem (in Biutiful) and Elio Germano (in Daniele Luchetti's Our Life) shared the Best Actor award, while Juliette Binoche won Best Actress for her performance in Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy.
