Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or ("Golden Palm") is the highest prize given to a competing film at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organizing committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize had been called the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film.[1] From 1964 to 1974 it was replaced again by the Grand Prix du Festival.[2]
History of the Palm
Until 1954, the Jury of the Festival de Cannes awarded a "Grand Prix of the International Film Festival" to the best film. The prize was represented by a work by a contemporary artist in vogue, different each year. At the end of 1954, the Festival's Board of Directors invited several jewellers to submit designs for a palm, in tribute to the coat of arms of the City of Cannes.[3]
The original design by the renowned jewellery creator Lucienne Lazon had the bevelled lower extremity of the stalk forming a heart, and the pedestal a sculpture in terracotta by the artist Sébastien.
In 1955, the first Palme d'Or in the history of the Festival was awarded to Delbert Mann for his film Marty, and was established as the highest award until 1964, when the Festival temporarily resumed awarding a Grand Prix, due to copyright problems with the Palm. In 1975, the Palme d’Or was reintroduced and became again the symbol of the Cannes Film Festival, awarded each and every year since to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition. It was presented in a case of pure red morocco leather, lined with white suede.
Since the reintroduction, the prize has been redesigned a few times. At the beginning of the 1980s, the rounded shape of the pedestal, bearing the Palm, gradually transformed to become pyramidal in 1984. In 1992, Thierry de Bourqueney redesigned the Palm and its pedestal in hand-cut crystal. In 1997, the Palm was again modernised by Caroline Scheufele. The present Palm, made of 24-carat gold, is hand cast into a wax mould, then attached to a cushion of a single piece of cut crystal. It is today presented in a case of blue Morocco leather.
Award winners
Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (1939-54)
Palme d'Or (1955-1963)
| Year | Film | Director | Nationality of Director (at time of film's release) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Marty | Delbert Mann |  United States
|
| 1956 | The Silent World Le monde du silence |
Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle |  France
|
| 1957 | Friendly Persuasion | William Wyler | United States
|
| 1958 | The Cranes Are Flying Летят журавли [Letyat zhuravli] |
Mikhail Kalatozov |  Soviet Union
|
| 1959 | Black Orpheus Orfeu Negro |
Marcel Camus | France
|
| 1960 | La dolce vita | Federico Fellini |  Italy
|
| 1961 | The Long Absence Une aussi longue absence |
Henri Colpi | France
|
| Viridiana | Luis Buñuel |  Spain
| |
| 1962 | O Pagador de Promessas | Anselmo Duarte |  Brazil
|
| 1963 | The Leopard Il gattopardo |
Luchino Visconti | Italy
|
Grand Prix du Festival International du Film (1964-1974)
| Year | Film | Director | Nationality of Director (at time of film's release) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Les parapluies de Cherbourg |
Jacques Demy | France
|
| 1965 | The Knack …and How to Get It | Richard Lester | United States
|
| 1966 | A Man and a Woman Un homme et une femme |
Claude Lelouch | France
|
| The Birds, the Bees and the Italians Signore and signori |
Pietro Germi | Italy
| |
| 1967 | Blow-Up | Michelangelo Antonioni | Italy
|
| 1968 | canceled due to events of May 1968 | ||
| 1969 | if.... | Lindsay Anderson |  United Kingdom
|
| 1970 | MASH | Robert Altman | United States
|
| 1971 | The Go-Between | Joseph Losey | United States
|
| 1972 | The Working Class Goes to Heaven La classe operaia va in paradiso |
Elio Petri | Italy
|
| The Mattei Affair Il caso Mattei |
Francesco Rosi | Italy
| |
| 1973 | The Hireling | Alan Bridges | United Kingdom
|
| Scarecrow | Jerry Schatzberg | United States
| |
| 1974 | The Conversation | Francis Ford Coppola | United States
|
Palme d'Or (1975-present)
Repeated winners
- Alf Sjöberg (1946, 1951)
- Francis Ford Coppola (1974, 1979)
- Shohei Imamura (1983, 1997)
- Emir Kusturica (1985, 1995)
- Bille August (1988, 1992)
- Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (1999, 2005)
Notes
- ^ Golden Palm summary. IMDb.
- ^ Grand Prix du Festival du Film summary
- ^ History of the Palm d'Or. Cannes Film Festival official website.
- ^ This particular Palme d'Or was awarded in retrospect at the 2002 festival. The festival's debut was to take place in 1939, but it was canceled due to World War II. The organizers of the 2002 festival presented part of the original 1939 selection to a professional jury of six members. The films were: Goodbye Mr. Chips, La piste du nord, Lenin in 1918, The Four Feathers, The Wizard of Oz, Union Pacific and Boefje.
References
External links
- Palme d'Or Winners, 1976-Present, by gross box.
See also
- Golden Lion, the highest prize given at the Venice Film Festival