So finally...after a long plane flight and travel time filled with lost tickets, oversized luggage, late plane arrivals, jet lag, the ever-present eye infection and just losing half of an already-typed blog post complete with pictures...here is the final wrap-up and recap of the Festival de Cannes 2008 closing ceremonies.
    What was reportedly the rainiest and least exciting Cannes Film Festival in the last couple of years, ended on a rainy and windy day with a nearly desolate French Riviera. Even on the day of the closing ceremonies, critics tried to predict winners but few agreed on many categories or seemed certain that one nominee topped the rest.
    After miraculously getting a ticket to the red carpet gala, I got to watch the final awards ceremony coupled with the premiere of Robert de Niro's new movie about the film industry, What Just Happened.
    The ceremony began with a charming French host who was saying some amusing things in his native tongue because everyone was laughing, but I couldn't understand a word. Kerry Washington (The Last King of Scotland) came out to introduce something, but I never really understood what she was presenting...no award was given out...maybe a pre-awards show talk?




    The Camera d'Or (for first time filmmaker) was then presented to Steve McQueen for his amazing and stunning biopic, Hunger, starring Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the Irish republican who went on a hunger strike while in prison. The remarkable story sent critics and audiences abuzz from the very beginning of the Festival. Dennis Hopper (who is surprisingly shorter then you'd imagine) presented McQueen with the award who commented on Hopper's influence on his own work.



    Then the jury was announced, beginning with the president, Sean Penn. Penn also starred with De Niro in the movie to be shown afterwards. The jury members each took their seats on the stage, while Penn discussed the hard task of picking these winners. He also said he would try and translate the winners in English after the French announcement if needbe, because at one Cannes ceremony, Penn didn't know who was winning what due to the language barrier. The jury also consisted of: Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men director),  Sergio Castellitto (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian villain), Marjane Satrapi (writer Persepolis), Jeanne Balibar (French actress), Rachid Bouchareb (French director), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thai director), Alexandra Maria Lara (German actress) and Natalie Portman.



    Each presenter had to look to Penn for the winner of the awards - it seemed like this was a mistake on someone's part for not having cue cards or "winner is.." envelopes for the presenters. Jokes were made in French repeatedly about this error. Le Silence of Lorna (The Silence of Lorna) won Best Screenplay, even though most had predicted a Best Actress win for this film. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne both vigorously accepted the award for their screenplay about a woman's struggle with her heart, a faux marriage and the mob. Best Director went to Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys, a slow-moving drama about a family's downward spiral after the patriarch does jail time to help his boss. Faye Dunaway presented the Best Director award after speaking some lines in French.



    Benicio del Toro was unanimously decided to be the Best Actor winner for his starring role in Steven Soderbergh's Che. Sandra Corveloni (surprisingly) won the Best Actress award for Linha de Passe, her first feature film role. The film's two directors, Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas accepted the award on Corveloni's behalf. The actress had already traveled back to Brazil and dealing with some unfortunate medical situations. Jean Reno (Reno) presented this award.



    A special 61st Cannes Film Festival award was given to Catherine Deneuve (Un Conte de Noel) and Clint Eastwood (The Exchange) for a combination of lifetime achievement and their films at the Festival this year. Deneuve received the award from Penn, who received his Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 from her, so the two have a little Film Festival history. Eastwood was a no-show to the ceremony.



    Il Divo won the Jury Prize, which is kind of like a third place to the Palm d'Or, while Gomorra won the Grand Prize,  which is, you guessed it, kind of like second place to the Palm. Both films focused on mob situations. Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) gave Il Divo's director, Paulo Sorrentino his award, and legendary director Roman Polanski (Chinatown) surprised everyone by appearing in public and giving Gomorra's director, Matteo Garrone, his prize.



    Finally, the Palm d'Or was ready to be given by Robert De Niro himself. France's The Class (Entre les Murs) unanimously won the coveted epitome of Cannes, and the entire row of people behind me screamed and yelled, as they must have been related to the many children featured in the film who filed on stage to accept the award with the director Laurent Cantet. The movie is based on reality but still a fictionalized version, and it premiered on day 11 of the Festival, giving critics barely enough time to rave and audiences barely any chance to see it. It's based on a book (turned screenplay) by its star (in film and in life), François Bégaudeau.



    After the excitement died down, What Just Happened  was screened. De Niro stars as a big-time Hollywood producer trying to balance Sean Penn's new movie to show at Cannes (!), Bruce Willis's ego and his estranged wife (played by Penn's not-anymore-estranged wife Robin Wright). The movie is very average, but the parts about Cannes are fun to see...if you're in Cannes while seeing them.


   

 

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