2012 Cannes Film Festival


The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
The festival opened with the US film Moonrise Kingdom, directed by Wes Anderson and closed with the late Claude Miller's final film Thérèse Desqueyroux. The main announcement of the line-up took place on 19 April. The official poster of the festival features Marilyn Monroe, to mark the 50th anniversary of her death.
The Palme d'Or was awarded to Austrian director Michael Haneke for his film Amour. Haneke previously won the Palme d'Or in 2009 for The White Ribbon. The jury gave the Grand Prize to Matteo Garrone's Reality, while Ken Loach's The Angels' Share was awarded the Jury Prize.

Juries

Μain competition

The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature films of the 2012 Official Selection:
The following independent juries awarded films in the frame of the International Critics' Week.
Nespresso Grand Prize
France 4 Visionary Award
Nikon Discovery Award for Short Film
The official selection was announced on 19 April at Grand Hôtel in Paris. Among comments after the announcement, journalists noted the unusually high number of Hollywood films in the line-up, the absence of any female director in the main competition, as well as the absence of competing first-time feature film directors. The festival's artistic leader Thierry Frémaux responded that people should not focus only on the competition films: "The selection is an ensemble; you have to consider the whole package."

In competition - Feature films

The following films were selected as In Competition. The Palme d'Or winner has been highlighted.

Un Certain Regard

The following films were screened in the Un Certain Regard section. The Un Certain Regard Prize winner has been highlighted.

Films out of Competition

The following films were screened out of competition:

Special screenings

The following films were screened in the Special Screenings section:

Cinéfondation

The Cinéfondation section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The following entries were selected, out of more than 1,700 submissions from 320 different schools. The winner of the Cinéfondation First Prize has been highlighted.

Short film competition

Out of 4,500 submissions, the following films were selected for the short film competition. The Short film Palme d'Or winner has been highlighted.

Cannes Classics

The following films were screened in the Cannes Classics section. The Hungarian "montage film" ', directed by György Pálfi, was selected as the closing film for the Cannes Classics section.
Documentaries about Cinema
Restored prints
 World Cinema Foundation'
English titleOriginal titleDirectorProduction country
After the Curfew Lewat Djam MalamUsmar IsmailIndonesia
Kalpana कल्पना / Kalpana''Uday ShankarIndia

Cinéma de la Plage

The Cinéma de la Plage is a part of the Official Selection of the festival. The outdoors screenings at the beach cinema of Cannes are open to the public.

Parallel sections

International Critics' Week

The line-up for the International Critics’ Week was announced on 23 April at the section's website. The feature competition consists entirely of directorial debuts, something the section's artistic director Charles Tesson stressed was not intentional, but only the way it turned out when the submissions had been judged by quality. The following films were selected.
Feature films - The winner of the Grand Prix Nespresso has been highlighted.
Short and medium length films
Special Screenings

Directors' Fortnight

The line-up for the Directors' Fortnight was announced at a press conference on 24 April. The following films were selected:
Feature films - The winner of the Art Cinema Award has been highlighted.
Short films - The winner of the Premier Prix Illy for Short Filmmaking has been highlighted.

Awards

Official awards

The Palme d'Or was won by the French-language film Amour directed by Michael Haneke. Haneke previously won the award for The White Ribbon in 2009. Love tells the story of an elderly couple preparing for death. During his acceptance speech, the director said "A very, very big thanks to my actors who have made this film. It's their film. They are the essence of this film."
Moretti said that none of the winners had been selected unanimously, and described such an outcome as "a middle ground that would have pleased no one". He revealed that Holy Motors, Paradise: Love and Post Tenebras Lux were the entries that most had divided the jury.
The following films and people received the 2011 Official selection awards:
In Competition
Un Certain Regard
Golden Camera
Cinéfondation
  • 1st Prize: The Road to by Taisia Igumentseva
  • 2nd Prize: Abigail by Matthew James Reilly
  • 3rd Prize: The Hosts by Miguel Angel Moulet
Short Films
  • Short Film Palme d'Or: Silent by L. Rezan Yesilbas

    Independent awards

FIPRESCI Prizes
Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist
Ecumenical Jury
Awards in the frame of International Critics' Week
Awards in the frame of Directors' Fortnight
  • Art Cinema Award: No by Pablo Larraín
  • Europa Cinemas: The Repentant by Merzak Allouache
  • Prix SACD: Camille Rewinds by Noémie Lvovsky
  • Premier Prix Illy for Short Filmmaking: The Curse by Fyzal Boulifa
  • Special mention Prix SACD: Ernest & Celestine by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner
  • Special mention Prix Illy: The Living Also Cry by Basil da Cunha
Prize of the Youth Jury
  • Prix de la Jeunesse: Holy Motors by Leos Carax
  • Prix Regard Jeune: Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin
Association Prix François Chalais
Queer Palm Jury
  • Queer Palm Award: Laurence Anyways by Xavier Dolan
  • Short Film Queer Palm: It's Not a Cowboy Movie by Benjamin Parent
Palm Dog Jury
  • Palm Dog Award: Smurf in Sightseers
  • Grand Jury Prize: Billy Bob in Le grand soir