Serbian director Emir KUSTURICA’s jury granted the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Award to Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV’s Elena (Russia). The Main Award was shared by South Korean filmmaker Kim KI-DUK’s Arirang and German filmmaker Andreas DRESEN’s Stopped on Track as co-winners. The Director’s Prize went to Iranian Mohammad RASOULOF for Au Revoir.

Fan BINGBING, a Chinese Film Star

The official Jury of this 64th Festival de Cannes, presided over by Robert DE NIRO and also include such film stars as Uma THURMAN and Jude LAW announced the award-winners during the Closing Ceremony – below.

FEATURE FILMS

Palme d’Or

The Tree Of Life by Terrence MALICK

Grand Prix

Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon A Time In Anatolia) by Nuri Bilge CEYLAN
The Kid With A Bike by Jean-Pierre & Luc DARDENNE

Award for the Best Director

Nicolas WINDING REFN for DRIVE

Jury Prize

Poliss by MAÏWENN

Best Performance for an Actor

Jean DUJARDIN in The Artist by Michel HAZANAVICIUS

Best Performance for an Actress

Kirsten DUNST in Melancholia by Lars von TRIER

Award for the Best Screenplay

Joseph CEDAR for Footnote

Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV, Cannes’ Special Jury Award winner for his film Elena

SHORT FILMS IN COMPETTION

Palme d’Or

Cross-Country by Maryna VRODA

Jury Prize

Badpakje 46 (Swimsuit 46) by Wannes DESTOOP

CAMERA D’OR

Las Acacias by Pablo GIORGELLI presented in the framework of the the CRITICS’ WEEK

FIPRESCI (international film critics award)

The Main Award

Aki KAURISMAKI’s Le Havre (Finland)

The Critics’ Week — Grand Prix

Jeff NICHOLS’ Take Shelter

Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev

Elena by Andrei Zvyagintsev, one of Russia’s most trail-blazing contemporary director, won the Jury Prize in second-ranking competition program “Un Certain Regard” of the 64th Cannes Film Festival Award. The awarding ceremony ended tonight for Andrei Zvyagintsev who accepted the award from Emir Kusturica, president of the Jury.

Elena features a middle-aged couple, who come from different walks of modern Russian society.

…Vladimir (Andrei SMIRNOV) is a well-off businessman. Elena (Nadezhda MARKINA) was a nurse and became a housewife when they married. Each of them has children from their previous marriages. Elena sustains her unemployed son, Sergey, who is idle, cynical and selfish, his wife and two kids with her pension and her husband’s money. Vladimir’s daughter is a rough diamond, who burns the candle of her life from both ends.

Unexpectedly, Vladimir has a heart attack. In a hurry he signed his Last Will to leave everything to his daughter. Elena understands this destroys her hope to keep her son afloat. So she kills her rich husband for the sake of her son and grandchildren…

The 47-year-old Siberian-born director, Zvyagintsev, became famous when his low-budget debut drama The Return picked up over 40 international film festival awards, including two Golden Lions at Venice Film Festival in 2003.

Zvyagintsev’s second film, The Banishment, snatched the Best Actor award (Konstantin Lavronenko) at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

From festival site:

The Un Certain Regard selection screened 21 films from 22 directors hailing from 19 different countries. Kusturica’s jury also featured Elodie Bouchez, Peter Bradshaw, Geoffrey Gilmore and Daniela Michel.

Presided over by Emir KUSTURICA (Director, actor and musician – Serbia), the Jury was comprised of: Elodie BOUCHEZ (Actress – France), Peter BRADSHAW (Critic-The Guardian – United Kingdom), Geoffrey GILMORE (Chief Creative Officer-Tribeca Enterprises – USA), Daniela MICHEL (Director of the Morelia Festival – Mexico).

PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD Ex-æquo
ARIRANG by KIM Ki-Duk
HALT AUF FREIER STRECKE (Stopped on Track) by Andreas DRESEN

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
ELENA by Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV

DIRECTING PRIZE
BÉ OMID É DIDAR (Au revoir) by Mohammad RASOULOF

Cannes. May 11, 2011. Faust by Alexander Sokurov has not been allegedly completed in time to lose the chance to be listed in The Selection Official, The Main Competition Program of the 64th Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22). However, two Russian titles were among the films in the line-up competing for Certain Regard awards.

Elena is a psychological drama by Andrei Zvyagintsev about a middle-aged woman named Elena who tries to keep from problems the family of her hard-drinking son.

Starring Nadezhda Markina, Andrei Smirnov, Elena Liadov, Alex Rosin.

D.O.P. Michael Krichman.

Producers Alexander Rodnyansky and Sergei Melkumov.

Elena won Sundance / NHK International Filmmakers Awards in pre-production for the development of the script and the director’s concept.

Andrei Smirnov

This is the 3rd film by Andrei Zvyagintsev, Russian major success-story film-maker: two of his previous films were winners of major world film festivals. He won two Golden Lions of Venice Film Festival for his debut The Return and Konstantin Lavronenko in his next movie The Banishment snatched The Best Actor at 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Michael Barskovich

Hunter by Bakur Bakuradze is another Russian competitor in Certain Regard. It features a man (starring Michael Barskovich) who lives mainly to work, which is a sacrifice, because his daily job is an endless and monotonous life-consuming process. The only sun-shine episodes are his love for his children and his woman.