"Uncle Boonmee" Wins Palme D'Or

By now it's pretty much old news that Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives won the Palme D'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, but I think it bears repeating.

Boonmee was probably my most anticipated film of the festival, largely because I am a big fan of Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady (my #1 film of 2005) and Syndromes and a Century, so I was thrilled to hear that in won. Weerasethakul is quite possibly one of the greatest directors working today but has been consistently overlooked, even by mainstream critics. A Cannes win will make more people sit up and take notice.

Here is the complete list of winners, courtesy of Variety:

Palme d'Or

"Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Spain-Thailand-Germany-U.K.-France)

Grand Prix

"Of Gods and Men" (Xavier Beauvois, France)

Director

Mathieu Amalric ("On Tour," France)

Jury prize

"A Screaming Man" (Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, France-Belgium-Chad)

Actor

Javier Bardem ("Biutiful," Mexico-Spain) and Elio Germano ("Our Life," Italy)

Actress

Juliette Binoche ("Certified Copy," France-Italy-Iran)

Screenplay

Lee Chang-dong ("Poetry," South Korea)

UN CERTAIN REGARD JURY AWARDS

Main prize

"Hahaha" (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)

Jury prize

"October" (Daniel Vega, Diego Vega)

Special prize

Adela Sanchez, Eva Bianco, Victoria Raposo, "The Lips" (Ivan Fund, Santiago Losa, Argentina)

OTHER MAIN JURY AWARDS

Camera d'Or

"Leap Year" (Michael Rowe, Mexico)

Critics' Week Grand Prix

"Armadillo" (Janus Metz, Denmark)

SHORT FILMS JURY PRIZES

Palme d'Or

"Barking Island" (Serge Avedikian)

Jury prize

"Bathing Micky" (Frida Kempff)

UN CERTAIN REGARD JURY AWARDS

Main Prize

"Hahaha" (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)

Jury Prize

"October" (Daniel Vega, Diego Vega)

Special Prize

Adela Sanzhez, Eva Bianco, Victoria Raposo, "The Lips" (Ivan Fund, Santiago Losa, Argentina)

FIPRESCI AWARDS

Competition

"On Tour" (Mathieu Amalric, France)

Un Certain Regard

"Adrienn Pal" (Agnes Kocsis, Hungary)

Directors' Fortnight

"You Are All Captains" (Olivier Laxe, Spain)

CINEFONDATION

First Prize

"The Painting Sellers" (Juho Kuosmanen)

Second Prize

"Anywhere Out of the World" (Vincent Cardona)

Third Prize

"The Fifth Column" (Vatche Boulghourjian) and "I Already Am Everything I Want to Have" (Dane Komljen)

ECUMENICAL PRIZE

"Of Gods and Men" (Xavier Beauvois, France)

PRIX VULCAIN TECHNICAL AWARD

Leslie Shatz ("Biutiful," Mexico-Spain)