2017 Cannes Film Festival

Subject: What does it take to win a Palme d'Or, and Who has a chance this year



My interpretation is that the Palme d’Or will likely go to a widely proven auteur with a strong French/Cannes history, The Palme is not just about who had the best picture that year, as we have recently seen but what have they contributed to Cannes and the French film experience historically.


A longer review of my conclusions follow, skip down to My Choices if you like, this may be mostly for my amusement and probably boring for most.
 

Let's start with a quick look at who has actually won one of these, this is pretty much a list of film aristocracy, not many one hit wonders here, at least that I can tell.

38 Former Palme d'Or Winners


That should give us a guide as to who they might add to their club.


Let’s look at who has won recently:

2016

Ken Loach won for I, Daniel Blake. On the surface the film appears to be 12th out of 21 per critics compared to other nominees. The movie did win a Best British Picture at BAFTA. Toni Erdman and Elle were extremely well respected film that year.

Ken Loach at Cannes: 15 years of presenting films, 11 awards, with 1 Palme d'Or win, this makes 2.

Internationally he has 95 wins on 73 nominations (current from IMDB).

Marin Ade's excellent Toni Erdman was her 1st trip to Cannes. It was Paul Verhoven's 2nd trip to the festival, neither director bringing a long history of Cannes support.



2015

Jacques Audiad won with Dheepan, a French film set in France, that while not capturing lots of critical respect, it apparently did with the French.

Jacques Audiad at Cannes: Three prior trips since 1996, 3 Palme noms with 2 awards, Grand Jury Prize and Best Screenplay.

Todd Haynes with Carol had 1 prior trip bringing Velvet Goldmine with an award for artistic achievement. Carol was really good and was one of the best ever Cannes premiers, but all the press may have hurt for some of the awards, but looking at his lack of Cannes history may have hurt for the top prize.  Maybe Todd should volunteer to be a juror.



My Choices for 2017

6. Sofia Coppola: is now a personal favorite, love how she transformed Beguiled. Two prior trips since 2006. Expect her to join her Dad with a Palme, probably not this year.

5. Michael Haneke: is a two time winner I heard that this would make him the 1st three time winner. A win is possible but not likely to jump the other two timers, unless there is no better choice and I think there is.

4. Todd Haynes: is coming for the third time after premiering one of the best films ever at Cannes. Has he served his time in grade? Maybe, hoping so. Internationally he has 54 wins and 92 noms.

3. Lynne Ramsey: 6th trip to Cannes since 1996 2 wins for short films plus 2 other awards.  Internationally 31 wins and 33 noms.

2. Hong Sangsoo: is making his 8th trip to Cannes, with a very successful Competition film The Day After, and an equally successful, Not in Competition film, Claire's Camera. Won UCR in 2010. Internationally 38 wins with 40 noms

1st. Your Best Guess: nenya found a prediction from le Figaro for Ruben Ostlund's The Square.  Though this is his 1st Palme d'Or film, he has been to Cannes 5 times now and certainly should be high on this list.

2nd. Your Best Guess:  LaraQ likes the critics favorite 120 BPM which is Robin Campillo's 1st entry at Cannes, He will likely win the 2017 Cannes Critics Prize.  Internationally 5 wins on 14 noms.

3rd. Your Best Guess:  nenya adds Loveless a film by Andrey Zvyagintsev his 4th trip to Cannes, 3rd Palme d'Or competition with a Best Screenplay win and a Jury Award in UCR.

4th. Your Best Guess:  nenya also likes Good Time by Bennie & Josh Safdie, this is their 1st trip to Cannes with 14 wins and 20  noms internationally.

5th. Your Best Guess:  For Palm d'Or - It's your turn now.


In Regards for other Cannes Awards, Best Director, Best Actress etc: 

The rules seem to be the opposite of the Palme d'Or, looking for an actor/director that has not won anything as prestigious as the Canne award.  For example I heard that Marion Cotillard after winning her Oscar will never get a Cannes Best Actress and she is French.  So what chance does a Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and other Oscar winners have a chance to score here.  Remember Rooney won and Cate didn't.

Again these are just my ramblings use them at you own risk

And in any event have fun!

Charles