The Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 75th anniversary this year and its big prize, the Palme d’Or, was awarded to Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle of Sadness, a satire of modern capitalism. This is the Swedish director’s second time winning the coveted prize. In 2017, he won for The Square, a satire of the art world.
In honor of the festival’s milestone year, the Dardenne brothers were recognized for their social-realist drama about European refugees, Tori et Lokita. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have won the Palme d’Or twice before, for The Son in 2005 and Rosetta in 1999.
The Cannes Grand Prix, which is the “runner-up,” went to two films. Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon — an erotic, political drama starring Maid actress Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn — and Lukas Dhont’s Close, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story about two 13-year-old boys.
Actress and director Riley Keough, who is also Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, won the prize for the best first film. Keough and her co-director Gina Gammell took the Camera d’Or for War Pony, a film about two Oglala Lakota boys navigating life on the South Dakota reservation.
War Pony also fetched the Palm Dog — best canine performance — thanks to Brittany the gray poodle, who played the role of Beast.