Hold onto your hats and get ready for the hype: writer and director Michael Moore won the Cannes film festiva'ls top prize for his virulently anti-Bush documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11". There had been predictions in some quarters that Moore would easily win for his latest pseudo-documentary flick, as a form of political statement from festival judges..so this is not a monster surprise.
According to an AFB report:
- Moore, who has accused the White House of seeking to block the film's release in the United States, had to wait until a long standing ovation died down to accept the prize. He dedicated the trophy to his 22-year-old daughter and "to all the children in America, and in Iraq and around the world who have suffered from our actions."
The documentary, which got its worldwide premiere at the Cannes festival last Monday, examines the period from Bush's 2000 election, through the September 11 attacks and the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq. It is scathing of Bush, portraying him as out of his depth and keen to further his family's links to Saudi families made rich from oil -- including with the relatives of Osama bin Laden, blamed for the September 11 attacks.
There has been a lot of talk in the U.S. about Moore's having trouble finding a distributor for the film here, that it'll never be shown widely in the U.S. You can find our prediction on what will happen to the film (in some detail) -- and WHY -- by clicking here (and we bet we're right).
Moore has all the film making skill of Leni Riefenstahl without all the moral clarity.
Michael Moore won the Cannes film festiva'ls top prize for his virulently anti-Bush documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11
Cool, I've heard a lot of discussion about the movie but many of the people discussing it haven't even seen it. It's obvious that by describing it as you do ( "virulently anti-Bush" ) you've actually been to a screening of it. Can you give us more details about the contents of the movie? What in particular in the movie was virurentlty anti-Bush? Can you give us any other details about what was in the movie?
There had been predictions in some quarters that Moore would easily win for his latest pseudo-documentary flick, as a form of political statement from festival judges
I read somewhere else that 1/3 of the jurors in the festival were American. Is that true? If so, that's quite a political statement indeed. Do you have any details on the makeup of the jurors that awarded the prize?
Members of the jury were:
More details on the film are available in Frank Rich's IHT article.
http://www.iht.com/articles/521066.html
Michael won just ONE of the Palme d'Or's. The awards are as follows:
Palme d'Or for Best Feature Film.
Grand Prix, for the film that shows the most originality and research spirit.
Best Performance by an Actress presented to the best actress.
Best Performance by an Actor presented to the best actor.
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Prix du Jury
The Short Film Palme d'Or and two Prix du Jury are also awarded in this short films category.
(The Caméra d'Or is awarded during the closing ceremony.)
They also said: (from the Cannes website)
"Jury President Quentin Tarantino brought the 57th Cannes Festival to a close by awarding the Palme d'Or to US director Michael Moore, who received the top prize for Fahrenheit 9/11, his anti-George W. Bush documentary. The South Korean director Park Chan-wook took away the Grand Prix for his film, Old Boy. Among the other award winners were Maggie Cheung, awarded Best Actress for her performance in Clean, and 14-year-old Yagira Yuya, winner of Best Actor for his role in Nobody Knows.
After the announcement of the winners, a party was held to celebrate the 80 years of Metro Goldwyn Mayer, the studio that produced the Festival's closing film, De-Lovely. Director and producer Irwin Winkler, actors Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, as well as singers Lara Fabian, Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morissette, all made the trip to Cannes to present this musical based on the life of composer Cole Porter.
The day at Cannes was also marked by the prize-giving ceremony for Un Certain Regard – top prize to Ousmane Sembène's Moolaadé – and the official screening of The General, accompanied by the orchestral music of Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi."
He's not a big of a deal as he thinks he is really...
Didn't Disney already tell Moore to take a hike? I don't think I'll see it playing here on the lone prairie real soon, that's for sure. Neither Molly Ivins or Dennis Kucinich could draw a big enough crowd to keep their engagements, either.
William Jordan - That's cold, man! True, but cold!
Hey! Moore deserves that one... oh, I thought you said "Palme d'Orse. nevermind