The 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival concluded on Saturday, May 23, at the Grand Theatre Lumiere, with Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord winning the Palme d’Or and Andreï Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur receiving the Grand Prix.
Mungiu claimed his second Palme d’Or nineteen years after his first, with the jury president, South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, addressing the relationship between politics and cinema during the festival’s opening press conference, as seen on the Cannes Film Festival Wikipedia page.
Palestinian Cinema Gains Visibility
Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi’s debut feature, Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep, screened in the Un Certain Regard section on May 20, with the film’s production coming together through financial support from the Doha Film Institute and co-production partnerships across Palestine, Belgium, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
The film is set in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and follows the disappearance of a young girl and its effect on a Bedouin community. On May 19, the Palestine Film Institute hosted a session titled Palestinian Cinema: Building the Future Together at the Palestine Pavilion.
Building the Future of Palestinian Cinema
Moderated by Sawsan Asfari of the Asfari Foundation, the discussion featured representatives from the Palestinian Film Fund. Rakan Mayasi’s feature was presented alongside filmmaker Tareq Khalaf, a participant in Cannes Docs.
During the Cannes Docs Palestine showcase, four documentary works in progress were pitched to industry delegates. Representatives from the Palestine Film Institute used the event to call for broader representation within international film spaces.
- Mohamed Jabaly, an IDFA-winning Palestinian filmmaker and head of the Palestine Documentary Hub, described Cannes Docs as a platform where Palestinian stories can present our true complex realities beyond headlines and transcend imposed boundaries.
- Producer Mohanad Yaqubi, a consultant for the Palestinian Film Fund’s public programme, said the return of the Palestine Pavilion reflected the resilience of artistic perseverance and the potential of creative voices.
As the film industry continues to evolve, the Cannes Film Festival remains a platform for emerging talent and diverse storytelling, with a growing presence of Palestinian cinema and other international voices.
