Titane has won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making Julia Ducournau the second female filmmaker to win the festival’s top honour in its 74 year history.
The win was mistakenly announced by jury president Spike Lee at the top of the show, unleashing a few moments of confusion.
Ducournau did not immediately come to the stage to accept the award, instead waiting until the formal announcement at the end of the ceremony.
At the end, the win for Titane was announced by Lee and presenter Sharon Stone.
After the flub, the ceremony continued and other awards were handed out while Lee was seen with his head in his hands.
The Grand Prix award was a joint honour split between the Iranian drama A Hero and Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen’s Apartment No. 6.
Best director was awarded to Leos Carax for Annette, the fantastical musical that opened the festival.
The award was accepted by the musical duo Sparks, who wrote the script and music for the film.
Nadav Lapid’s Ahed’s Knee won the jury prize, while Caleb Landry Jones took home the best actor prize.
Renate Reinsve won best actress for Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World.
The Croatian coming-of-age drama Murina, by Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, took the Camera d’Or award, a non-jury prize, for best first feature. Kusijanović was absent from the ceremony after giving birth a day earlier.
Cannes’ closing ceremony caps 12 days of red-carpet premieres, regular Covid-19 testing for many attendees and the first major film festival to be held since the pandemic began in almost its usual form.
With smaller crowds and mandated mask-wearing in theatres, Cannes pushed forward with an ambitious slate of global cinema. Last year’s Cannes was completely canceled by the pandemic.
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Timothee Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Wes Anderson, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Benicio Del Toro and Alexandre Desplat attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Timothee Chalamet and Adrien Brody attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Timothee Chalamet and Bill Murray attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Tilda Swinton attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Benicio del Toro attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Timothee Chalamet attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Owen Wilson attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Maggie Gyllenhaal attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Kat Graham attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Adrien Brody and Georgina Chapman attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Iris Law attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Anna Cleveland attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Dylan Penn attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Melanie Laurent attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Oliver Stone and Jung Sun-jung attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Clotilde Courau attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Julian Perretta and Kambree Dalton attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Jarvis Cocker attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Kimberley Garner attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Mahlagha Jaberi attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Honor Swinton Byrne attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Marcelo Vieira and Clarisse Alves attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Marta Pozzan attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Mael Rouin Berrandou, Dali Benssalah and Sofian Khammes attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Nieves Alvarez attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Aymerick Moucouveia, Camelia Jordana, Naomi Diaz and Yann Kidou attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Christian Louboutin attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Rahul Jain and Pallavi Lodha attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Song Kang-ho, Mati Diop and Kleber Mendonca Filho attend the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Huang Miyi attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Farnoush Hamidian, left, attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Mohammed Al Turki attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Bill Murray attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Linh Dan Pham attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Noemie Merlant attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Lena Mahfouf attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Natasha Poly attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Kiera Chaplin attends the screening of 'The French Dispatch' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Hugo Selignac, Karim Leklou and Adele Exarchopoulos attend a screening of 'Bac Nord' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Louis Garrel, Julia Boeme and Laetitia Casta attend a screening of 'Bac Nord' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Tahar Rahim attends a screening of 'Bac Nord' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Laetitia Casta attends a screening of 'Bac Nord' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021 -
Camille Charriere attends a screening of 'Bac Nord' at the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 12, 2021
Twenty-four movies were in contention for the Palme. The jury’s deliberations are private and unknown, but that never stops a wide spectrum of predictions, guesses and betting odds.
This year featured a strong slate of many top international filmmakers, but no movie was viewed as the clear favourite.
In 2019, the Palme went to Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which later took best picture at the Academy Awards.
Lee was the first Black jury president at Cannes. His fellow jury members are: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Song Kang-ho, Tahar Rahim, Mati Diop, Jessica Hausner, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Mylène Farmer.
Before the ceremony, Lee and the jury posed for photographers holding hands on the red carpet.
