Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival) Explained

Jury Prize
Image Upright:0.8
Country:France
Presenter:Cannes Film Festival
Holder:Jacques Audiard
Emilia Pérez (2024)
Year:1946

The Jury Prize (French: Prix du Jury) is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films. According to American film critic Dave Kehr, the award is "intended to recognize an original work that embodies the spirit of inquiry."[1]

History

The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 10 occasions (1947, 1949, 1953, 1967, 1974–79, 1981–82, 1984, and 2001). The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France. Also, the jury vote was tied, and the prize was shared by two films on 20 occasions (1957, 1960, 1962–63, 1970–71, 1973, 1987, 1991–93, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2019, and 2021–22). Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold have won the most awards in this category, each winning three. Irma P. Hall is the only actress to win in this category, for her role in The Ladykillers (2004). Four directing teams have shared the award: Enrico Gras, Giorgio Moser and Leonardo Bonzi for Lost Continent (1955), Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud for Persepolis (2007), Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles for Bacurau (2019), and Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch for The Eight Mountains (2022). Samira Makhmalbaf was the first woman to have won the award, for 2000's Blackboards.

Since 1967, the official name of the award has been simply the Prix du Jury, but it has had two other names since its creation in 1946: the International Jury Prize, which was awarded for that year only,[2] and the Prix spécial du Jury (1951–1967) that was given among other secondary prizes. In 1954, after facing much criticism about the whimsical nature of these awards, the Festival authorities decided to turn to a more traditional prize-giving arrangement.[3] Since then, the Prix spécial du Jury reappeared only twice: Christopher Hampton won that award for Carrington along with the regular Prix du Jury given to Xavier Beauvois for Don't Forget You're Going to Die in 1995; and David Cronenberg won for Crash in 1996, which was the only prize allotted by the International Jury for that year.[4] [5]

British film academic Andrew M. Butler regards jury prizes such as Cannes' as a way of helping a film gain a distribution deal.[6]

Winners

YearEnglish TitleOriginal TitleRecipientProduction Country
1940s
Awarded as "International Jury Prize"
France
1950s
Awarded as "Special Jury Prize"
United States
France
1954René Clément
, & Italy
France
Poland
Sweden
France
East Germany
1960s
Awarded as "Jury Prize"
Italy
Japan
Awarded as "Special Jury Prize"
Poland
Italy
France
Czechoslovakia
Japan
United Kingdom
France
1970s
Hungary
United States
Sweden, United States
Hungary
United States
Poland
Switzerland
Spain
1980s
Poland
India
Hungary, West Germany
France
Japan
Mali
Poland
Canada
1990s
United Kingdom
Denmark
France
Spain
France, Russia
Taiwan
United Kingdom
France
1995
United Kingdom
Canada, United Kingdom
France
Denmark
France
Portugal, France, Spain
2000s
Iran, Italy
Sweden, France
Palestine, Morocco, France, Germany
Iran, France
*Irma P. HallUnited States
Tropical Maladyสัตว์ประหลาด France, Thailand
China
United Kingdom
& France
Mexico, France, Netherlands
Italy, France
United Kingdom
South Korea
2010s
Chad, France, Belgium
France
United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy
Japan
France
Canada
Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Greece, Netherlands
United Kingdom, United States
Russia, France, Belgium, Germany
Lebanon
& Brazil, France
France
2020s
2021France, Germany, Israel
Colombia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Mexico, France
2022 & Italy, Belgium, France
IOPoland, Italy
Finland
2024Emilia PérezJacques AudiardFrance
Notes
  • Awarded as "Special Jury Prize", a unique award not given annually but only at the request of the official jury.
  • * The Jury Prize was specially awarded to Irma P. Hall for acting in The Ladykillers.

    Multiple winners

    The following individuals received two or more Jury Prize awards:

    Number of WinsDirectors NationalityFilms
    3United Kingdom Hidden Agenda (1990),
    Raining Stones (1993),
    The Angels' Share (2012)
    Red Road (2006),
    Fish Tank (2009),
    American Honey (2016)
    2FranceThe Battle of the Rails (1946),
    Knave of Hearts (1954)
    ItalyL'Avventura (1960),
    L'Eclisse (1962)
    JapanHarakiri (1963),
    Kwaidan (1965)
    IranBlackboards (2000),
    At Five in the Afternoon (2003)
    ThailandTropical Malady (2004),
    Memoria (2021)

    See also

    External links

    Notes and References

    1. Book: Kehr, Dave. Dave Kehr. 1992. 45 Years: Cannes Festival International du Film. Museum of Modern Art. 646921388. 15.
    2. Web site: Awards 1946 : All Awards (archived) . festival-cannes.fr . 28 May 2017 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115245/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1946/allAward.html . 4 March 2016 .
    3. Web site: The History of the Festival / The 50s . festival-cannes.com . 14 July 2017.
    4. Web site: Awards 1995 : All Awards (archived) . festival-cannes.fr . 28 May 2017 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20150103061318/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1995/allAward.html . 3 January 2015 .
    5. Web site: Awards 1996 : All Awards (archived) . festival-cannes.fr . 28 May 2017 . bot: unknown . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303234056/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1996/allAward.html . 3 March 2016 .
    6. Book: Butler, Andrew M.. Film Studies. 11. National Cinema. Oldacastle Books. 2002. 184243828X. 128.