Well the 2016 Cannes Film Festival has come to a close with British director Ken Loach winning the Palme d’Or for the second time in his career with his social drama I, Daniel Blake. The film tells the story of an ailing carpenter’s struggle against the bureaucracy of the healthcare system and was well received at the festival. French Canadian director Xavier Dolan (Mommy) took home the Grand Prize for his film It’s Only The End Of The World. The film tells the story of a writer who returns home to tell his father he is dying, and it received mixed reviews in Cannes making it one of the more controversial winners this year. Another British director, Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, Red Road) took home third prize, the Jury Prize for her film American Honey. 

Here’s a full list of this years winners. 

Well the 2016 Cannes Film Festival has come to a close with British director Ken Loach winning the Palme d’Or for the second time in his career with his social drama I, Daniel Blake. The film tells the story of an ailing carpenter’s struggle against the bureaucracy of the healthcare system and was well received at the festival. French Canadian director Xavier Dolan (Mommy) took home the Grand Prize for his film It’s Only The End Of The World. The film tells the story of a writer who returns home to tell his father he is dying, and it received mixed reviews in Cannes making it one of the more controversial winners this year. Another British director, Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, Red Road) took home third prize, the Jury Prize for her film American Honey. 

Here’s a full list of this years winners. 

Palme d’Or
I, Daniel Blake, dir: Ken Loach

Grand Prize
Xavier Dolan, It’s Only The End Of The World

Best Director
TIE
Cristian Mungiu, Graduation
Olivier Assayas, Personal Shopper

Best Screenplay
Asghar Farhadi, The Salesman 

Best Actress
Jaclyn Jose, Ma’Rosa 

Jury Prize
American Honey, dir: Andrea Arnold 

Best Actor
Shahab Hosseini, The Salesman 

Palme d’Honneur
Jean-Pierre Léaud 

Caméra d’Or
Divines, dir: Uda Benyamina 

Short Film Palme d’Or
Timecode, dir: Juanjo Gimenez 

Special Mention
The Girl Who Danced With The Devil, dir: Joao Paulo Miranda Maria 

And, here are my highlights for the week.

Mr Turner …Sunday 29^th May, 8.30pm
Written and directed by Mike Leigh, Mr Turner is a richly detailed biopic about the later years of English landscape painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). The film received four nominations at both The Oscars and Bafta Awards, and Timothy Spall took home the Best Actor award at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for his role as the eccentric artist. 

It’s a dedicated and enthralling performance by Spall who took three years to prepare for the role. He learnt to paint, and by the end of his training could copy a full Turner painting in oil, reproducing an impressive copy of Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth. Spall read everything he could get his hands on about the artist, and when he found himself talking to the barman at a pub one weekend in character, he realised maybe for the first time, he’d lost himself to the role. As Spall told Indiewire "This is the only time in my life when the character had bled into me, and I think that's because I knew I had to do this for the character." 

Rude, flawed and with a questionable attitude towards women Spall’s grunting Turner is disconcerting and a revelation. The films looks at Turner’s relationships with his father, wife, unappreciated housekeeper and his final lover, and yet the film is often at its most charming when Turner interacts with his fellow painters and members of the Academy. It’s a long, gentle film that takes time to capture the landscapes that so inspired Turner, and Spall and Leigh do an admirable job capturing both the artist and the man. 

The Assassin… Wednesday 25^th May, 8.30pm
The Assassin is the first film in nine years from legendary Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien, who is renowned for his elusive, meditative styled narratives and beautiful images. An art-house, martial-arts film based on a ninth-century Tang dynasty tale, The Assassin cost around ten times more than Hou Hsiao-hsien’s previous films. 

The original story is short, only 1000 words long, and it took Hou Hsiao-hsien’s and his co-writers three years to mold it into a screenplay - largely due to the director’s obsession with historical accuracy. The Assassin tells the story of Yinniang (Shu Qi), who is on a mission to kill Tian Ji’an (Chang Chen), the governor of Weibo province. A simple sounding premise is made more complicated as Tian Ji’an plays a crucial role in the imperial Chinese court. 

It’s a fantastical tale, however Hou Hsiao-hsien likes his martial arts heroes to be human when it comes to their physical abilities, in contrast to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Zhang Yimou’s Hero. Much as this film feels like being immersed in an exquisite dream, it’s grounded in reality and history. The Assassin deservingly won the director’s prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. 

The Salt of the Earth… Thursday 26^th May, 8.30pm
This poetic and powerful documentary explores the work of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, who for the last 40 years has travelled the world capturing haunting images of humanity at it’s best and worst.

Directed by Wim Wenders and Sebastião’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, The Salt of the Earth takes us through Salgado’s life and the many places he’s visited. We hear from the photographer himself as he talks about his subjects, his connection with them and their impact on him – all of which is reflected in his often raw and heartbreaking images. Travelling through South America, central Europe and Africa, Salgado has captured some of the biggest events of recent times; international conflicts, starvation and exodus. It’s not surprising then that his time spent photographing the oil fires of Kuwait after the first Gulf War and the Rwandan and Serbian genocides sent Salgado into a profound depression. More recently Salgado has turned to landscapes, capturing wildlife and the constant renewal of nature. 

This Oscar nominated documentary is made up of largely stills and home movie footage, and even though it’s fascinating listening to Salgado talk about his work it’s a shame Wenders doesn’t ask the question as to why Salgado only shoots in black and white, especially as his work is sometimes accused of beautifying suffering and pain. 

Regardless of whether you feel artistry beats authenticity or not, Salgado’s body of work is incredible, and it’s worth dimming the lights and stepping into the world of one of the great, recent documenters of humankind.