Cannes 1999

Abstract

THE 52nd CANNES FESTIVAL (12-23 May 1999) will go down in the books as the one in which a pair of unheralded films emerged as surprise winners: Luc and Jean Pierre Dardenne's Rosetta (Belgium-France) was awarded the Golden Palm, while Bruno Dumont's L'Humanité (Humanity) (France) received the follow-up Grand Prize of the Jury. In addition, Emmanuel Schotté was named Best Actor for his performance in L'Humanité, while Émilie Dequenne as Rosetta shared the Best Actress award with Sévérine Caneele in L'Humanité - remarkable, to say the least, for all are nonprofessionals. For that matter, the directors share a common fortune: these were the second feature films for both, they had previously appeared several documentaries) with feature films in the Directors Fortnight at Cannes, and their production bases in Liège (Belgium) and Lille (France) are only a short drive away from each other. Programmed at the 1996 Directors Fortnight, Luc...