Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director

Best Director Award
Prix de la mise en scène (French)
The 2024 recipient: Miguel Gomes
Awarded forBest Achievement in Direction
CountryFrance
Presented byCannes Film Festival
First awarded1946
Currently held byMiguel Gomes
Grand Tour (2024)
Websitewww.festival-cannes.com/en/

The Best Director Award (French: Prix de la mise en scène) is an award presented annually at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition slate at the festival.

At the 1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, René Clément was the first winner of this award for his work on The Battle of the Rails, and Miguel Gomes is the most recent winner in this category for his work on Grand Tour at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024.

History

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The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 12 occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1960, 1962–64, 1971, 1973–74, 1977, and 1980).

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 directors on seven occasions (1955, 1969, 1975, 1983, 2001–02, and 2016). Joel Coen of the Coen brothers has received the most awards in this category, with three. One directing team has shared the award: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for Young Ahmed (2019). Yuliya Solntseva became the first woman to win the award, for Chronicle of Flaming Years (1961).

The winner of the Best Director Award rarely wins the Palme d'Or, the main prize given at the festival, which is also awarded to the director of the winning film. This happened only twice: Joel Coen won both awards for Barton Fink in 1991;[1] and Gus Van Sant won for Elephant in 2003.[2]

Winners

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Year Director(s) English Title Original Title
1940s
1946 France René Clément The Battle of the Rails La Bataille du rail
1949 The Walls of Malapaga Au-delà des grilles
1950s
1951 Mexico/Spain Luis Buñuel Los Olvidados
1952 France Christian Jaque Fanfan la Tulipe
1955 United States Jules Dassin Rififi Du rififi chez les hommes
Soviet Union Sergei Vasilyev Heroes of Shipka Герои Шипки
1956 Soviet Union Sergei Yutkevich Othello Отелло
1957 France Robert Bresson A Man Escaped or: The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut
1958 Sweden Ingmar Bergman Brink of Life Nära livet
1959 France François Truffaut The 400 Blows Les Quatre Cents Coups
1960s
1961 Soviet Union Yuliya Solntseva Chronicle of Flaming Years Повесть пламенных лет
1965 Romania Liviu Ciulei Forest of the Hanged Pădurea spânzuraților
1966 Soviet Union Sergei Yutkevich Lenin in Poland Ленин в Польше
1967 Hungary Ferenc Kósa Ten Thousand Days Tízezer nap
1969 Brazil Glauber Rocha Antonio das Mortes O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro
Czechoslovakia Vojtěch Jasný All My Compatriots Všichni dobří rodáci
1970s
1970 England John Boorman Leo the Last
1972 Hungary Miklós Jancsó Red Psalm Még kér a nép
1975 Canada Michel Brault Orders Les Ordres
Greece/France Costa-Gavras Special Section Section spéciale
1976 Italy Ettore Scola Down and Dirty Brutti, sporchi e cattivi
1978 Japan Nagisa Ōshima Empire of Passion 愛の亡霊
1979 United States Terrence Malick Days of Heaven
1980s
1982 West Germany Werner Herzog Fitzcarraldo
1983 France Robert Bresson L'Argent
Soviet Union Andrei Tarkovsky Nostalghia
1984 France Bertrand Tavernier A Sunday in the Country Un dimanche à la campagne
1985 France André Téchiné Rendez-vous
1986 United States Martin Scorsese After Hours
1987 West Germany Wim Wenders Wings of Desire Der Himmel über Berlin
1988 Argentina Fernando Solanas Sur
1989 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Emir Kusturica Time of the Gypsies Дом за вешање
1990s
1990 Soviet Union Pavel Lungin Taxi Blues Такси-блюз
1991 United States Joel Coen Barton Fink
1992 United States Robert Altman The Player
1993 England Mike Leigh Naked
1994 Italy Nanni Moretti Caro diario
1995 France Mathieu Kassovitz La Haine
1996 United States Joel Coen Fargo
1997 Hong Kong Wong Kar-wai Happy Together 春光乍洩
1998 England John Boorman The General
1999 Spain Pedro Almodóvar All About My Mother Todo sobre mi madre
2000s
2000 Taiwan Edward Yang Yi Yi 一一
2001 United States Joel Coen The Man Who Wasn't There
United States David Lynch Mulholland Drive
2002 United States Paul Thomas Anderson Punch-Drunk Love
South Korea Im Kwon-taek Chi-hwa-seon 취화선
2003 United States Gus Van Sant Elephant
2004 France Tony Gatlif Exils
2005 Austria/Germany Michael Haneke Caché
2006 Mexico Alejandro González Iñárritu Babel
2007 United States Julian Schnabel The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
2008 Turkey Nuri Bilge Ceylan Three Monkeys Üç Maymun
2009 Philippines Brillante Mendoza Butchered Kinatay
2010s
2010 France Mathieu Amalric On Tour Tournée
2011 Denmark Nicolas Winding Refn Drive
2012 Mexico Carlos Reygadas Post Tenebras Lux
2013 Mexico Amat Escalante Heli
2014 United States Bennett Miller Foxcatcher
2015 Taiwan Hou Hsiao-hsien The Assassin 刺客聶隱娘
2016 France Olivier Assayas Personal Shopper
Romania Cristian Mungiu Graduation[3] Bacalaureat
2017 United States Sofia Coppola The Beguiled[4]
2018 Poland Paweł Pawlikowski Cold War Zimna wojna
2019 Belgium Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Young Ahmed Le Jeune Ahmed
2020s
2021 France Leos Carax Annette[5]
2022 South Korea Park Chan-wook Decision to Leave[6] 헤어질 결심
2023 France/Vietnam Tran Anh Hung The Pot-au-Feu[7] La Passion de Dodin Bouffant
2024 Portugal Miguel Gomes Grand Tour

Multiple winners

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The following individuals received two or more Best Director awards:

Number of Wins Directors Nationality Films
3 Joel Coen United States Barton Fink (1991),
Fargo (1996),
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
2 René Clément France The Battle of the Rails (1946),
The Walls of Malapaga (1949)
Robert Bresson A Man Escaped (1957),
L'Argent (1983)
Sergei Yutkevich Soviet Union Othello (1956),
Lenin in Poland (1966)
John Boorman United Kingdom Leo the Last (1970),
The General (1998)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Coen brothers to jointly head Cannes jury - BBC News
  2. ^ CANNES FILM FESTIVAL; Van Sant's 'Elephant' Receives Palme d'Or - New York Times
  3. ^ Who Won and Who Lost at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival|Vogue
  4. ^ Cannes 2017: Sofia Coppola Wins Best Director and Makes History|IndieWire
  5. ^ Cannes Film Festival 2021: The List Of Winners - Forbes
  6. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (28 May 2022). "Cannes Film Festival Winners Announced – Live". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  7. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (28 May 2022). "Cannes Film Festival Winners Announced – Live". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
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