25/05/2008

The winners speak at this evening’s press conference at the 61st Cannes Film Festival.

Laurent Cantet (Palme d'Or): "I’m not surprised that an international jury liked the film because the subject of school interests everybody the world over. We go to school to learn, to become a responsible adult and citizen. The Class [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carole Scotta
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile] does justice to this and I am especially delighted to share this moment with my young actors." (See interview.)

Matteo Garrone (Grand Prize): "Above all, I’d like to thank Roberto Saviano, the author of Gomorrah [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Domenico Procacci
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile], for enabling me to bring his book to the big screen. And I am very pleased to share this moment of joy with Paolo Sorrentino whom I admire. We have different styles, but the same conception of film. The fact that two Italian films have won awards at Cannes sends out an important message internationally."

Luc and Jean Pierre Dardenne (Best Screenplay Award): "As far as we’re concerned, this award is for the film as a whole, and not just the pre-film. We write our own screenplays and in the process, we are already thinking about the scenes and the camera movements. We even try out the screenplay together in the settings that we’ve chosen, in order to improve it."

Paolo Sorrentino (Jury Prize): "I came to Cannes in the hope, above all, that my film would be understood and liked, which wasn’t guaranteed because the project was quite daring. So winning a prize is a joy for me. As a character, Andreotti is very representative of Italy and he is incredibly complex. This period shook Italy and has never truly been explored. Understanding this period can help us to better understand the present."

Steve McQueen (Camera d'Or Award): "I am simply delighted for my team and for Belfast. I had no idea what it was to make a film and I wanted, at the same time, to create a sense of intimacy and distance in the audience."

(Translated from French)