The 63^rd Cannes Film Festival could not boast the glamour and luxury of the preceding years. Nor were there many star directors in the competition. Until the very end, there was no obvious winner. Yet, the absence of cinema monsters allowed for less prominent artists to catch the attention of the jury and the critics.

In the competition among short films, the Jury Prize went to Frida Kempff, a young documentary filmmaker from Sweden. The 14 minute Micky Bader (Bathing Micky) featured 100 year old Danish woman Ebba “Micky” Heiman taking her daily swim and recounting her life story. She starts with her childhood in summertime, recalls German occupation of Denmark in fall, bathing fearlessly in the winter she talks about her husband. Micky’s life story ends in spring – symbolically demonstrating that one can live a long life and conclude the journey happily. From her first meeting with Ebba, Frida knew she has to make a film about this fascinating old woman, who had come a long way, but has always remained true to herself, maintained a positive attitude and stayed on the bright side.

A neo-realistic approach to filmmaking in Argentinian Los Labios (The Lips), screened as part of Un Certain Regard program, leaves the audience wonder whether it is documentary or a feature film. The three social workers come to distant part of the country to provide medical assistance to the locals. All their patients are real people, and for the most part, the film is non-dramatic, improvised, with three women helping those in need. For their outstanding performance in this very humane film, Victoria Raposo, Eva Blanco, and Adela Sanchez, who played the social workers, received Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actress.

In the main competition, the Award for Best Actress went to Juliette Binoche for her role of an art-gallery owner in a romantic story Copie Conforme (Certified Copy – France/Italy). As she received her award, Binoche held a sign with the name of Jafar Panahi, Iranian director under arrest for his political film. She is actively participating in the efforts to save Panahi. Binoche is one of the few French actors who are acknowledged in Hollywood. In 1997, she won Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in English Patient. A beautiful woman, aged 46, Binoche believes that women bloom when they pass 40, as they lose some illusions and let things go.

This year, the exotics celebrated its victory at Cannes. Palm d’Or went to Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Could Recall His Past Lives. For the first time the main prize of the Festival went to Thailand.

The film is hypnotic and strange. Uncle Boonmee, suffering from kidney failure, goes to a remote village to die, where the ghosts of his deceased wife and lost son take care of him. The themes of old age, illness, and loneliness were dominant amongst the contestants. But instead of dramatic documentary of pain and frailty of human body, this film transforms the trivial fading of a simple person into magic fantasy. He is dying, but his death is illuminated by the memories of his past and the spirits of his present.

Other 2010 Cannes Laureates:

Grand Prix: Des Homes et des Dieux (Of Gods and Men – France) – a historical drama about seven French monks beheaded in Algerian civil war in 1990’s.

Jury’s Prize: L’Homme Qui Crie (A Screaming Man – Chad) – the tragedy of a man who loses his job of swimming pool attendant to his son in the midst of civil war. The first film from tropical Africa for the last 13 years to receive an award at Cannes.

Best actors: Javier Bardem in Biutiful (Spain) – drama of exploitation of poor by the poor in the need to survive. Elio Germano in La Nostra Vita (Our Life - Italy) – the story of a widower with three sons.

Best director: Mathieu Amalric for Tournee (On Tour – France) – film about a troupe of burlesque strippers. 

Best screenplay: Lee Chang-Dong for Poetry (Korea) – the story of a grandmother writing a poem in her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Amongst the celebrated masters of cinema were Woody Allen and Nikita Mikhalkov. Allen’s premiere You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, made in London, was featured out of competition. This was Allen’s 10^th film screened at Cannes, light comedy about relationships and illusions, with Gemma Jones, Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas. Nikita Mikhalkov participated in the main competition with epic tragedy Utomlyonnye Solntsem 2: Predstoyanie (The Exodus – Burnt by the Sun), the sequel to his Burnt by the Sun, which won Grand Prize at Cannes in 1994 and the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995. The sequel, however, did not bring the Russian director any awards.