The 75th Festival de Cannes was packed with surprises. Regarded as the most prestigious film event in the world, the 12-day French film festival (which ran from May 17–May 28) annually showcases and awards new contributions to global cinema.

Here, Popcorn Podcast takes you through the winners of the Official Competition prizes, as well as the show-stopping moments and show-stealing films on display. 

The Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest prize, went to Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness. This is the Swedish director’s second time taking home the coveted award; his first was for The Square (2017). The satirical dramedy, starring Harris Dickinson and Woody Harrelson, follows two models who become stranded on a desert island with a group of billionaires and a cleaning lady.

The second-most acclaimed prize, the Grand Prix, went to two features: Stars at Noon, directed by Claire Denis, and Lukas Dhont’s Close. Dhont reunited with Girl (2018) screenwriter Angelo Tijssens for Close, a film about friendship and reconciliation. “It's always a very fragile moment, sharing something with the public when you've put everything inside it,” Dhont said when he took to the stage.

Stars at Noon is an adaptation of Denis Johnson’s 1986 novel of the same name, which tells the story of an American journalist (Margaret Qualley) during the Nicaraguan Revolution. Unfortunately, the romantic thriller received divisive reactions from critics, many calling it the esteemed director’s biggest flop.

Stars at Noon isn’t the only adaption that won big at this year’s festival. Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeerch’s adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s The Eight Mountains tied with the Polish drama Eo for the Jury Prize. But the Screenplay award went to writer-director Tarik Saleh’s thriller Boy From Heaven.

The Camera d’Or was bestowed to debutante directors Gina Gammell and Riley Keough’s War Pony, which also won the Best First Film award outside the official competition. Actress Keough, Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, commended Baz Luhrmann’s biopic, ELVIS, which received one of the longest standing ovations in the history of Cannes at 12 minutes. “I started crying five minutes in and didn’t stop,” she admitted to Variety.

Zar Amir-Ebrahimi won Best Actress for Holy Spider and Song Kang-ho (Parasite) won Best Actor for Broker, becoming the first male South Korean actor to win an acting award at Cannes. Keep an eye out for co-star Ji-Eun Lee (aka singer IU) in the awards season, who delivered one of the most praised performances from the festival.

Park Chan-wook was awarded Best Director for Decision to Leave. After the awards ceremony, the Oldboy (2003) director said, “When you read the summary of my film, you say that it's something you've seen a hundred times. But I wanted to go further.” He explains that the romantic thriller isn’t your average man-meets-femme fatale narrative. “When we move into the second part of the film, there's a turning point: the feminine character is no longer the object of the masculine gaze.” Could this be the new Parasite?

Australia’s George Miller emerged from a seven-year filmmaking hiatus with Three Thousand Years of Longing, starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. The fantasy film currently holds a 57 Metascore, proving to be lacklustre for most. On the other hand, James Gray’s (Ad Astra) period drama Armageddon Time, starring Academy Award-winners Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins, was helmed as “quietly extraordinary” by Time.

Other festival favourites include Leila’s Brothers, a story of a Persian family’s struggle for survival amidst sanctions against Iran; Mia Hansen-Løve’s tender story of new love and aging, One Fine Morning; David Cronenberg’s Kristen Stewart-starring body horror, Crimes of the Future, which was subject to horrified walkouts; and the empathetic British-American drama Aftersun, an impressive feature directorial debut from award-winning producer Charlotte Wells. A24 picked up the North American rights following the film’s buzzy world premiere. 

In true French fashion, celebrities donned puffy dresses and patterned suits, but their runway was disrupted more than once. Before the premiere of Holy Spider – a crime-thriller based on the true story of a man who murdered at least 16 women in Iran – a group of feminist activists stood on the carpeted steps of the Palais des Festivals holding a banner of the names of 129 women killed by domestic violence in France in the past year. Only three days earlier, a lone protester stormed the red carpet with “stop raping us” written on her body. Painted in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, her message addressed the sexual violence by Russian forces in Ukraine.

A joyous surprise lightened the mood when, prior to the premiere screening of the now-commercial and critical success Top Gun: Maverick, speechless action star Tom Cruise was handed an honorary Palme d’Or – only ever awarded to 15 other artists. Although expected, Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) was granted the same accolade during the festival’s opening ceremony.

The grand Cannes Film Festival spotlights some of the greatest cinematic achievements – award-winning or not – keeping cinephiles everywhere excited for the year ahead.