CANNES 2025 WINNERS; CLOSING CEREMONY ESCAPES POWER OUTAGE IN SOUTH OF FRANCE

 

Winners and Jury of the 78th Festival de Cannes © Jean_Louis_Hupe/FDC.

Cannes 2025 has come to a close with this year's top prize, the Palme d'or for Best Feature Film, being bestowed upon controversial Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, for his high-stakes drama It Was Just An Accident ("Un Simple Accident"). 

Drama was not just playing out on the big screens at Cannes, as just prior to the closing ceremony on May 24th, there was a massive power outage across the South of France, that authorities later confirmed was an act of sabotage. 

However, for the diverse film jury, the awards ceremony did not face any interruptions. Chaired by French actress, the legendary Juliette Binoche, the jury team included Hollywood actress and producer, Halle Berry, Indian director and screenwriter, Payal Kapadia, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher, French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, Congolese director, documentarist and producer Dieudo Hamadi, Korean director and screenwriter Hong Sangsoo, Mexican director, screenwriter and producer Carlos Reygadas, and American actor Jeremy Strong. These esteemed film professionals presented its winners’ list among the 22 films presented in Competition this year.

Some of the awards highlights included: 

A Joint Jury Prize shared between Sirat by Oliver Laxe and Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski. 

The Un Certain Regard Prize went to La Misteriosa Mirada Del Flamenco ("The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo") by Diego CÉSPEDES (1st film) and the Jury Prize went to Un Poeta (A Poet) by Simón Mesa Soto. 

And in the same category, although the Indian film Homebound, by Neeraj Ghaywan, and presented by a mainstream Bollywood producer, Karan Johar (a rare occurance at Cannes), didn't take home any prizes - the film did receive a 9-minute standing ovation, setting a new precedence for more such narratives to come out of India. 

Other significant wins that stood out were in the the Short Film category - the Palme d’or that went to I’m Glad You're Dead Now by Palestinian filmmaker, Tawfeek Barhom, and the Special Mention award for Ali by Bangladeshi filmmaker, Adnan Al Rajeev.

At a press conference after the winners of the 78th Festival de Cannes were announced, the jury gathered for one last time to share anecdotes and reflect on their time together during the jury selection process.

Said Binoche, “My favorite moment was when [fellow jury member] Hong Sangsoo said to us, “Cinema really means a great deal to you!” It was as though he was rediscovering that we were all carrying a part of humanity within us, and that we felt responsible for it. We were all deeply rooted in this desire to grow and to defend the truth.”

Here are the complete list of winners at Cannes 2025: 

Palme d’Or
It Was Just an Accident, dir: Jafar Panahi

Grand Prize
Sentimental Value, dir: Joachim Trier

Best Actress
Nadia Melliti, La Petite Dernière

Best Actor
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Special Prize
Resurrection, dir: Bi Gan

Best Screenplay
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Young Mothers

Best Director
Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent

Joint Jury Prize 
Sirat, dir: Oliver Laxe
The Sound of Falling, dir: Mascha Schilinski

Un Certain Regard Prize
La Misteriosa Mirada Del Flamenco ("The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo"), dir: Diego CÉSPEDES
1st film

Jury Prize
Un Poeta (A Poet), dir: Simón MESA SOTO

Best Directing
Arab & Tarzan Nasser, Once Upon a Time in Gaza

Best Actor
Frank DILLANE, Urchin 

Best Actress
Cleo Diára, O Riso e a Faca (I Only Rest in the Storm) 

Best Screenplay
Pillion, dir: Harry Lighton
1st film

Camera d’Or
The President’s Cake, dir: Hassan Hadi

Special Mention, Camera d’Or
My Father’s Shadow, dir: Akinola Davies Jr

Short Film Palme d’Or
I’m Glad You’re Dead Now, dir: Tawfeek Barhom

Special Mention, Short Film
Ali, dir: Adnan Al Rajeev

La Cinef

First Prize
First Summer, dir: Heo GAYOUNG KAFA, South Korea

Second Prize

12 Moments Before The Flag-Raising Ceremony, dir: QU Zhizheng, Beijing Film Academy, China

Joint Third Prize
Ginger Boy, dir: Miki Tanaka, ENBU Seminar, Japan

Winter in March, dir: Natalia MIRZOYAN, Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia

Golden Eye Documentary Prize 

Imago, dir: Déni Oumar Pitsaev

Golden Eye Documentary 10th Anniversary Prize: 

The Six Billion Dollar Man

Queer Palm: 

Hafsia Herzi, La Petite Dernière

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Second Picture Caption, Credits: (L-R) Jury Members Didier Allouch, Payal Kapadia, Jeremy Strong, Alba Rohrwacher, Dieudo Hamadi, Jury President Juliette Binoche, Hong Sang-soo, Halle Berry, Carlos Reygadas and Leïla Slimani during the closing jury press conference at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 24, 2025 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images) © Victor Boyko/Getty Images.