Retrospective 2015 – A Year in Film

May

A May for all Seasons

Image sources: Disney, Sony Pictures, Focus & Warner Bros.

The end of spring meant yet another varied month of releases from memorable foreign-language gems like Malian extremism drama‘Timbuktu’ and Persian vampire drama/romance ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’, to big studio productions like Disney’s Sci-fi mystery ‘Tomorrowland’ and Californian disaster flick ‘San Andreas’, as well as the Carey Mulligan period drama adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’.

The highlight of the month however was undoubtedly George Miller’s resurrection of his iconic post-apocalyptic series with the unforgettable ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, an intense and vivid action ballet of brutality and tension, a welcome breath of fresh air for a genre that has become largely stagnant in recent years.

And the award goes to…

The Riviera Calls

The biggest gathering of international movie-makers took place on the French Riviera in May with the 68th Cannes Film Festival rolling into town, part fashion show and part film festival but all glamour with several films being showcased many months before their general release, plus the prestigious closing award ceremony.

The awarding jury this year was presided over by writer/directors The “Coen Brothers” and also featured directors Guillermo Del Toro and Xavier Dolan, composer Rokia Traoré and actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Sophie Marceau, Sienna Miller and Rossy De Palma, here are their choices for this year’s winners;

Competition 2015

Palme d’Or

‘Dheepan’ Directed by Jacques Audiard- France

Grand Prix

‘Saul fia’ (Son of Saul) Directed by László Nemes- Hungary

Best Director

Hsiao-hsien Hou for ‘Nie yin niang’ (The Assassin)- Taiwan/China

Best Screenplay

Michel Franco for ‘Chronic’- Mexico

Best Actress Ex-aequo

Rooney Mara in ‘Carol’- USA/UK & Emmanuelle Bercot in ‘Mon Roi’- France

Best Actor

Stéphane Brizé in ‘La loi du marché’ (The Measure of a Man)- France

Jury Prize

‘The Lobster’ directed by Yorgos Lanthimos- Greece/UK/Ireland/Netherlands/France

Un Certain Regard 2015

Un Certain Regard Award

‘Hrútar’ (Rams) by Grímur Hákonarson- Iceland

Jury Prize

‘Zvizdan’ (The High Sun) by Dalibor Matanić- Croatia/Serbia

Best Director

Kiyoshi Kurosawa for ‘Kishibe no tabi’ (Journey to the Shore)- Japan

Un Certain Talent Prize

‘Comoara’ (Treasure) by Corneliu Porumboiu- Romania

Promising Future Prize

‘Masaan’ (Fly Away Solo) by Neeraj Ghaywan- India

Ex aequo

‘Nahid’ by Ida Panahandeh- Iran

Those We Lost: Ladies at Peace

Image source: Getty Images, Warner Bros. & Paramount

May saw the loss of several veteran actresses including American comedienne & Ben Stiller’s mom Anne Meara (85) (Awakenings, All My Children) and 80’s star Mary Ellen Trainor (62) (The Goonies, Lethal Weapon), as well as stage & screen stalwart Elizabeth Wilson (94) (The Graduate, The Addams Family).

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