Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d’Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his English-language debut ‘Fjord’, nearly two decades after first claiming the festival’s top honour with ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’ in 2007.
The child abuse drama stars Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as Romanian religious parents who move to Norway and later face accusations of abusing their child.
With the victory, Mungiu becomes the 10th filmmaker in Cannes history to win two Palme d’Or awards, joining directors including Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Haneke and Ken Loach.
The Grand Prix, regarded as the festival’s runner-up prize, went to Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev for ‘Minotaur’, a satire exploring corruption and infidelity in modern Russia. The Jury Prize was awarded to German director Valeska Grisebach for ‘The Dreamed Adventure’, a Bulgaria-set drama centred on an archaeologist.
The Best Director award was shared by Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland and Spanish directing duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for ‘The Black Ball’.
In the acting categories, the festival jury awarded joint honours in both sections. Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto shared the Best Actress prize for Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s care drama ‘All of a Sudden’. The Best Actor award went jointly to Valentin Campagne and Emmanuel Macchia for the First World War drama ‘Coward’.
This year’s festival was considered more restrained than previous editions, with fewer Hollywood productions competing for awards. The two American entries in competition, James Gray’s Paper Tiger starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, alongside Ira Sachs’ ‘The Man I Love’ featuring Rami Malek, left the ceremony without awards.
‘Fjord’ has already been acquired by Neon for US distribution, marking the seventh consecutive year that the distributor has backed the Palme d’Or winner. The company previously distributed ‘Anora’, which later enjoyed major success during the 2025 awards season.
The festival jury was led by South Korean director Park Chan-wook and included members such as Demi Moore, Stellan Skarsgård, Chloé Zhao and Paul Laverty.
During the closing ceremony, French actress Isabelle Huppert paid tribute to Barbra Streisand, who received an honorary Palme d’Or alongside Peter Jackson and John Travolta.
Unable to attend the festival due to a knee injury, Streisand delivered a recorded video message to the audience at the Palais des Festivals.
“In this crazy, volatile world that seems more fractured every day, it’s reassuring to see the compelling movies at this festival, by artists from many countries,” she said.
“Film has that magical ability to unite us, opening our hearts and minds. I’m so proud to be part of this community, so merci beaucoup and vive la cinema!”
Across the festival’s parallel sections, Austrian filmmaker Sandra Wollner won the Un Certain Regard section with ‘Everytime’, while Marie Clémentine Dusabejambo received the Camera d’Or for best first feature with ‘Ben’Imana’. French director Marine Atlan won Critics Week with ‘La Gradiva’.
Meanwhile, ‘Too Many Beasts’ by Sarah Arnold claimed the Best European Film prize in Directors’ Fortnight, while British filmmaker Clio Barnard won the Audience Award for ‘I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning’.
