Tonite, the Palme d'or will be presented by actress Charlize Theron, who is here in Cannes for 'The Life and Times of Peter Sellers', by Stephen Hopkins. Theron plays Britt Eklund, the Swedish actress who was romantically involved with Sellers. Theron met Eklund for the first time on the Croisette and has been acclaimed for an excellent performance. Ashley Judd and Kevin Kline, the US actors of De-Lovely, the Festival's closing film will present the Grand prize.

Cannes is not only about the Palmarès, and offers several other competitive sections. 'Moolaadé' (Ousmane Sembène won not only in the A Certain Regard section but a special prize from the Ecumenical jury. The 81 year old director Ousmane Sembène dedicated his eighth film about the gruesome practice of female circumcision to "mothers, women who fight for the abolition of this leftover of a time past."
Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 911' won the grand prize from the international critics association FIPRESCI, so the director with the unique documentary style is sure to go home with one Cannes award, and is tipped for being the Palme d'or winner.

The special 'Original Regard' prize went to 'Whisky' by Juan Pablo Revella & Pablo Stoll/Uruguay) and the special 'Regard to the Future to Terres et cendres (Atiq Rahimi/Afghanistan). The closing ended with the screening of Youssef Chahine's 'Alexandria... New York'.

FIPRESCI awarded the prize for A Certain Regard to 'Whisky' (Juan-Pablo Rebella, Pablo Stoll). From the International Critic's Week an award went to 'Atash' (Tawfik Abu Wael). From the 30th Ecumenical jury the prize went to 'Motorcycle Diaries' (Walter Salles) from the official competition .


Moira Sullivan