The 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to a close on Saturday evening, with the coveted Palme d’Or for best film going to family drama Fjord by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu. He called on filmmakers to set the example by promoting tolerance.
Issued on: 24/05/2026 - 02:09
3 min Reading time
The emotionally-charged closing ceremony wrapped up an unusual festival, which contained a mix of political references to current conflicts and a host of stories from a LGBTQ+ perspective. After 11 days of discovery, surprises and debates over the merits of each of the 22 films in competition, the nine-member jury rendered its verdict. “We chose this film because of its capacity to address the theme of diversity,” Jury President Park Chan-Wook told the audience gathered at the Grand Theatre Lumière in Cannes. A very loud round of applause erupted when the Palme d’Or was attributed to Fjord, by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu – his second after 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007. In Fjord, a Romanian-Norwegian family settles into a small town in Norway but faces the suspicions of the community over their religious practices. Accused of mistreating their children they undertake a legal battle to maintain custody. “The state of the world is not the best, I’m not very proud with what we’re leaving to our kids,” Mungiu said. “The change must start with us. Today the society is split. This film is a pledge against fundamentalism. We need to apply lovely words like tolerance more often.”
