Even the Cannes Film Festival is affected by the pandemic

The world is still topsy turvy, with much of it clenched in the grips of the pandemic. Why should the Cannes Film Festival be any different? So, when Spike Lee – serving as the Cannes awards jury president – flubbed the awards presentation in July by announcing the Palme d’Or winner prematurely, I just smiled.

This was not, as some overwrought TV hosts claimed, a “shocking” turn-of-events. It was an innocent mistake; Lee owned it and then apologized. And Cannes was almost fun again.

Especially because the charismatic and super-cool Lee dressed so colourfully. He was not sporting an outfit you would expect a 64-year-old filmmaker to choose for a sombre black-tie crowd in Cannes. Instead, he looked more like you would hope Mars Blackmon – Spike’s on-screen character in his break-out 1986 film She’s Gotta Have It – would evolve into later in life. Given that Lee debuted She’s Gotta Have It at Cannes back in 1986, the flash styling was appropriate.

I attended 31 of the Cannes festivals in the past, although never in July. They were always held in May during my tenure. I was there in 1986 and met Lee for the first time; I also attended in 1989, when he was aghast that his masterwork Do the Right Thing was ignored in the Cannes awards, when many of us thought it deserved the Palme d’Or as best film. I wonder if he is more sanguine now that he has experienced life as the jury president and knows how things work, how awards are sometimes capricious or political, and how difficult it is to judge artistic creations.

That aside, the Palme d’Or winner does generate international prestige, better box office and some tinge of legendary status – with some exceptions. And I would say the jury gets it right, most of the time. I cannot vouch for the French film that won this year – Julia Ducournau’s horror-thriller Titane – because I have yet to see it. But here are past winners that I think richly deserved their awards and your patronage. If you have not seen them yet, track them down. Some are even classics of world cinema.

The year listed is when it appeared in Cannes; the countries include co-producing nations and the director’s name follows. I am restricting my choices dating back to 1975 when the name “Palme d’Or” was reinstated for the best film winner. And, simply put, if you have not seen all of these films, you have not lived your cinematic life to the fullest.

2019: Parasite (South Korea), Bong Joon-ho
2013: Blue is the Warmest Colour (France, Belgium, Spain), Abdellatif Kechiche
2012: Amour (France, Germany, Austria), Michael Haneke
2011: The Tree of Life (U.S.), Terrence Malick
2004: Fahrenheit 9/11 (U.S.), Michael Moore.
2002: The Pianist (Poland, France, Germany, U.K.), Roman Polanski
1996: Secrets & Lies (France, U.K.), Mike Leigh
1994: Pulp Fiction (U.S.), Quentin Tarantino
1993 (Tie): Farewell my Concubine (Hong Kong), Chen Kaige
1993 (Tie): The Piano (New Zealand, Australia, France), Jane Campion
1984: Paris, Texas (West Germany, France), Wim Wenders
1981: Man of Iron (Poland), Andrzej Wajda
1980 (Tie): All That Jazz (U.S.), Bob Fosse
1980 (Tie): Kagemusha (Japan), Akira Kurosawa
1979 (Tie): Apocalypse Now (U.S.), Francis Ford Coppola
1979 (Tie): The Tin Drum (West Germany, France), Volker Schlondorff
1977: Padre Padrone (Italy), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
1976: Taxi Driver (U.S.), Martin Scorsese