French film director Justine Triet condemned what she called French President Emmanuel Macronâs âshockingâ repression of the pension reform protests during her Palme dâOr acceptance speech at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.
After stepping on stage to accept the award for her film, âThe Anatomy of a Chute,â Triet referenced the wave of protests that have gripped France this year.
âThis year this country has been taken over by a historic, extremely powerful, unanimous protest on pension reform. This protest has been denied and repressed in a shocking way,â Triet stressed.
Triet maintained that an âincreasingly uninhibitedâ power pattern is breaking out in several areas of French society including cinema.
âThe commodification of culture that the neoliberal government defends is in the process of breaking the French cultural exception,â Triet continued. She was presented the award by the iconic actress Jane Fonda onstage.
âWe have to make room for them, room that I was given 15 years ago in a slightly less hostile world where it was still possible to make mistakes and start again,â Triet added.
Triet is just the third woman to win the Palme dâOr, one of cinemaâs tpp prizes, after New Zealandâs Jane Campion and Franceâs Julia Ducournau.
Her work â a drama about a woman suspected of her husbandâs murder â beat off competition including Wes Andersonâs âAsteroid City.â
The second-highest prize after the Palme dâOr, the Grand Prix, went to British director Jonathan Glazerâs for his film âZone of Interest,â about a family living next to Auschwitz.
'SPOILED CHILD'
Trietâs speech sparked outrage from some, including the French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak, who was present at Saturdayâs closing ceremony.
âHappy to see the Palme dâOr awarded to Justine Triet, the 10th for France! But dismayed by the unfairness of her speech. This film could not have been made without our French model of film financing, which allows for a diversity that is unique in the world. Letâs not forget it,â Malak said in a tweet Saturday.
The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard described Triet as a âspoiled childâ in a tweet Saturday.
In his tweet, Lisnard congratulated the winners from across the world who accepted their prizes with âjoy and respect.â
âA single, political complaint, that of the French director, with the speech of a spoiled child and so conformist, as she receives the prestigious Palme dâOr for her subsidized film,â Lisnard continued.
Franceâs social unrest has cast a shadow over this yearâs instalment of the film festival. Trade union, CGT Energie which represents energy and mining workers, previously announced â100 days of action and angerâ coinciding with the festival period. This created fears that protests, and electricity outages may impact festival events.
To counter this, the Alpes Maritimes regional authorities issued an order on May 11 banning all protests outside the Palais de Festival in Cannes.