Gaspar Noé’s Climax, a visually dazzling tale about the descent into physical hell of a young dance troupe, won the biggest prize at the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, its Art Cinema Award, of the 2018 Cannes Film Fest.
“Lucia’s Grace,” Italian Gianni Zanasi’s woman’s empowerment comedy, earned the Europa Cinemas Label, awarded to the section’s best European film.
Granted by France’s Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers, the SACD Award for best French-language film went to Pierre Salvadori’s screwball crime romantic comedy “The Trouble with You.”
Prices are given by the section’s sponsors. Notably, two went to potentially crowd-pleasing comedies. All three are directed by men but turn principally on women.
Climax marks the French-Argentine Gaspar Noé’s return to his theme: the joy and hell of physical (sensorial) experience.