My Life as Film Festival Juror
Representing the contingency of U.S. critics, I am serving on the jury of the 75th milestone edition of the Cannes Film Fest, May 17-28.
This would be my fifth service on the jury (Fipresci) of this prestigious venue; previously, I had also served on the jury of its 40th, 50th, 60th, and 70th anniversaries.
Cannes Film Fest 1963
The sixteenth Cannes Film Fest was held May 9 to 23, 1963.
The top award, the Palme d’Or, went to the The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, and Claudia Cardinale.
The festival opened with The Birds, directed by Hitchcock. The film, introducing the director’s latest discovery, Tippi Hedren, was greeted with huge applause.
Jury Members: Competition
Representing Hollywood, Vet director Ruben Mamoulian served as vice president, just after he had been fired from the big historical epic, Cleopatra.
There was one female on the Jury, Gallic Jacqueline Audry.
- Armand Salacrou (France) (president)
- Rouben Mamoulian (USA) (vice president)
- Jacqueline Audry (France)
- Wilfrid Baumgartner (France) (BDF official)
- François Chavane (France)
- Jean De Baroncelli (France) (critic)
- Robert Hossein (France)
- Rostislav Yurenev (Soviet Union)
- Kashiko Kawakita (Japan)
- Steven Pallos (UK)
- Gian Luigi Rondi (Italy)
- Short Festival Jury
- Henri Alekan (France) (short films president)
- Robert Alla (France) (short films)
- Karl Schedereit (West Germany) (short films)
- Ahmed Sefrioui (Morocco) (short films)
- Semih Tugrul (Turkey) (journalist) (short films)
Feature film competition
- Les Abysses by Nikos Papatakis
- Als twee druppels water by Fons Rademakers
- Alvorada by Hugo Niebeling
- L’ape regina by Marco Ferreri
- Až přijde kocour by Vojtěch Jasný
- El Buen amorby Francisco Regueiro
- La Cage by Robert Darène
- Carambolages by Marcel Bluwal
- Codine by Henri Colpi
- I Fidanzati by Ermanno Olmi
- Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) by Luchino Visconti
- Jak być kochaną by Wojciech Has
- Kertes házak utcája by Tamás Fejér
- Lord of the Flies by Peter Brook
- Optimisticheskaya tragediya by Samson Samsonov
- El Otro Cristóbal by Armand Gatti
- Ouranos by Takis Kanellopoulos
- Pour la suite du monde by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault
- Le Rat d’Amérique by Jean-Gabriel Albicocco
- Seppuku by Masaki Kobayashi
- This Sporting Life by Lindsay Anderson
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Robert Mulligan (US)
- Tyutyun by Nikola Korabov
- Los Venerables todos by Manuel Antín
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Robert Aldrich (US)
- Wu Ze Tian by Li Han Hsiang
Films out of competition
- 8½ by Federico Fellini
- The Birds by Hitchcock
Awards:
- Palme d’Or: Il Gattopardo by Luchino Visconti
- Jury Special Prize:
- Až přijde kocour by Vojtěch Jasný
- Seppuku by Masaki Kobayashi
- Best Actor: Richard Harris for This Sporting Life
- Best Actress: Marina Vlady for L’ape regina
- Best Screenplay: Dumitru Carabat, Henri Colpi and Yves Jamiaque for Codine
- Best Evocation of a World-Shattering Epic: Optimisticheskaya tragediya by Samson Samsonov
- Short Film Palme d’Or:
- Le Haricot by Edmond Séchan
- In wechselndem Gefälle by Alexander J. Seiler
- Jury Prize – Short Film: Moj Stan by Zvonimir Berković
- Special Mention – Short Film:
- Di Domenica by Luigi Bazzoni
- Te by István Szabó
- Gary Cooper Award: To Kill a Mockingbird by Robert Mulligan
- OCIC Award: I Fidanzati by Ermanno Olmi
