Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival)
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The Best Director Award (french: Prix de la mise en scène) is an award presented annually at the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...
since 1946. It is given for the best achievement in directing and is chosen by the International Jury from the films in the Competition slate at the festival. At the  1st Cannes Film Festival held in 1946, 
René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. Life and career Clément studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed hi ...
 was the first winner of this award for his work on '' The Battle of the Rails'', and  Park Chan-wook is the most recent winner in this category for his work on '' Decision to Leave'' at the
75th Cannes Film Festival The 75th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival scheduled to take place from 17 to 28 May 2022. The festival will see a tribute to actor Tom Cruise, whose film '' Top Gun: Maverick'' is due to premiere at the festival. The of ...
in 2022.


History

The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 12 occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1960, 1962–64, 1971, 1973–74, 1977, and 1980). The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France. Also, the jury vote was tied, and the prize was shared by two directors on seven occasions (1955, 1969, 1975, 1983, 2001–02, and 2016). Joel Coen of the
Coen brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...
has received the most awards in this category, with three. One directing team has shared the award: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for ''
Young Ahmed ''Young Ahmed'' (french: Le Jeune Ahmed) is a 2019 Belgian drama film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The film revolves around a young Muslim boy from Belgium who plots to murder his teacher in the name of his religion. It was selected ...
'' (2019). Yuliya Solntseva was the first woman to have won the award, for 1961's ''
Chronicle of Flaming Years ''Chronicle of Flaming Years'' (russian: Повесть пламенных лет, translit. Povest plamennykh let) is a 1961 Soviet drama film directed by Yuliya Solntseva. Solntseva won the award for Best Director at the 1961 Cannes Film ...
''. The winner of the Best Director Award rarely wins the
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
, the main prize given at the festival, which is also awarded to the director of the winning film. This happened only twice: Joel Coen won both awards for ''
Barton Fink ''Barton Fink'' is a 1991 American period black comedy psychological thriller film written, produced, edited and directed by the Coen brothers. Set in 1941, it stars John Turturro in the title role as a young New York City playwright who is hir ...
'' in 1991; and
Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultu ...
won for ''
Elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...
'' in 2003.CANNES FILM FESTIVAL; Van Sant's 'Elephant' Receives Palme d'Or - New York Times
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Winners


Multiple winners

The following individuals received two or more Best Director awards:


See also

* Silver Bear for Best Director *
Silver Lion The Silver Lion ( it, Leone d'argento, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film at official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998. The pri ...


References


External links

*
Cannes Film Festival
at the
Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Top 25 Movies That Won Best Director At Cannes - Taste of Cinema
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannes Film Festival Award For Best Director Award for Best Director Awards for best director Cannes, Best Director