A Thai Win At Cannes

British Film Director Mike Leigh has been pipped to the post in the running for the coveted Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival.
His film Another Year, was favourite to win at the French event.
In a Cannes Film Festival shocker the top prize went to the Thai entry interesting titled Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the mystical film is about a dying man who is visited by his late wife and his missing son, who has become an ape.
The jury was headed by US Director Tim Burton who selected the Thai film from 19 entries.
The role of Uncle Boonmee is played by Thanapat Saisaymar, a roof welder from north-east Thailand whose previous acting experience was limited to TV commercials.
Exploring themes of reincarnation and animism, Weerasethakul employs a dreamlike style showing both human and animal spiritual beings. Boonmee experiences these visions after suffering kidney failure.
Accepting his award, Weerasethakul commented: "I would like to thank all the spirits and all the ghosts in Thailand who made it possible for me to be here."
At the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Apichatpong won the third-place jury prize with his film Tropical Malady. The film claimed praise from critics at Cannes, however his latest film was considered a dark horse in the race for the Palme d'Or.
Another Year, starring Jim Broadbent and Lesley Manville, was memorable for the critics but Leigh unexpectedly went home empty-handed.
French Director Xavier Beauvois' drama Of Gods and Men, took the grand prize, putting it in second place. It tells the true story of seven French monks who were killed in Algeria in 1996.
Juliette Binoche won Best Actress for her role in romantic drama Copie Conforme, directed by Iran's Abbas Kiarostami.
Spain's Javier Bardem was joint winner of the Best Actor playing a corrupt policeman who is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Bardem shared the prize with Italian Actor Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita.
The prize for Best Director went to Mathieu Amalric for his story of the struggling manager of a burlesque dance troupe, Tournee.
Poetry, directed by South Korean Director Lee Chang-Dong took best screenplay.
(BMcN/GK)