White House scourge Moore lifts top Cannes prize

Published on Sunday 23 May 2004 01:00

CONTROVERSIAL US filmmaker Michael Moore last night won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his documentary Fahrenheit 911, a scathing portrayal of White House actions before and after the September 11 attacks.

The film is the first documentary to win the prestigious Palme d’Or since Jacques Cousteau’s The Silent World in 1956.

Fahrenheit 911 has been at the centre of a growing storm, including the decision by Disney, the parent company of Miramax, which said it did not want to distribute the film in an election year.

Moore, who received a standing ovation from the audience as the prize was announced yesterday, said: "What have you done? I’m completely overwhelmed by this."

Referring to the furore that broke out when he criticised President George Bush during an Oscar acceptance speech for his anti-gun documentary Bowling for Columbine, he added: "The last time I was on an award stage in Hollywood, all hell broke loose."

With Moore’s customary blend of humour and horror, Fahrenheit 911 accuses the Bush camp of stealing the 2000 election, overlooking terrorism warnings before September 11, and fanning fears of more attacks to secure Americans’ support for the Iraq war.

Fahrenheit 911 contains stark images of civilian casualties and disillusioned soldiers from the Iraq war zone that have rarely, if ever, been shown on American television. The film focuses on longstanding ties between the Bush family, its associates and prominent Saudis and on whether those ties clouded Bush’s judgment.

Yesterday’s awards saw the title of best actress go to Maggie Cheung for her role in Clean as a junkie trying to straighten out her life and regain custody of her young son after her rock star boyfriend dies of a drug overdose.

Fourteen-year-old Yagira Yuuya was named best actor for the Japanese film Nobody Knows, in which he plays the eldest of four siblings raised in isolation, who must take charge of the family when their mother leaves.

The directing and writing prizes went to French filmmakers. Tony Gatlif won the directing honour for Exiles, his road trip movie about a couple on a sensual journey from France to Algeria.

Agnes Jaoui and her romantic partner Jean-Pierre Bacri won the screenplay award for Look At Me, their study in self-image centring on an overweight young woman who feels neglected by loved ones. Jaoui and Bacri also co-star.

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Tropical Malady - widely regarded by Cannes audiences as a "snoozer" for its elongated scenes of a man wandering in a jungle alone, with no dialogue - won the festival’s third-place jury prize.

Meanwhile, Nine Songs, the explicit British film by director Michael Winterbottom, which has already attracted controversy for featuring several scenes of real sex, went unrewarded by the Cannes jury.