Brazilian Film “Bacurau” Wins Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival

By Arkady Petrov

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian film “Bacurau” won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, 25th, in a tie with the French drama “Les Misérables.”

It is the first time that Brazil wins in this category, the third most important of the French event’s official competition.

“We work for culture in Brazil and what we need is your support,” said director Kleber Mendonça Filho when receiving the award, as per the France Presse news agency.

He shared directorial duties on “Bacurau” with Juliano Dornelles, who was his art director for “Aquarius” in 2016.

“It’s a movie about the northeast, a film about Brazil. It’s a film about education, about history, and I’m pleased that this movie was born here, at the Cannes Film Festival, and now it’s beginning to spread around the globe world”, Kleber told Brazilian news outlet G1.

“We will take care of each other and respect the culture, education, science, and knowledge,” Dornelles adds.

The Palme d’Or was won this year by the Korean movie “Parasite”. In addition to that, there are the Grand Prix, the Jury Prize, and the direction, script, actor, and actress categories.

The Jury Prize has been awarded since 1946. In 2019, the festival jury is presided over by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu.

With Sônia Braga in the cast, director Kleber Mendonça Filho returns, after “Aquarius” in 2016, to compete for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in France.

The film portrays a small settlement in the backwoods that suffers from the death of Dona Carmelita, a very dear woman. Some days later, the villagers realize that the community is no longer on maps.

For the first time, Juliano Dornelles shares the authorship and direction of the feature film with Kleber Mendonça Filho.

It is a co-production of Brazil and France, filmed in “Sertão do Seridó,” on the border between the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba.

On Friday, 24th, another Brazilian film was awarded in Cannes: “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão” (A Vida Invisível de Euridice Gusmão), directed by Karim Aïnouz, was the winner of the Certain Regard award.

The production gave Brazil its first main prize in the event’s parallel competition.