'Fjord' by Romania's Cristian Mungiu wins Cannes' top prize

Jury president, S Korean director Park Chan-wook, praised the film for helping shed light on understanding different views "in an artistically magnificent manner"

Nadine Labaki, Tilda Swinton, Isabelle Huppert, Renate Reinsve, Sebastian Stan, Director Cristian Mungiu, Palme d'Or award winner for the film "Fjord", Director Andrey Zvyagintsev, Grand Prix award winner for the film "Minotaur" (Minotaure), Director Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo, Camera d'Or award winner for the film "Ben'imana", Director Federico Luis, Short film Palme d'Or award winner for the short film "Aux adversaires" (Para los contrincantes, For the Opponents), Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, co-winners of the Best Actor award winner for their roles in the film "Coward", Director Valeska Grisebach, Jury Prize award winner for the film "Das Getraumte Abenteuer" (The Dreamed Adventure - L'Aventure revee), pose on stage during the closing ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 23, 2026. REUTERS

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or top prize for the second time on Saturday with his Norwegian-set drama that explores clashing cultures, "Fjord."

This year's jury president, South Korean director Park Chan-wook, praised the film for helping shed light on understanding different views "in an artistically magnificent manner."

Celebrities including Geena Davis, who was featured on this year's festival poster in a shot from 1991's "Thelma & Louise," as well as Tilda Swinton and Gael García Bernal appeared on stage to introduce the prizes in a ceremony that was largely free of politics and full of praise for cinema.

'FJORD' TACKLES CONSERVATIVE-PROGRESSIVE DIVIDE

Winning an award at Cannes typically transforms careers and serves as a launch pad for the Oscars, with Palme d'Or winners often carrying strong awards season momentum.

"Fjord" stars Sebastian Stan, who made his name in the Captain America trilogy, as a Romanian IT specialist who decides to move his family of seven to the Norwegian village where his wife, played by "Sentimental Value" standout Renate Reinsve, was born.

Cultural differences on child-rearing take an extreme turn when child-protection services become involved, and the divisions reflect a bigger battle between conservative and progressive values.

Mungiu, who joins the small club of directors with two Palme d'Or prizes after winning in 2007 with "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," said his film was a plea for tolerance, inclusion and empathy.

"You need to double-check your beliefs every now and then and make sure that if somebody doesn't share the same views as you do, it doesn't mean that he's right or that you're right," he told Reuters after the ceremony.

Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who has lived in exile in France since a life-threatening case of COVID-19 during the pandemic, used his speech while accepting the second-place Grand Prix for "Minotaur" to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

"I simply couldn't not say it," he told Reuters, referring to the prominence of Cannes as a platform.

SHARED PRIZES

The female leads of Ryusuke Hamaguchi's touching elder-care drama "All of a Sudden," France's Virginie Efira and Japan's Tao Okamoto, wiped away tears as they took to the stage to share the best actress award.

Valentin Campagne and newcomer Emmanuel Macchia also jointly received the best actor prize for their roles as World War One soldiers who fall in love in Belgian entry "Coward."

"I truly hope that this film will enable young people to be able to learn to love themselves," said Macchia, who was scouted by director Lukas Dhont at a Belgian agricultural school.

The best director prize was shared between Poland's Pawel Pawlikowski for his Thomas Mann drama "Fatherland" and the Spanish duo known as "Los Javis," Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, for the Spanish Civil War epic "The Black Ball."

The jury prize went to "The Dreamed Adventure," a drama about an archaeological dig in Bulgaria, by German film director Valeska Grisebach.

HONORARY AWARD FOR BARBRA STREISAND

Famed US singer and actor Barbra Streisand was given an honorary Palme d'Or in absentia, after she could not attend the ceremony due to a knee injury, with French screen icon Isabelle Huppert accepting the award on Streisand's behalf.

Streisand, the 84-year-old star of movies including "Yentl" and "Funny Girl," praised cinema's ability to unite people, in a video message accepting the award.

The 79th iteration of the festival officially kicked off on May 12 with the French romantic comedy "The Electric Kiss."