Cannes Awards: Puberty Horror at Critics’ Week

The 62nd edition of Critics’ Week has announced its winners! Organized by the Syndicate of French Film Critics, the event takes place as part of the Cannes Film Festival and annually awards several prizes, including the prestigious Grand Prix.

This year the jury was chaired by Audrey Divan (Director of L’Evènement) and included Rui Pochas, Franz Rogowski, Meanaki Shede and Kim Yutan. They awarded the top prize to Amanda Nell Eu’s horror film Tiger Stripes. This is the first feature film of the 38-year-old Malaysian director, who has already made four short films in the past.

Tiger Stripes tells the story of the life of a small rural community in which 12-year-old Zafan is going through puberty. He then realizes that his body is changing at an alarming rate. Rejected by his friends, Zafan discovers his true nature and reveals his full power to everyone. The film already has a French distributor, but no release date yet.

Four more prizes were awarded:

• The French Touch prize was awarded to Paloma Sermon-Dai’s It Rains at Home, the story of two brothers left on their own and facing adversity.
• The Foundation’s Louis Roederer Prize for Revelation goes to Jovan Ginić for his role in Vladimir Perišić’s The Lost Country.
• The Gan Foundation Prize for Broadcast went to Pyramide Distribution (Inshallah un fils, for a future release) and the SACD Prize for Rapture went to Iris Kaltenbäck (forthcoming release).
• The Leitz Cine Discovery Prize (awarded to short films) went to Bolero Nance Laborde-Jourdaa, also a recipient of the Canal+ Prize.