Michael Moore's 'Farenheit 9/11' wins Palme D'or at Cannes

shotamoose

Farenheit 9/11 wins top prize at Cannes

Obviously most of us haven't seen any of the films, but I'm a little surprised. If 'Farenheit 9/11' is about the same standard 'Bowling for Columbine', then I don't think it deserves top prize. There was apparently a lot of very interesting Asian films in competition - I'd like to have seen one of those win, rather a prize given to fuel Mike Moore's ego.

Then again maybe I'm being completely unfair and F9/11 really is brilliant!

Pigman II

Perhaps the fact that they're in France had something to do with it

lodgepole

Originally posted by Pigman II
Perhaps the fact that they're in France had something to do with it

No it wouldn't. Cannes is an international film festival, France's politics has no influence on what gets awarded and what doesn't.

Pigman II

Originally posted by Lodgepole
No it wouldn't. Cannes is an international film festival, France's politics has no influence on what gets awarded and what doesn't.

Gee, lighten up there buddy.

I'm sure F-9/11 won because it was a good film. I say this because by and large the Palme D'or an award that I have respect for. After all, some previous Palme D'or winners have been Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Pulp Fiction and Dancer in the Dark.

The value of the award is made doubly significant when you consider that those aforementioned 4 lost out at the academy awards to pap like Network, Kramer-v-Kramer, Forrest Gump and Gladiator. Says it all really.

IDM

Originally posted by shotamoose
There was apparently a lot of very interesting Asian films in competition.

Yeah, I have a feeling that Wong Kar-Wai's new film 2046 is going to be amazing. All the best Chinese actresses & Tony Leung are in it. He supposedly took four years to make it !

He's been recognized at Cannes before, though. And if F9/11 winning the Palme d'Or is going to help get it released quickly then I'm all for it. Anything to help get rid of Bush ...

shotamoose

Originally posted by IDM
Yeah, I have a feeling that Wong Kar-Wai's new film 2046 is going to be amazing. All the best Chinese actresses & Tony Leung are in it. He supposedly took four years to make it !

It's got Tony Leung in it, and that's enough for me.

vorbis

does look a suspicious award to me. could be political. Moore's films are generally well put together but they wouldn't be brilliant. I'd be worried if that was the best film there.

herobear

apparently 911 is not supposed to be as good as 'bowling for columbine' but for a film that received a 15-25 minute standing ovation, im not surprised it won, and im kinda happy in the sense that it'll screw disney's plans for it.
from what was in competition, i would of loved 2046 to win, yes tony leung is a fantastic actor(gotta love him in the infernal affairs trilogy)...so that was dissapointing.
although tarantino did award pratically all of the other awards to asian films, which was expected but still great to see

vorbis

I'm wondering was i alone in thinking boc was only above average. Moore makes entertaining films but they tend to peter out. Roger and I was about his best one i think. bowling for me seemed to drift aimlessly at times. was the issue gun ownership, fear spread by media or some underlying racial tendencies? I thought that documentary began to unravel a bit towards the end. very surprised he won the palme d'or though.

seamus

I suppose we have to wait and see the thing before we can pass judgement.

That's a bit like hearing the latest John Woo film won, and complaining about big-budget unrealistic effects and plastic actors before anybody has even seen the film.

Films don't necessarily have to be well-shot or well acted to be good. It may have won because of the message it gave out or because of some "above-and-beyond" dedication in it. We can't know until we see it.

Bowling for Columbine wasn't exactly a prestigious piece, but it did get the message across in a different way. Fox news, etc and the Bush administration use simple, easy terms, and appeal to the lowest common denominator, in order to get their message across. And it's effective. Those in opposition try to use intelligent, reasoned film-making, and the rednecks in hick country get bored after 5 minutes and miss the message.

Moore changed the mould in that, and countered the arguments on their playing field - with McMedia style documentaries, clever editing, and tug-at-the-heart-strings personal tragedy stories. That's why it was so highly acclaimed. It's effective.

Raoul Duke

Well I seem to remember Cannes giving the top award before to the film that wasn't the best but because of political motives.

Watched Oldboy, which won the Jury award over the weekend. Was pretty good. It probably deserved it's award.

2046 by Wong Kar-Wai apparently got a few bad reviews over the festival so it may not be his best....:dunno:

j0e9o

is there anybody that has seen the film yet? if so how cause i would really like to see it b4 i pass judgement, its one thing i have learned from kill bill dont believe critics or hyp

conZ

After winning the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, Micheal Moore's film'Fahrenheit 911 will be in US cinemas this summer.

The founders of Miramax studios bought the screen rights of the documentary from Walt Disney Studios when Disney tried to postpone the the release of the film until after the presidential elections.

Although Fahrenheit 911 was financed by Miramax, Walt Disney Studios owned the film. Disney halted the distribution of the film because of the film's criticism of US president George W Bush in the Iraq war.

At the end of a three-week negotiation period, the Weinstein Brothers, Miramax Film Studio founders, bought the rights to the film for $6m (€4.9m), leaving no legal obstruction to releasing the film.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/entertainment/story.asp?j=45363118&p=453634zx&n=45363498


Hmmm, I wonder will it be edited before it's release?

pan

So when can we see it in ireland...

Mighty_Mouse

Quentin Tarantino was the head judge which probably swung it for Moore.

herobear

Originally posted by Mighty_Mouse
Quentin Tarantino was the head judge which probably swung it for Moore.

are you kidding me ? -_-

tarantino would of been accused of 'picking favourites' if he had gone with 2046 as most people thought he would, as everybody knows he an asian film fanatic....he in fact gave most of the other awards to asian films which proves that point.

cant we just accept that fahrenheit 911 was the best film IN competition.....it even got a 15-25 minute standing ovation at the end ffs.
i hate all the negative publicity this film/cannes film festival/tarantino is getting over total BS.

Raoul Duke

Originally posted by herobear
cant we just accept that fahrenheit 911 was the best film IN competition.....it even got a 15-25 minute standing ovation at the end ffs.

Mmmmmmmm no. How can anyone accept something like that. Nobody here has seen it and it would be like saying to accept that the oscar winning film is the best film of the year which is just rubbish.

conZ

June US release date for Moore's film

http://www.rte.ie/arts/2004/0602/moorem.html

Michael Moore's controversial and award-winning documentary 'Fahrenheit 9/11' has found a US distributor and is now scheduled to arrive in American cinemas on 25 June.

The Fellowship Adventure Group - the company set up by Harvey and Bob Weinstein to handle 'Fahrenheit 9/11' - will join with Lions Gate Films and IFC Films to distribute the film.

In a statement, Moore said: "I am grateful to them now that everyone who wants to see it will now have the chance to do so - thanks to the record number of screens on which they plan to open it."

"We thank this incredible coalition of the willing for bringing Fahrenheit 9/11 to the people."

"This is a true coalition," said Harvey and Bob Weinstein. "The passion that Lions Gate, IFC Films and Showtime have demonstrated reflects our desire to enable Michael Moore's extraordinary work to be viewed by as many filmgoers as possible as soon as possible."

goo

It's just hard to imagine this being far different from his previous work, and if it isn't, unless he's refined it to perfection, it's not worth unless there was nothing particularly good entered this year, which I know to be incorrect.

Personallly, I used to love Moore, but he was a tit in a lot of Bowling for Columbine and I'd imagine, when tackling this subject, he'll be practically unbearable.

radiospan

The trailer for Fahrenheit 9/11 is up now at http://www.fahrenheit911.com