Documentary fans might be forgiven for nurturing a dream – that Cannes would follow the recent example of Venice and Berlin and award its top prize to a nonfiction film.
Complete the documentary Triple Crown – the Golden Lion, the Golden Bear and the Palme d’or. Alas, it wasn’t to be. On Saturday night, Cannes gave the gilded frond to a narrative-fiction film, as it generally does, Anatomy of a Fall.
But perhaps the important thing is, the jury could have made the trifecta happen. Two documentaries appeared in main competition – Wang Bing’s Jeunesse (Youth) and Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa) – ending a nearly 20-year span in which no nonfiction film had been accorded the prestige of a competition slot (the last time it happened, in 2004, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 went on to win the Palme d’or).
As they say about the lottery, you can’t win if you don’t play. In terms of nonfiction, no spot in competition, no Palme Doc.
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