Wagner Moura Officially Takes Possession of Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor Award for “The Secret Agent”

Wagner Moura has officially claimed his Cannes Film Festival acting prize…

The 49-year-old Brazilian actor took physical receipt of his Cannes Best Actor Award six weeks after he won the coveted prize for his performance in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Palme d’Or contender The Secret Agent.

Wagner Moura,French actress Juliette Binoche, who was Jury President at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in May, surprised Moura on stage at the Cinéma Paradiso Louvre Festival in Paris on Saturday.

Moura and Mendonça Filho were in attendance for a sold-out, open-air screening of the thriller The Secret Agent, which also won Best Director in Cannes.

The actor was unable to attend the Cannes Awards ceremony in May because he had left the festival to return to the set of Louis Leterrier’s sci-fi horror 11817 in London.

”One of the things for me about this award, was the fact that you were the President of this jury. I can’t tell you how much I admire you and to receive this from your hands and all the amazing artists that were part of the jury,” Moura said to Binoche on receiving the award.

Binoche responded: “As the jury we just loved the film and loved you in the film so we definitely had to give you two prizes.

Moura dedicated his award to Brazilian Culture and all that champion and uplift it, and also sang a cappella excerpt from “Isto aqui o que é?, by João Gilberto.

Neon is gearing up to release The Secret Agent theatrically this fall in the U.S. where an awards campaign is planned.

The film is co-produced and distributed internationally by mk2, and produced by Emilie Lesclaux.

Aside from winning Best Director and Actor, The Secret Agent also clinched the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize for Best Film in the main competition and the Prix des Cinémas et Essai.

Organized by mk2, the Cinéma Paradiso Louvre Festival unfolds in a temporary open-air cinema in the Cour Carrée courtyard of the Louvre Palace, with the sand-covered setting taking inspiration from the Cannes Film Festival’s beach-set Cinéma de la Plage sidebar.

Garcia Bernal Picks Up FIPRESCI Prize at the Palm Springs International Film Festival

Gael Garcia Bernal is a diamond in the desert…

The 38-year-old Mexican actor picked up the FIPRESCI Prize for best actor at the 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival for his performance in Pablo Larrain’s Neruda.

Gael Garcia Bernal

Garcia Bernal portrays Oscar Peluchonneau, the fascist Chief of the Policía de Investigaciones, in the film about poet and Communist Senator Pablo Neruda.

Neruda, which was selected as the Chilean entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, also picked up the fest’s Cine Latino Award.

The John Schlesinger Award, presented to a director of a first or second feature documentary, was awarded to Cristina Herrera Borquez for No Dress Code Required, which looks at a same-sex couple as they fight for the right to marry in their hometown of Mexicali, Baja California.

The fest, which ran through January 16, announced its juried award winners at a luncheon Saturday at the Hilton Palm Springs.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Toni Erdmann (Germany), directed by Maren Ade

FIPRESCI Prize for the Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film
Gael García Bernal in Neruda (Chile)

FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film
Isabelle Huppert in Elle(France)

New Voices/New Visions Award
Winner: White Sun (Nepal/U.S./Qatar/Netherlands), directed by Deepak Runiyar
Special Mentions: Kati Kati (Kenya/Germany), directed by Mbithi Masya and Mellow Mud (Latvia), directed by Renārs Vimba

The John Schlesinger Award
Winner: No Dress Code Required (Mexico), directed by Cristina Herrera Bórquez
Special Mention: Beauties of the Night (Mexico), directed by Maria José Cuevas 

Cine Latino Award
Winner: Neruda (Chile), directed by Pablo Larraín
Special Mention: Everything Else (Mexico), directed by Natalia Alamda

HP Bridging the Borders Award
Winner: Mercenary (France), directed by Sacha Wolff