Spike Lee’s ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Wins Cannes Film Festival Award

Spike Lee won the Grand Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival (Credit: YouTube)

BlacKkKlansman, about an African-American police officer who infiltrates a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, picked up one of the top awards Saturday at the 71st Cannes Film Festival.

The Spike Lee film was awarded the Grand Prize, while Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s family drama Shoplifters won the Palme d’Or – the festival’s most prestigious honor.

The jury that chose the winners was led by actress Cate Blanchett and included actress Kristen Stewart, along with directors Ava DuVernay and Denis Villeneuve.

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BlacKkKlansman premiered at the festival on Monday, May 14, and received a standing ovation.

The film is set to arrive in U.S. theaters on August 10, to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that left a counter-protester dead.

Below is the list of this year’s Cannes Film Festival winners

Palme d’Or
Shoplifters, director Hirokazu Kore-eda

Grand Prix
Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman

Jury Prize
Nadine Labaki, Capernaum

Special Palme d’Or
Jean-Luc Godard, Image Book

Best Actor
Marcello Fonte, Dogman

Best Director
Pawel Pawlikowski, Cold War

Best Screenplay (Tie)
Alice Rohrwacher, Happy As Lazzaro
Nader Saeivar, 3 Faces

Best Actress
Samal Yeslyamova, My Little One

Caméra d’Or
Girl, director Lukas Dhont

Short Film Palme d’Or
All These Creatures, director Charles Williams

Short Film Palme d’Or Special Mention
On the Border, director Wei Shujun

Ecumenical Jury Prize
Capernaum, Nadine Labaki

Ecumenical Jury Special Mention
BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee

Queer Palm
Girl, Lukas Dhont