Romanian director Cristian Mungiu celebrates his Palme d’Or triumph at the Cannes Film Festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday.VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images
Cristian Mungiu’s Norway-set drama about political polarization, Fjord, has won the Palme d’Or, the Cannes Film Festival’s top honour that on Saturday went for the second time to the Romanian director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
This year’s edition of the festival saw few films break out but Fjord found wide admiration for its engrossing tale of what Mungiu called “left-wing fundamentalism.”
The film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as Romanian Evangelicals who move to Norway, but soon after have their children taken from them by child services for spanking them.
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Mungiu becomes just the 10th filmmaker to win the Palme d’Or twice. His 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, a Romanian abortion drama, won the award in 2007.
The win also extended Neon’s unprecedented streak of Palme d’Or winners. The specialty label has been attached to the last seven Palme winners.