U.S. theatrical distributor Neon continued to make history at Cannes tonight with its seventh straight Palme d’Or win for Christian Mungiu’s Fjord.
Fjord marks Mungiu’s English-language debut. In it, the co-stars play a mixed Romanian and Norwegian couple who move to the fjord village where the wife was born with their children. Their planned new life does not go to plan when they come up against a couple with a very different outlook on life. The pic received a 12-minute standing ovation at its world premiere.
Mungiu is the tenth director to win two Palme D’Ors.
The film is Mungiu’s first film in three years after the 2022 drama R.M.N. Fjord is also his second Palme d’Or win following 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007. He also won Best Screenplay here for Beyond The Hills in 2012, and Best Director for Graduation in 2016.
Neon, began winning Palme d’Ors in 2019 for Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite which went on to win four Oscars including Best Picture. This was followed by Titane in 2021, then 2022’s Triangle of Sadness (3x Oscar nominee), Justine Triet’s 2023 title Anatomy of a Fall (which won one Oscar), 2024’s Anora (a 5x Oscar winner including Best Picture) and last year’s Jafar Panahi movie It Was Just an Accident.
Neon’s Grand Jury Prize winner at Cannes last year, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value rallied at the Oscar noms with nine this year, including Best Picture. The Elle Fanning, Reinsve, and Stellan Skarsgård movie took home the Oscar for Best International Film.
Neon has U.S., Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand rights to Fjord.
Now, onward, to the Oscars.
