The 2025 Cannes Film Festival came to an end yesterday with an awards ceremony, where one African project received a special mention but otherwise featuring zero awards for the continent’s filmmakers.
The Camera d’Or, an award specifically for first-time feature filmmakers named My Father’s Shadow, a drama directed by Nigerian-British director Akinola Davies Jnr, the recipient of a special mention. The actual award went to The President’s Cake, a film from Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi.
The award’s reflected a theme that had persisted throughout the festival: My Father’s Shadow garnered the most attention of all of the African projects at this year’s event. While its special mention is itself remarkable, that recognition is a lower rung on the ladder of African Cannes success compared to last year’s Un Certain Regard Best Director award for Zambian-Welsh filmmaker Rungano Nyoni for her film On Becoming A Guinea Fowl. Both Nyoni’s film and Davies Jnr’s film screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.
The festival’s big one, the Palme d’Or, went to Jafar Panahi, who has now become the fourth director to win the big prizes at the Big 3 festivals in the world: Cannes, Berlin, and Venice. The second most prestigious award, the Grand Prix, went to Joachim Trier for the well-reviewed Sentimental Value. Brazil’s Kleber Mendonca Filho was named Best Director, his lead actor Wanger Moura also named winner of the Best Performance by an Actor award.
The full list of winners is produced below.
Palme d’or
UN SIMPLE ACCIDENT
Jafar PANAHI
Grand Prix
AFFEKSJONSVERDI
(SENTIMENTAL VALUE)
Joachim TRIER
Joint Jury Prize
SIRÂT
Oliver LAXE
SOUND OF FALLING
Mascha SCHILINSKI
Best Director
Kleber MENDONÇA FILHO for O AGENTE SECRETO (THE SECRET AGENT)
Best Screenplay
Jean-Pierre DARDENNE & Luc DARDENNE for JEUNES MÈRES
Best performance by an actress
Nadia MELLITI in LA PETITE DERNIÈRE directed by Hafsia HERZI
Best performance by an actor
Wagner MOURA in O AGENTE SECRETO (THE SECRET AGENT) directed by Kleber MENDONÇA FILHO
Special Award
KUANG YE SHI DAI (RESURRECTION)
Bi GAN
Short Films
Palme d’or
I’M GLAD YOU’RE DEAD NOW
Tawfeek BARHOM
Special Mention
ALI
Adnan AL RAJEEV
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Prize
LA MISTERIOSA MIRADA DEL FLAMENCO (THE MYSTERIOUS GAZE OF THE FLAMINGO)
Diego CÉSPEDES
Jury Prize
UN POETA (A POET)
Simón MESA SOTO
Best Directing
Arab & Tarzan NASSER
for Once Upon a Time in Gaza
Best Actor
Frank DILLANE
in Urchin
Best Actress
Cleo DIÁRA
in O Riso e a Faca (I Only Rest in the Storm)
Best Screenplay
PILLION
Harry LIGHTON
Caméra d’or
Caméra d’or Prize
THE PRESIDENT’S CAKE
Hasan HADI
Special Mention
MY FATHER’S SHADOW
Akinola DAVIES JR
