The China Mail - Dissident Iranian filmmaker Panahi wins top prize at Cannes

The highly political but wry film tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronted with a man they believed tortured them in jail.

Panahi, who has been imprisoned twice in his home country and banned from making films, used his acceptance speech to urge Iranians to work towards freedom.

"I believe this is the moment to call on all people, all Iranians, with all their differing opinions, wherever they are in the world -- in Iran or abroad -- to allow me to ask for one thing," Panahi said, according to a translation.

"Let's set aside all problems, all differences. What matters most right now is our country and the freedom of our country."

Brazil's Wagner Moura won the best actor award for his performance in police thriller "The Secret Agent", while France's Nadia Melliti clinched the gong for best actress.

Melliti, appearing in her first film, plays a 17-year-old Muslim girl in Paris struggling with her homosexuality in Hafsia Herzi's widely acclaimed "The Little Sister".

"Sentimental Value" by Norway's Joachim Trier, a moving family drama given a 19-minute standing ovation on Thursday, picked up the second prize Grand Prix.

The victory for Panahi is a huge endorsement for a director who has become a symbol of defiance in his country, where his films are routinely banned.

He has vowed to return to Tehran after the festival despite the risks of prosecution.

- Sabotage -

Saturday's closing ceremony was the final act of a drama-filled day in Cannes that saw the glitzy seaside resort suffer a more than five-hour power cut.

The outage knocked out traffic lights and had visitors and locals scrambling for paper money because cash machines were out-of-order and restaurants were left unable to process card payments.

Local officials said a suspected arson attack on the substation about 12 kilometres (seven miles) northwest of central Cannes had caused a major fire at around 2:00 am (0000 GMT).

Along the coast in the opposite direction, a pylon which carries a high-voltage line was discovered with three of its four legs damaged, the local prosecutor's office announced.

German director Mascha Schilinski joked that she had "had difficulty writing her speech" because of the black-out as she accepted the jury prize for widely hailed "Sound of Falling".

- Politics -

Beyond the official competition, the French Riviera has been buzzing with A-listers this year including Tom Cruise, pop sensation Charli XCX and model Bella Hadid.

Beyond the champagne-filled beach parties, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as well as US President Donald Trump have been major talking-points.

US filmmaker Todd Haynes warned of the "barbaric US presidency", while Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal admitted it was "scary" to speak out against President Donald Trump.

The Gaza war has been on the minds of some of the festival's guests, with more than 900 cinema figures signing an open letter denouncing "genocide" in the Palestinian territory, according to organisers.

Cannes jury head Juliette Binoche, "Schindler's List" star Ralph Fiennes, US indie director Jim Jarmusch and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- in town to present a documentary he stars in -- were among the signatories.

But UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said the festival felt like a "bubble of indifference" when she visited it Friday.

- Awards -

Other secondary awards were announced before Saturday's closing ceremony.

The first Chechen film to screen at the Cannes Festival -- "Imago" -- won best documentary, while the film about the life of Assange -- "The Six Billion Dollar Man" -- picked up a special jury prize on Friday.

In the secondary Un Certain Regard section, Chilean filmmaker Diego Cespedes won the top prize for "The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo", which follows a group of trans women living in a desert mining town in the 1980s.

On a lighter note, a sheepdog which features in Icelandic family drama "The Love That Remains" won the Palm Dog prize for canine performers in festival films.

Icelandic director Hlynur Palmason cast his own pet, Panda, in his poignant story about a couple navigating a separation.

E.Choi--ThChM