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Serge Avedikian Wins Golden Palm at Cannes for Best Short Film
Posted on May 24, 2010...

Click to Enlarge!French-Armenian filmmaker Serge Avedikian won the Best Short Film prize at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival on May 23.

Titled Chiennes D'Histiore (English title, "Barking Island") the film depicts the Turkish city of Constantinople in 1910 with the streets overrun with stray dogs.

The newly established government, influenced by a model of western society, uses European experts to choose a method of eradication before deciding, suddenly and alone, to massively deport the dogs to a deserted island away from the city.

But the Cannes Film Festival gave its top prize, the Palme d'Or, to the mystical Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.

Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the winning film is about a dying man who is visited by his late wife and his missing son, who has become an ape.

The awards were chosen by a jury headed by U.S. director Tim Burton and are listed below.

Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)

Grand Prize: Of Gods and Men by Xavier Beauvois (France)

Jury Prize: A Screaming Man by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad)

Best Director: Mathieu Amalric for On Tour (France)

Best Actor: Javier Bardem in Biutiful (Mexico) and Elio Germano in La Nostra Vita (Italy)

Best Actress: Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy (Iran)

Best Screenplay: Lee Chang-Dong, Poetry (Korea)

Camera d'Or (first-time director): Ano Bisiesto by Michael Rowe (Mexico)

Best Short Film: Chiennes d'Histoire by Serge Avedikian (France)