It was with hurricane-like winds rocking the outside of the Palais, that the winners were announced for the 61st edition, and surprisingly, the winners weren’t as political as what one my have thought. Sean Penn’s jury had to wait until the end of the festival to find its winner for The Palme d'Or and it was director Laurent Cantet (Heading South) who took the top honors with a portrait of a “school” year in the life of a classroom of young teens and a prof still not at wits end.
This year, director Juan Antonio Bayona and screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez are Spain's most talked about filmmakers. Their feature film debut, The Orphanage, has became in less than three months, the highest grossing movie in the history of Spanish cinema, let alone in the history of Spaniard horror film movies, which was almost nonexistent until a Alejandro Amenábar started the trend with thesis film almost a decade ago.
The final tally and full list of films presented at this year's TIFF have been announced today and hardcore cinephiles will have many options available to them out of the 261 film selected.