On Sunday May 26th "Blue is the Warmest Colour" won the Palme d' Or.
The top prize at the Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious awards in film and leads many filmmakers to be immortalized.
In recent years the award has propelled the winner to become an Oscar contender come awards season. The last two winners, "The Tree of Life" and "Amour," both went on to receive Best Picture and Best Director Academy Award nominations. Similarly, 2009's winner "The White Ribbon" and 2008's "The Class" both received Foreign Film nominations. 2002's winner "The Pianist" also went on to get nominated for the Best Picture Oscar; the film won three Academy Awards including Best Director and Actor.
This year's Palme d'Or winner is a French, Belgian and Spanish production that will most likely find it difficult to resonate with American audiences especially due to its subject matter. The film focuses on the relationship between young girls who fall in love.
The Academy is known for being conservative and that face alone may hurt the film's chances at an Oscar nomination. Ever since 2005, only three LGBT themed films (The Kids Are All Right, Capote, and Brokeback Mountain) have been nominated for Best Picture; all of them have failed to win the award. Additionally since 2005 no LGBT themed foreign film has won the foreign film award.
The film's Oscar chances can also be minimized because it must also to be submitted by one of its three countries as its official academy selection in order to be considered for the foreign film category. If it fails to be chosen by either country its chances will be minor. In the past few years various foreign films have been Oscar contenders, but failed to receive nominations because their countries did not stand beside them. Recent films include "Rust and Bone" and "Broken Embraces." Both leading actresses Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard were touted as Best actress contenders but eventually failed to receive recognition.
"Blue" must also be released this year if it is to be considered for Best Picture. However, the Weinstein Company has yet to schedule a released date.
On the up side, "Blue" has the Weinstein Company as its distributor. The company is synonymous with Oscar glory, as it has lead six films to Best Picture nominations and has won two Best Picture accolades. The company is fairly new with Foreign films but campaigned two international films a year ago and landed a spot in the foreign film nomination with "Kon-Tiki."
"Blue is the Warmest Color" still has a long way to go before the Academy Awards but if audiences and critics catch on, the newly crowned Palme d'Or winner has a shot at Oscar glory.
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