Malia Obama, Michael Douglas, Natalie Portman honored at French film festival

At the recent French Deauville Festival, Malia Obama presented her work to an artistic crowd. It was the 50th edition of the acclaimed festival that celebrates American cinema in Europe. Read more about the setting, its controversies, and Malia Obama's award for her film!

First of all, the 2024 festival was a lot more, well, festive, because everyone who wanted to go actually attended. In 2023, the event did not draw big crowds due to the strike in Hollywood.

Another plus for the festival was that American legend Michael Douglas attended as a guest of honor. He received a second lifetime achievement award in France. The first was his Honorary Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.

As the world-famous actor, 79, declared to the press: "Everyone says that the Deauville Festival is special, but few people can affirm like me that it changed their lives."

Other big names in American cinema to receive honorary awards were Michelle Williams, Natalie Portman, and director James Gray.

Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams each received a Deauville Talent Award, recognizing their long careers in successful and daring movies.

Remarkably, Malia Ann Obama, Barack Obama's eldest daughter received the 'New Generation Award' at the Deauville Festival. It was an award created especially for the occasion.

The 26-year-old filmmaker won the award for her short film 'The Heart'.

The announcement of all these prestigious names from Hollywood was likely an attempt to distract fans and critics from a number of controversies surrounding the festival.

The director of the festival, Bruno Barde, was accused of inappropriate behavior and harassment on the work floor in 2023 and had to withdraw. Furthermore, one of the festival's judges was also an alleged abuser and the proposed president of the jury had been involved in an embarrassing physical altercation.

The new director of the festival, Aude Hesbert, was therefore set on making this 50th edition of the Deauville Festival a great success. The emphasis was on "looking towards the future", as she announced to AFP.

The New Hollywood ('Nouvel Hollywood') Award went to Sebastian Stan, who plays Donald Trump in the film 'The Apprentice'.

He joined Daisy Ridley who received the same honor. She just released the movies 'Magpie' and 'Young Woman and the Sea' - both as an actress and a producer.

While 8 of the 12 films in the 'Grand Prize' competition were made by debuting directors, there were also established filmmakers in the race. An interesting example was 'Megalopolis' by Francis Ford Coppola.

Coppola's project, featuring Shia Labeouf and Adam Driver, among others, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival but did not get an award on either of the French galas. A film with mixed reviews, it will be in theaters in the US on September 27.

The winner of the Grand Prize at the Deauville Festival was 'In the Summers' directed by Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio. She's a Colombian-American director with three movies to her name. Her 2024 film had also already won the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival. 'In the Summer' premiered in US theaters on September 20.

Image: Music Box Films

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