Héctor Eduardo Babenco (February 7, 1946 – July 13, 2016) was an Argentine-Brazilian film director , screenwriter , producer and actor who worked in several countries including Brazil , Argentina , and the United States . He was one of the first Brazilian filmmakers to gain international critical acclaim, through his films which often dealt with social outcasts on the fringes of society. His best-known works include Pixote (1980), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Ironweed (1987), At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1990) and Carandiru (2003).
18-820: Babenco's films brought him several accolades. He was nominated three times for the Palme d'Or of the Cannes Film Festival , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for Kiss of the Spider Woman. He won the Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro twice, and the Prêmio ACIE de Cinema once. Babenco was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Mar del Plata . His mother, Janka Haberberg,
36-409: A bone marrow transplant to treat a lymphatic cancer , a diagnosis which he had since he was 38 years old. On July 12, 2016, Babenco was admitted to Hospital Sírio-Libanês to treat sinusitis . The following night, he suffered a cardiac arrest , and died shortly thereafter. Palme d%27Or The Palme d'Or ( French pronunciation: [palm(ə) dɔʁ] ; English: Golden Palm )
54-504: A Cannes policy that forbids the Palme d'Or -winning film from receiving any additional awards. This policy would have prevented the jury from acknowledging the actresses separately. Regarding the unorthodox decision, Spielberg commented, "Had the casting been 3% wrong, [the film] wouldn't have worked like it did for us". Subsequently, Kechiche auctioned off his Palme d'Or trophy to fund his new feature film. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter , he expressed dissatisfaction with
72-479: A Fall , respectively). However, in 2013, when Blue Is the Warmest Color won the Palme d'Or , the jury headed by Steven Spielberg awarded it to the film's actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux , as well as the director Abdellatif Kechiche . This remains the only instance where multiple Palme d'Or trophies were presented. The jury decided to include the actresses in the recognition due to
90-479: A cushion for the palm, which is hand-cast into a wax mould and now presented in a case of blue Morocco leather . In 1998, Theo Angelopoulos was the first director to win the Palme d'or as it appears today, for his film Eternity and a Day . The presentation of the 2014 Palme d'Or to Winter Sleep , a Turkish film by Nuri Bilge Ceylan , occurred during the 100th anniversary year of Turkish cinema. On receiving
108-689: Is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival . It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film . In 1964, the Palme d'Or was replaced again by the Grand Prix, before being reintroduced in 1975. The Palme d'Or
126-492: Is widely considered one of the film industry 's most prestigious awards. In 1954, the festival decided to present an award annually, titled the Grand Prix of the International Film Festival, with a new design each year from a contemporary artist. The festival's board of directors invited several jewellers to submit designs for a palm , in tribute to the coat of arms of the city of Cannes , evoking
144-531: The Palme and its pedestal in hand- cut crystal . In 1997, Caroline Scheufele redesigned the statuette; since then, it has been manufactured by the Swiss jewellery firm Chopard . The palm is made from 4.16 oz (118 g) of 18-carat yellow gold while the branch's base forms a small heart. The Palme d'or rests on a dainty crystal cushion shaped like an emerald-cut diamond. A single piece of cut crystal forms
162-627: The award, Ceylan dedicated it to the "young people" involved in Turkey's ongoing political unrest, and the workers killed in the Soma mine disaster , which occurred on the day before the commencement of the awards event. In 2017, the award was redesigned to celebrate the festival's 70th anniversary . The diamonds were provided by an ethical supplier certified by the Responsible Jewellery Council. The 2020 Cannes Film Festival
180-458: The famous legend of Saint Honorat and the palm trees lining the famous Promenade de la Croisette . The original design by Parisian jeweller Lucienne Lazon, inspired by a sketch by director Jean Cocteau , had the bevelled lower extremity of the stem forming a heart, and the pedestal a sculpture in terracotta by the artist Sébastien . In 1955, the first Palme d'Or was awarded to Delbert Mann for his film Marty . From 1964 to 1974,
198-446: The festival temporarily resumed a Grand Prix. In 1975, the Palme d'Or was reintroduced and has since remained the festival's symbol, awarded each year to the director of the winning film, presented in a case of pure red Morocco leather lined with white suede . As of 2023, Jane Campion , Julia Ducournau , and Justine Triet are the only female directors to have won the Palme d'Or (for The Piano , Titane , and Anatomy of
SECTION 10
#1732791586264216-462: The festival's decision to award multiple trophies, stating that he felt they had "publicly insulted" him. He added, "Liberating myself from this Palme d'Or is a way of washing my hands of this sorry affair". Since its reintroduction, the prize has been redesigned several times. At the beginning of the 1980s, the rounded shape of the pedestal, bearing the palm has gradually transformed to become pyramidal in 1984. In 1992, Thierry de Bourqueney redesigned
234-547: The film itself as well. Nine directors or director duos have won the award twice. Three of them ( ) have won for consecutive films. In 1997, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Festival, the Cannes jury awarded a "Palme des Palmes" for the first time. Since 2002 the festival began to award a non-competitive Honorary Palme d'Or to directors or actors who had achieved a notable body of work but who had never won
252-667: The suburbs of São Paulo. The film received numerous prizes, including nomination for Best Foreign Film at the 1982 Golden Globes Awards . For Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Babenco was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director , the first Latin American to be nominated in this category. He directed some of the most respected American actors of his time, including William Hurt , John Lithgow , Raul Julia , Jack Nicholson , Meryl Streep , Tom Berenger , Daryl Hannah , Aidan Quinn and Kathy Bates . In 2012 Babenco
270-404: The words of E. Ruby Rich while it concerns "a pair of boys who form a symbiotic sexual union", the film cannot "be held up as an example of how gay desire can be depicted, given its sensationalistic and sordid treatment of gay sex as accommodation, substitution, and punishment". The film featured impressive work of young actor Fernando Ramos da Silva , 10 years old at the time, who was discovered in
288-660: Was a Polish Jewish immigrant, and his father, Jaime Babenco, was an Argentine gaucho of Ukrainian Jewish origin. Babenco lived in Europe from 1964 to 1968. In 1969, he decided to stay in São Paulo , Brazil , permanently. His first solo feature film as a director was O Rei da Noite ( King of the Night ) (1975), starring Paulo José and Marília Pêra . Babenco had an international success with Pixote – A lei do mais fraco (1981). It concerns Brazil's abandoned children. In
306-406: Was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic . 56 films were announced as official selections by the festival, but no awards were presented. During the 2018 closing ceremony, the jury awarded a "Special Palme d'Or" for the first time ever. Even though the award was not intended to be an Honorary Palme d'Or to Jean-Luc Godard , the move was made as an homage to his career, and as an award to
324-494: Was part of the jury in the 34th Moscow International Film Festival. His last film was My Hindu Friend (2016), which stars Willem Dafoe . It recounts the story of a film director close to death. In 2010, Barbenco married actress Bárbara Paz . He was previously married to Xuxa Lopes and Raquel Arnaud. He was the father of two daughters, Janka Babenco and Myra Arnaud Babenco, from his previous marriages, and also had two grandchildren. In 1994, Babenco fell ill and had to undergo
#263736