Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche belatedly handed out the festival’s best actor award to Brazilian actor Wagner Moura on Saturday in Paris for his role as a father who disguises his identity in an attempt to evade assassination during Brazil’s military dictatorship in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Cannes double prize winner “The Secret Agent.”
Moura, who was shooting in May and thus unable to attend the Cannes awards ceremony, was in Paris attending the Cinéma Paradiso Louvre Festival, organized by distributor mk2, at Cour Carrée du Louvre open air venue. Mendonça Filho, who won the Cannes best director award for the film, was also on hand.
Binoche, according to a statement, surprised Moura by taking the stage to bestow the actor with the award in front of thousands of fans attending the sold-out screening of “The Secret Agent.”
After embracing Moura, Binoche remarked: “Thank you for coming back to Paris. Thank you so much,” according to the statement.
Moura responded: ”One of the things for me about this award was the fact that you were the President of this jury. I can’t tell you how much I admire you and to receive this from your hands and all the amazing artists that were part of the jury.”
Binoche responded, “And as the jury we just loved the film and loved you in the film, so we definitely had to give you two prizes. [To the audience:] I think you will enjoy this film very much… [Back to Moura:] So go ahead, relax and just watch this amazing work you and the whole crew and all the actors did… It’s just beautiful,” the statement went on to note.
Moura concluded by dedicating his award to Brazilian culture and all those who champion it before proceeding to sing an a cappella excerpt from “Isto aqui o que é?, by João Gilberto.
Neon will release “The Secret Agent” theatrically this Fall in the U.S. where an awards campaign is planned.
The film, which is produced by Emilie Lesclaux, is co-produced and distributed internationally by mk2.
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