# 2016 Cannes Film Festival
The 2016 Cannes Film Festival was the 69th edition of the Festival de Cannes, held in Cannes, France from 11 to 22 May 2016[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/club-class-canness-2016-intake). The [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor), the festival's top prize, went to [Ken Loach](https://www.edgepedia.org/ken-loach)'s *I, Daniel Blake*, and the Feature Film Jury was presided over by the director [George Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-miller)[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/). Among critics the edition was widely considered one of the strongest in years, and the awards ceremony became one of its most contested in memory[3](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/cannes-2016-ken-loach-s-i-daniel-blake-won-the-palme-d-or-toni-erdmann-paterson-american-honey-a7043031.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Edition and dates | 69th Festival de Cannes, 11–22 May 2016, a 12-day program[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/club-class-canness-2016-intake) |
| Jury president | Director George Miller presided over the Feature Films Jury[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/) |
| Palme d'Or | *I, Daniel Blake* by Ken Loach, screened at the end of the ceremony to close the festival; Loach's second Palme, after *The Wind That Shakes the Barley* (2006)[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/) • [3](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/cannes-2016-ken-loach-s-i-daniel-blake-won-the-palme-d-or-toni-erdmann-paterson-american-honey-a7043031.html) |
| Grand Prix | *Juste la fin du monde* (*It's Only the End of the World*) by Xavier Dolan[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/) |
| Acting and screenplay | Best Actress Jaclyn Jose (*Ma' Rosa*); Best Actor Shahab Hosseini and Best Screenplay Asghar Farhadi, both for *The Salesman*[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/) |
| Highest-rated in competition | Maren Ade's *Toni Erdmann*, with an unprecedented 3.8 out of 4 from the Screen International critics panel[4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2016/festival-reports/2016-cannes-film-festival/) |
| Caméra d'Or | *Divines* by Houda Benyamina, presented in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs sidebar[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/) |
| Short Film Palme d'Or | *Timecode* by Juanjo Giménez[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/) |
## Official selection
The Official Selection placed 21 films in the main competition[5](https://www.telerama.fr/festival-de-cannes/2016/cannes-2016-retrouvez-toute-la-selection-officielle%2C142273.php). The lineup spanned established festival regulars and returning names: [Pedro Almodóvar](https://www.edgepedia.org/pedro-almodovar) (*Julieta*), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (*The Unknown Girl*), Xavier Dolan (*It's Only the End of the World*), Jim Jarmusch (*Paterson*), Ken Loach (*I, Daniel Blake*), Sean Penn (*The Last Face*), Cristian Mungiu (*Graduation*), [Asghar Farhadi](https://www.edgepedia.org/asghar-farhadi) (*The Salesman*), Park Chan-Wook (*The Handmaiden*), Paul Verhoeven (*Elle*), [Andrea Arnold](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrea-arnold) (*American Honey*), Kleber Mendonça Filho (*Aquarius*), Olivier Assayas (*Personal Shopper*), Maren Ade (*Toni Erdmann*), Cristi Puiu (*Sieranevada*), Bruno Dumont (*Slack Bay*), Jeff Nichols (*Loving*), Nicole Garcia (*From the Land of the Moon*), Alain Guiraudie (*Staying Vertical*), Brillante Mendoza (*Ma' Rosa*), and Nicolas Winding Refn (*The Neon Demon*)[6](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/2016/) • [5](https://www.telerama.fr/festival-de-cannes/2016/cannes-2016-retrouvez-toute-la-selection-officielle%2C142273.php).
Un Certain Regard, the festival's second competitive section, included Kore-eda Hirokazu's *After the Storm*, Michael Dudok de Wit's *The Red Turtle*, Matt Ross's *Captain Fantastic*, Kirill Serebrennikov's *The Student*, David Mackenzie's *Hell or High Water*, and Juho Kuosmanen's *The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki*, alongside films from Egypt, Israel, Romania, Iran, Argentina, and Singapore[6](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/2016/).
Out of Competition screenings opened with [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen)'s *Café Society* and included [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s *The BFG*, Jodie Foster's *Money Monster*, Shane Black's *The Nice Guys*, and Na Hong-jin's *The Wailing*. Midnight screenings ran [Jim Jarmusch](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-jarmusch)'s Iggy Pop documentary *Gimme Danger*, Yeon Sang-ho's *Train to Busan*, *Blood Father*, *Hands of Stone*, and *The Nice Guys*[6](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/2016/). Special Screenings included Albert Serra's *The Death of Louis XIV* and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's *Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy*[6](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/2016/).
## The awards
The Feature Films Jury announced the winners on the Grand Théâtre Lumière stage on 22 May 2016[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/):
- **Palme d'Or**: *I, Daniel Blake*, directed by Ken Loach
- **Grand Prix**: *It's Only the End of the World*, directed by [Xavier Dolan](https://www.edgepedia.org/xavier-dolan)
- **Best Director, ex aequo**: Cristian Mungiu for *Graduation* and [Olivier Assayas](https://www.edgepedia.org/olivier-assayas) for *Personal Shopper*
- **Best Screenplay**: Asghar Farhadi for *The Salesman*
- **Jury Prize**: *American Honey*, directed by Andrea Arnold
- **Best Actress**: [Jaclyn Jose](https://www.edgepedia.org/jaclyn-jose) for *Ma' Rosa*, directed by Brillante Mendoza
- **Best Actor**: Shahab Hosseini for *The Salesman*
The CST Jury awarded the Vulcan Award for the Technical Artist to Seong-hie Ryu for the production design of Park Chan-Wook's *The Handmaiden*[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/). In the short film competition, *Timecode* by Juanjo Giménez won the Palme d'Or, with a Special Mention for *The Girl Who Danced With the Devil* by João Paulo Miranda Maria[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/). The Caméra d'Or, the prize for the best first film across all sections, went to *Divines* by Houda Benyamina[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/).
## Critical reception and the jury's choices
Critics arriving in Cannes judged the competition one of the strongest lineups in years; by the festival's midpoint, reporting described a cheerful mood on the Croisette and few poorly received films[7](https://time.com/4337203/cannes-toni-erdmann-paterson/). The first film to draw broad critical enthusiasm was Maren Ade's *Toni Erdmann*, a nearly three-hour German comedy-drama about a practical-joker father (Peter Simonischek) who visits his consultant daughter Inès ([Sandra Hüller](https://www.edgepedia.org/sandra-huller)) in [Bucharest](https://www.edgepedia.org/bucharest)[7](https://time.com/4337203/cannes-toni-erdmann-paterson/). Its Screen International critics-panel score of 3.8 out of 4 was, according to the festival report in *Senses of Cinema*, higher than any film the panel had rated in its history[4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2016/festival-reports/2016-cannes-film-festival/).
**The awards outcome diverged from critical opinion.** *I, Daniel Blake*, a drama about a Newcastle joiner ground down by the British welfare system after a heart attack, won the Palme d'Or despite a general critical consensus that it trailed several of its competitors; critics treated the result as a loss for *Toni Erdmann* and for other well-reviewed films that left empty-handed, including *Aquarius*, *Paterson*, and *Personal Shopper*[3](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/cannes-2016-ken-loach-s-i-daniel-blake-won-the-palme-d-or-toni-erdmann-paterson-american-honey-a7043031.html). The Grand Prix to Xavier Dolan's *It's Only the End of the World*, which many attendees considered one of the weakest competition entries, drew the sharpest reaction. On the Screen International critics grid the film had scored 1.4 out of 4, the second-lowest rating given that year[8](https://www.thewrap.com/17-biggest-winners-and-losers-of-cannes-film-festival-2016/). The episode illustrated the standing gap between jury and critics: festival juries deliberate independently, and a film adored by half a room can beat a film politely admired by everyone[8](https://www.thewrap.com/17-biggest-winners-and-losers-of-cannes-film-festival-2016/).
Despite the contested prizes, contemporary assessments described 2016 as a vintage year whose quality was not spoiled by baffling choices at the close[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/22/peter-bradshaw-palme-dor-cannes-awards). Several competition titles also carried forward into year-end rankings: *Elle*, *I, Daniel Blake*, and *Things to Come* all placed in the top ten of a 2016 poll of 163 critics for *Sight & Sound*[10](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-best-films-of-2016-according-to-163-critics-bfi-sight-and-sound-toni-erdmann-moonlight-elle-american-honey-a7451596.html).
## Beyond the competition
The Official Selection kept documentary feature filmmaking almost entirely outside the main competition. *Sight & Sound* noted at the festival's opening that only five documentaries had shown in [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) at Cannes in the preceding 40 years, and that the contemporary wave of nonfiction filmmaking had largely passed the festival by, surfacing instead in the parallel sections[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/club-class-canness-2016-intake).
The sidebar programs produced several of the edition's notable discoveries. In the Semaine de la Critique (Critics' Week), Julia Ducournau's cannibalism drama *Raw* drew significant interest, and Olivier Laxe's *Mimosas*, shot on celluloid in the valleys of southern Morocco, marked the arrival of a new directorial voice[4](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2016/festival-reports/2016-cannes-film-festival/). The Caméra d'Or result confirmed the sidebar system's role: *Divines* won the best-first-film prize from the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors' Fortnight) rather than the Official Selection[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/).
Cannes Classics, the retrospective section, presented restored prints including Krzysztof Kieślowski's *Decalogue V* and *VI*, Andrei Tarkovsky's *Solaris*, Kenji Mizoguchi's *Ugetsu*, Miloš Forman's *Valmont*, and William Friedkin's *To Live and Die in L.A.*, alongside documentaries about cinema such as *Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds* and Bertrand Tavernier's *A Journey Through French Cinema*[6](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/2016/).
## References
1. [Club class: Cannes's 2016 intake, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/club-class-canness-2016-intake)
2. [69th Festival de Cannes Awards, Festival de Cannes press release, 22 May 2016](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/69th-festival-de-cannes-awards/)
3. [Cannes 2016: Why everybody's upset that Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake won the Palme d'Or, The Independent, 23 May 2016](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/cannes-2016-ken-loach-s-i-daniel-blake-won-the-palme-d-or-toni-erdmann-paterson-american-honey-a7043031.html)
4. [A Festival of Two Halves: the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, Senses of Cinema](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2016/festival-reports/2016-cannes-film-festival/)
5. [Cannes 2016 : retrouvez toute la sélection officielle, Télérama, 10 May 2016](https://www.telerama.fr/festival-de-cannes/2016/cannes-2016-retrouvez-toute-la-selection-officielle%2C142273.php)
6. [Retrospective 2016, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/retrospective/2016/)
7. [At Cannes, A German Comedy to Fall in Love With, and Paterson's Poetic Radiance, TIME, 16 May 2016](https://time.com/4337203/cannes-toni-erdmann-paterson/)
8. [17 Biggest Winners and Losers of Cannes Film Festival 2016, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/17-biggest-winners-and-losers-of-cannes-film-festival-2016/)
9. [Peter Bradshaw on Cannes's closing awards: baffling choices don't spoil a vintage year, The Guardian, 22 May 2016](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/may/22/peter-bradshaw-palme-dor-cannes-awards)
10. [The best films of 2016, according to 163 critics, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-best-films-of-2016-according-to-163-critics-bfi-sight-and-sound-toni-erdmann-moonlight-elle-american-honey-a7451596.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Awards and screen reference › Major international film festivals and editions*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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