Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)

The Jury Prize (French: Prix du Jury) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival, chosen by the Jury from the "official section" of movies at the festival. It is considered the third-most prestigious prize at the film festival, after the Palme d'Or and the Grand Prix.

History

From 1951 until 1966 the name Special Jury Prize was used for the second-most important award of the festival. In 1967 the second place was renamed "Grand Prize of the Jury", and the Special Jury Prize title was withdrawn. Then, in 1969, the Jury Prize was created separately from the Grand Prize, and both have been awarded yearly since. The Special Jury Prize reappeared twice in the 1990s, and one International Jury Prize was awarded in 1946.

New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion was the president of the Jury for the 2014 festival and oversaw a rare decision, in which the Jury Prize was awarded to two films: Mommy, by 25-year-old Xavier Dolan, and Goodbye to Language, by 83-year-old Jean-Luc Godard.

Grand jury

A grand jury is a legal body that is empowered to conduct official proceedings to investigate potential criminal conduct and to determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may compel the production of documents and may compel the sworn testimony of witnesses to appear before it. A grand jury is separate from the courts, which do not preside over its functioning.

The United States and Liberia are the only countries that retain grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing. Grand juries perform both accusatory and investigatory functions. The investigatory functions of the grand jury include obtaining and reviewing documents and other evidence and hearing the sworn testimony of witnesses that appear before it. The grand jury's accusatory function is to determine whether or not there is probable cause to believe that one or more persons committed a certain offence within the venue of the district court.

Film festival

A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre (e.g., film noir) or subject matter (e.g., horror film festivals). A number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians do not consider Film Festivals as official releases of film, like Jerry Beck. The best known film festivals are the Venice Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival, the latter being the largest film festival worldwide, based on attendance. The Venice Film Festival is the oldest major festival. The Melbourne International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the oldest in the world. A 2013 study found 3,000 active films festivals worldwide—active defined as having held an event in the previous 24 months.

Jury

A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty or not guilty (not proven; a verdict of acquittal, based on the state's failure to prove guilt rather than any proof of innocence, is also available in Scotland). The old institution of grand juries still exists in some places, particularly the United States, to investigate whether enough evidence of a crime exists to bring someone to trial.

The jury system started back to 5th-century BCE Ancient Greece, where members of the boule, or council (and other institutions, such as judicial courts), were selected from the male citizenry by lot. This process had two distinct advantages: Firstly, all citizens were considered for socio-political purposes to be fundamentally equal, and, secondly, the process prevents corruption. The boule (and hence the jury) were at the core of the original Athenian democracy. The modern criminal court jury arrangement has evolved out of the medieval juries in England. Members were supposed to inform themselves of crimes and then of the details of the crimes. Their function was therefore closer to that of a grand jury than that of a jury in a trial.

Best Director

Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:

Film awards

Television awards