Jeremy Strong is reflecting on his past 11 days as a member of the Cannes Film Festival competition jury, comparing it to the process of choosing a new pope as depicted in the Oscar-nominated film “Conclave.”
“I feel immeasurably inspired by what I’ve seen here,” Strong said during a press conference after the jury awarded Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” with the Palme d’Or. “It’s been so invigorating, and this sort of cumulative tally of the work I’ll carry with me.”
Strong continued: “This has been a really wonderful experience, a really connected experience with these people — it’s like ‘Conclave’ with champagne. It’s really great.”
Strong served under president Juliette Binoche along with Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sansoo, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi and Carlos Reygadas. During the presser, the group explained their decision to give the top prize to “It Was Just an Accident,” which follows a group of former prisoners in Iran who must decide whether or not to enact revenge on an evil guard. The film marked Panahi’s first project since being imprisoned for several months in 2023 for criticizing the Iran government.
“It’s very human and political at the same time because he comes from a complicated country, politically speaking,” Binoche said. “When we watched the film, it really stood out. The film springs from a feeling of resistance, survival, which is absolutely necessary today. So we thought it was important to give this film the paramount award.”
She continued: “Art will always win. What is human will always win. Our creative urge can transform the world.”
Strong chimed in to say that the jury “wanted to recognize films that we felt were transcendent intrinsically as pieces of work,” aligning with how Robert De Niro kicked off the festival during its opening ceremony by saying that “fascists should fear art.” Speaking about “It Was Just an Accident” and the other films awarded, Strong quoted the playwright Henrik Ibsen.
“Ibsen talked about, ‘Deep inside, there’s a poem in a poem. And when you hear that, when you grasp that, you will understand my song,’” he said. “And I feel that this film and the other films have these poems within the poem that allow us to grasp something ineffable that have changed me.”
