<p>The Ecumenical jury, comprising Christian filmmakers, film critics and other film professionals, chose “Antichrist” for the first-ever dubious ‘honour’.<br /><br />While the Ecumenical award, which went to British director Ken Loach’s feel-good “Looking for Eric” this year, is one of the sidebar awards at the festival, it is considered as a prestigious honour, and in the past it had gone to films like “Babel” by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, “Motorcycle Diaries” by Walter Salles, “At Five n the Afternoon” by Samira Makhmalbaf and “Kandahar” by Mohsen Makhmalbaf”. The jury headed by Romanian director Radu Mihaileanu, which made a special mention of Austrian director Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”, said Trier's film was “the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world” and thus qualified for a “anti-prize”.<br /><br />Mihaileanu said Trier was suggesting in the film that “woman should be burnt at the stake so that man can finally stand up”.<br /><br />Fremaux decried the decision as “ridiculous” and said it “borders on a call for censorship, (and is) scandalous coming from an ‘ecumenical’ jury which is headed by a filmmaker”.<br />“Antichrist” has fiercely divided viewers, with most of them finding it shocking, provocative and beyond all limits of visual violence through the portrayal of extreme sexual violence. Meanwhile, the top honour in the official Un Certain Regard (A Certain Regard) section went to the dark family drama “Kynodontas” (Dogtooth) by Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, that deals with a couple who isolates their three children from the world behind the high walls of their suburban villa. <br /><br />The jury prize in the section went to Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu’s “Politist, Adjectiv (Police, Adjective)”, the story of a policeman who wants to change the laws, while a special jury prize was given jointly to Iranian Bahman Ghobadi’s "Nobody Knows about the Persian Cats”, and French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Love’s “Father of My Children”.</p>
<p>The Ecumenical jury, comprising Christian filmmakers, film critics and other film professionals, chose “Antichrist” for the first-ever dubious ‘honour’.<br /><br />While the Ecumenical award, which went to British director Ken Loach’s feel-good “Looking for Eric” this year, is one of the sidebar awards at the festival, it is considered as a prestigious honour, and in the past it had gone to films like “Babel” by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, “Motorcycle Diaries” by Walter Salles, “At Five n the Afternoon” by Samira Makhmalbaf and “Kandahar” by Mohsen Makhmalbaf”. The jury headed by Romanian director Radu Mihaileanu, which made a special mention of Austrian director Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”, said Trier's film was “the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world” and thus qualified for a “anti-prize”.<br /><br />Mihaileanu said Trier was suggesting in the film that “woman should be burnt at the stake so that man can finally stand up”.<br /><br />Fremaux decried the decision as “ridiculous” and said it “borders on a call for censorship, (and is) scandalous coming from an ‘ecumenical’ jury which is headed by a filmmaker”.<br />“Antichrist” has fiercely divided viewers, with most of them finding it shocking, provocative and beyond all limits of visual violence through the portrayal of extreme sexual violence. Meanwhile, the top honour in the official Un Certain Regard (A Certain Regard) section went to the dark family drama “Kynodontas” (Dogtooth) by Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, that deals with a couple who isolates their three children from the world behind the high walls of their suburban villa. <br /><br />The jury prize in the section went to Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu’s “Politist, Adjectiv (Police, Adjective)”, the story of a policeman who wants to change the laws, while a special jury prize was given jointly to Iranian Bahman Ghobadi’s "Nobody Knows about the Persian Cats”, and French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Love’s “Father of My Children”.</p>
