The Jury Prize () is an award of the Cannes Film Festival bestowed by the jury of the festival on one of the competing feature films. According to American film critic Dave Kehr, the award is "intended to recognize an original work that embodies the spirit of inquiry".
Its most recent winner was the German filmmaker Valeska Grisebach for The Dreamed Adventure at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
History
The award was first presented in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 10 occasions (1947, 1949, 1953, 1967, 1974–79, 1981–82, 1984, and 2001). The festival was not held at all in 1948, 1950, and 2020. In 1968, no awards were given as the festival was called off mid-way due to the May 1968 events in France. Also, the jury vote was tied and the prize was shared by two films on 21 occasions (1957, 1960, 1962–63, 1970–71, 1973, 1987, 1991–93, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2019, 2021–22, and 2025). Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold have won the most awards in this category, each winning three. Irma P. Hall is the only actress to win in this category, for her role in The Ladykillers (2004). Four directing teams have shared the award: Enrico Gras, Giorgio Moser and Leonardo Bonzi for Lost Continent (1955), Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud for Persepolis (2007), Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles for Bacurau (2019), and Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch for The Eight Mountains (2022). Samira Makhmalbaf was the first woman to have won the award, for 2000's Blackboards.
Since 1967, the official name of the award has been simply the Prix du Jury, but it has had two other names since its creation in 1946: the International Jury Prize, which was awarded for that year only, and the Prix spécial du Jury (1951–1967) that was given among other secondary prizes. In 1954, after facing much criticism about the whimsical nature of these awards, the Festival authorities decided to turn to a more traditional prize-giving arrangement. Since then, the Prix spécial du Jury reappeared only twice: Christopher Hampton won that award for Carrington along with the regular Prix du Jury given to Xavier Beauvois for Don't Forget You're Going to Die in 1995; and David Cronenberg won for Crash in 1996, which was the only prize allotted by the International Jury for that year.
British film academic Andrew M. Butler regards jury prizes such as Cannes' as a way of helping a film gain a distribution deal.
Winners
1940s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 1946 France
1950s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 1951 United States 1952 France 1954 René Clément 1955 , & Italy 1956 France 1957 Poland Sweden 1958 France 1959 East Germany
1960s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 1960 Italy Japan 1961 Poland 1962 Italy France 1963 Czechoslovakia Japan 1964 1965 1966 United Kingdom 1969 Costa-Gavras France
1970s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 1970 Hungary United States 1971 Sweden, United States Hungary 1972 United States 1973 Poland Switzerland 1974 Spain
1980s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 1980 Poland 1983 India 1985 Hungary, West Germany 1986 France 1987 Japan Mali 1988 Poland 1989 Canada
1990s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 1990 United Kingdom 1991 Denmark France 1992 Spain France, Russia 1993 Taiwan United Kingdom 1994 France 1995 ‡ United Kingdom 1996 ‡ Canada, United Kingdom 1997 France 1998 Denmark France 1999 Portugal, France, Spain
2000s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 2000 Iran, Italy Sweden, France 2002 Palestine, Morocco, France, Germany 2003 Iran, France 2004 * Irma P. Hall United States Tropical Malady สัตว์ประหลาด France, Thailand 2005 China 2006 United Kingdom 2007 & France Mexico, France, Netherlands 2008 Italy, France 2009 United Kingdom South Korea
2010s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 2010 Chad, France, Belgium 2011 Maïwenn France 2012 United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy 2013 Japan 2014 France Canada 2015 Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Greece, Netherlands 2016 United Kingdom, United States 2017 Russia, France, Belgium, Germany 2018 Lebanon 2019 & Brazil, France France
2020s Year English Title Original Title Recipient(s) Production Country 2021 France, Germany, Israel Colombia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Mexico, France 2022 and Italy, Belgium, France IO Poland, Italy 2023 Finland 2024Emilia Pérez Jacques Audiard France2025SirātOliver LaxeSpain, FranceSound of FallingIn die Sonne schauenMascha SchilinskiGermany2026The Dreamed AdventureDas Geträumte AbenteuerValeska GrisebachGermany, France, Austria, Bulgaria Notes ‡ Awarded as "Special Jury Prize", a unique award not given annually but only at the request of the official jury. * The Jury Prize was specially awarded to Irma P. Hall for acting in The Ladykillers.
Multiple winners The following individuals received two or more Jury Prize awards:
Number of Wins Directors Nationality Films3 Ken Loach United Kingdom Hidden Agenda (1990), Raining Stones (1993), The Angels' Share (2012) Andrea Arnold Red Road (2006), Fish Tank (2009), American Honey (2016)2 René Clément France The Battle of the Rails (1946), Knave of Hearts (1954) Michelangelo Antonioni Italy L'Avventura (1960), L'Eclisse (1962) Masaki Kobayashi Japan Harakiri (1963), Kwaidan (1965) Samira Makhmalbaf Iran Blackboards (2000), At Five in the Afternoon (2003) Apichatpong Weerasethakul Thailand Tropical Malady (2004), Memoria (2021)
See also Palme d'Or Grand Prix (second place)
References
External links Cannes Film Festival official website Cannes Film Festival at the Internet Movie Database