"Tree of life" by the Malick WINS Cannes top honour

Expansive drama of the American Director Terrence Malick "the tree of life" won the top honor at the Cannes Festival, Sunday, while Kirsten Dunst won the award for best actress for the saga apocalyptic "melancholy."

The price of gold was accepted Sunday by two producers of "Tree of life", Dede Gardner and Bill Pohlad, for the press-shy notoriously Malick, who jumped all public events at the prestigious Cannes film festival.

"I know it would be very pleased with this," Pohlad said.

"Why is he here?". I do not say that it is a question easy to answer, but he is personally a very humble guy and a very shy guy, "Pohlad said after the award of the prize. "It is just very sincerely work to speak for itself."

Gardner said when he came to the prospect of a Cannes Award, Malick had been "very mild." "He said:"if we were lucky that, I would like to thank my parents and my wife Becky"."

"The tree of life," which opens Friday at United States, stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain in a history distant family life which is played against a cosmic background, including the Visual glorious of the creation of the universe and the age of the dinosaurs.

Dunst won for his role in the history of the end of the world "Melancholy", whose Director, Lars von Trier's Denmark, was banned at the Festival after remarks sympathetic to Adolf Hitler at a press conference.

Actress Elena Anaya, right, director Pedro Almodovar kisses on the cheek as they arrive for screening of the skin, I live, the 64th film festival in Cannes, South of the France Thursday, May 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan) Close

"Wow, what a week it was," said Dunst, who plays a deeply depressed woman coping with manies family as a rogue planet is down on a possible collision with the Earth course.

"It is an honour which is a unique thing for an actress," said Dunst, who thanked the organizers of the festival to allow "Melancholy" to remain in the competition after remarks Nazi von Trier and offered warm words for its Director. "I want to thank Lars for giving me the opportunity to be so brave."

Von Trier was not allowed to attend the ceremony on Sunday.

Jean Dujardin claimed the award for best actor for the silent film "The artist", in which he plays a star of Hollywood of the 1920s whose career crumbles as talking images become the standard. In keeping with his singing, nature Lookout, Dujardin was a little tap when he came to the stage of Cannes.

Dujardin said that he wanted to share his prize with partner Bérénice Bejo, got up and blew kisses him on the stage. The film was directed by the husband of Bejo, French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, who has made Dujardin in "oss 117" parodies of espionage.

"I hope to make other silent films with you," Dujardin said Hazanavicius.

Several well received films, among them Spanish thriller of horror film director Pedro Almodovar "The skin I Live In" and "We need to talk about Kevin by British filmmaker Lynne Ramsay" go home empty-handed.

Malick, who made that five films in a career of almost 40 years, previously won the lead in 1979 for "Days of Heaven" on his last trip to Cannes. "The tree of life" was shot three years ago and the festival organizers had hoped premiere at Cannes last year, but he was not ready in time.

Prizes were awarded by a jury of nine members, led by Robert De Niro, which included actors Uma Thurman and Jude Law.

"The tree of life" is the first American film to win top honors at the Cannes Film Festival since back-to-back recipient in 2003 (Gus Van Sant "elephant") and 2004 (Michael Moore "Fahrenheit 9/11").

Spielberg at head of Comcast honour in the Philly Fete

 Famous filmmaker and a central Hollywood Steven Spielberg, who has created a foundation to preserve oral histories of the Holocaust, honors the head of the Comcast cable TV company for his work as "an Ambassador to learning".

Spielberg will present Brian Roberts, President and CEO of the Philadelphia Comcast Corp., with the annual ambassadors of the founding of the Shoah for humanity Award at a gala benefit Monday night. The Foundation and Comcast have joined forces on educational initiatives to advance the mission of the Organization to promote tolerance.

Spielberg, winner of the Oscar three times, called Roberts "an advocate for a long time to find and develop innovative avenues to achieve and to educate young people."

"Brian vision and commitment to promote digital literacy in schools and communities across America make him a great Ambassador for learning," Spielberg said in a statement.

Spielberg was inspired by his epic of the Holocaust of 1993, "The list of Schindler," to establish the foundation of the Shoah, which brings together the video testimonies of survivors of the Holocaust and the eyewitnesses to use as educational tools for current and future generations. Shoah is the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

Today, Visual History Archive Foundation is one of the largest video libraries in the world, with nearly 52,000 testimony of 56 countries and in 32 languages. Its objective is to provide videos for researchers and educators as a way to educate young people about the suffering caused by xenophobia in the world.

Roberts, who first met Spielberg shortly after Comcast bought a majority interest of entertainment and media society NBCUniversal in January, said that it is "a Yes easy to want to help".

"They do not just on a video camera and documented, they are looking how to make relevant, how useful, how to preserve," Roberts told The Associated Press, Friday. "" "". These guys are sitting on a trove of opportunities to make education relevant for today and at the same time to connect with the past. ?

Comcast made survivor testimonies available free of charge to subscribers through its application, online and services iPad. The company also provides technical assistance for an application called IWitness, which will provide lesson plans and online access to 1,000 of its testimony videos when it launches later this year, Executive Director of Shoah Foundation Stephen Smith said.

Over 12 000 teachers in high schools around the United States have been trained on the multimedia curriculum developed by the Shoah Foundation, the Anti - Defamation League and the Memorial of Yad Vashem Holocaust of Israel.

"Access is really important, to bring the evidence of broader audiences free of charge, to share with the universities and youth in the schools of the city centre," said Smith. "Comcast has been a great partner."

The Foundation, based at the University of California in the South since 2006 and officially called the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, also gathers testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the genocide in Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur, and elsewhere.

Comcast is the largest provider of pay TV in the country and the owner of the majority of the media conglomerate NBC Universal. Comcast also owns the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers and the stage where the two teams play, the Wells Fargo Center.

The Shoah Foundation refused to reveal the amount of the contribution from Comcast. More recently, Comcast reported net profit for the first quarter of $ 943 million, or 34 cents per share, for the first three months of the year. This is an increase of 9% of 866 million, or 31 cents a year ago.

CUNY reconsider granting honour to Kushner

 The Trustees of the City University of New York are reconsidering their decision to block a doctorate honoris causa of playwright Tony Kushner.

President CUNY said Friday that he believed that members of the Commission made an error in principle in failing to grant the degree of Kushner. Trustees will meet Monday.

This week, Trustees voted to block the appointment after one of its members, Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, claimed the award-winning playwright of the Pulitzer Prize held views anti-israélien.

"Angels in america" playwright, said he is a strong supporter of Israel and Wiesenfeld had distorted his views.

Wiesenfeld tells the New York Times, should be the only vote against the appointment, and was surprised when other trustees went with him. He said that he was just expressing his dissent.