The 63rd Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 2010. American filmmaker Tim Burton served as jury president for the main competition. Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. The festival opened with Robin Hood by Ridley Scott, and closed with The Tree by Julie Bertuccelli. English actress Kristin Scott Thomas was the mistress of ceremonies. Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Associated Press and Getty TV boycotted the press conference that announced the line-up for the festival, due to a dispute over access to the red carpet. In a press release, the agencies said that they "may be forced to suspend their presence at the festival altogether" if an agreement was not reached. Days before the festival was to begin, concerns were expressed that attendees might be delayed, or would not attend, due to plane flights to surrounding areas in France being delayed or canceled due to volcanic ash in the sky. Two days before the beginning of the festival, the just finished film Route Irish by Ken Loach, was added to the main competition.

Juries

Main competition

The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature films of the 2010 Official Selection:

Un Certain Regard

Camera d'Or

Cinéfondation and Short Films Competition

Official Selection

In Competition

The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:

Un Certain Regard

The following films were selected for the competition of Un Certain Regard:

Out of Competition

The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:

Special Screenings

The following films were shown as special screenings.

Cinéfondation

The following short films were selected for the competition of Cinéfondation:

Short film competition

The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:

Cannes Classics

Cannes Classics places the spotlight on documentaries about cinema and restored masterworks from the past.

Cinéma de la Plage

The Cinéma de la Plage is a part of the Official Selection of the festival. The outdoors screenings at the beach cinema of Cannes are open to the public.

Parallel sections

Critics' Week

The following films were screened for the 49th Critics' Week (49e Semaine de la Critique): Feature film competition Short film competition Special screening

Directors' Fortnight

The documentary film Benda Bilili! about disabled Kinshasa street musicians Staff Benda Bilili had its world premiere at the festival, with the group in attendance and performing at the Director's Fortnight opening party. The following films were screened for the 2010 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalizateurs): Feature films Short films

Official Awards

The Palme d'Or was won by the Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It was the first time that an Asian movie won the award since 1997. Tim Burton, chairman of the jury that determined the award, stated about its decision: "You always want to be surprised by films and this film did that for most of us." French film Of Gods and Men was the runner up. The Xavier Beauvois-directed film had been considered a favourite for the Palme d'Or along with Mike Leigh's Another Year. During the ceremony special attention was paid to Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi in hopes of increasing international pressure on the Iranian government to release Panahi from jail. The following films and people received the 2010 Official selection awards:

In Competition

Un Certain Regard

Cinéfondation

Golden Camera

Short films

Independent awards

FIPRESCI Prizes

Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist

Ecumenical Jury

Critics' Week

Regards Jeunes Prize

Prix François Chalais