2008 Cannes Film Festival 2008 Cannes Film Festival The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2008. The President of the Official Jury was American actor and director Sean Penn. Twenty two films from fourteen countries were selected to compete for the "Palme d'Or". The awards were announced on 24 May. The film "The Class" ("Entre les murs"), directed by Laurent Cantet won the "Palme d'Or". The festival opened with "Blindness", directed by Fernando Meirelles and closed with "What Just Happened", directed by Barry Levinson. Édouard Baer was the master of ceremonies. "Hunger", directed by Steve McQueen, opened the
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury SIGNIS for the Catholics and Interfilm for the Protestants. SIGNIS and Interfilm appoint ecumenical juries at various international film festivals, including Cannes Film Festival (where The Ecumenical Jury () is one of three juries at the film festival, along with the official jury and the FIPRESCI jury), Berlin International Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Films from diverse countries have won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. Most films having won the award are from European countries, with Italy, Germany and Poland dominating. Andrei