Controversy at the Cannes

At a press conference right after the Cannes Film Festival, the jury were bombarded with questions about why they chose an explicit gay film, "Stranger at the Lake", this time for the Queer Palm award. It was the popular choice reflecting a hot-button political issue. The award of the Palme d'Or went to another hardcore gay film, Blue Is the Warmest Colour. The French-produced film by a Tunisian-born director is about a passionate lesbian relationship in modern-day setting. The film was greeted with home-crowd cheers and a sense that it validated France's painfully achieved battle to legalize gay marriage during the Cannes Film Festival.