Second Palme d'Or to Ruben Östlund

Östlund's new film “Triangle of Sadness” won the distinguished award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.  

  • Ruben Östlund. Photo: Sina Östlund/Ekko Magazine
  • Ruben Östlund won his second Palme d’Or for “Triangle of Sadness,” a biting satire of the rich and (Insta-)famous at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Östlund’s new film takes a boat full of models, millionaires and their various trophy partners — and abandons them in deep water, forcing the survivors to reconstruct a desert island society where money holds no power. The Cannes crowd reportedly reacted with an eight-minute standing ovation after the screening of the film, which was far louder than the ovations earned by “Top Gun: Maverick” and other films at the festival.

  • Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson in '"Triangle of Sadness." Photo: Fredrik Wenzel
  • Triangle of Sadness is the sequel to The Square, the film that Ruben Östlund and Platform Production won the Palme d'Or with five years ago. It is an epic satire —periodically quite shocking according to reports —set against the world of fashion and the uber-rich with Hollywood star Woody Harrelson and international actors Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean in the leading roles. Triangle of Sadness was filmed during the pandemic; the shooting started in Trollhättan, Sweden and ended on the luxury yacht Christina Onassis in the Ionian Sea between Greece and Italy and on the island of Evia. The film had its world premiere in Cannes on May 17 and is expected to have its Swedish premiere on September 2, 2022. North American distribution rights to the film were acquired by New York based Neon, www.neonrated.com