Jeremy Robust is reflecting on his previous 11 days as a member of the Cannes Movie Pageant competitors jury, evaluating it to the method of selecting a brand new pope as depicted within the Oscar-nominated movie “Conclave.”

“I really feel immeasurably impressed by what I’ve seen right here,” Robust stated throughout a press convention after the jury awarded Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Simply an Accident” with the Palme d’Or. “It’s been so invigorating, and this form of cumulative tally of the work I’ll carry with me.”

Robust continued: “This has been a very great expertise, a very linked expertise with these individuals — it’s like ‘Conclave’ with champagne. It’s actually nice.”

Robust served beneath president Juliette Binoche together with Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sansoo, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi and Carlos Reygadas. Through the presser, the group defined their resolution to provide the highest prize to “It Was Simply an Accident,” which follows a gaggle of former prisoners in Iran who should determine whether or not or to not enact revenge on a person they assume was their torturous guard. The movie marked Panahi’s first venture since being imprisoned for a number of months in 2023 for criticizing the Iranian authorities.

“It’s very human and political on the identical time as a result of he comes from an advanced nation, politically talking,” Binoche stated. “After we watched the movie, it actually stood out. The movie springs from a sense of resistance, survival, which is totally crucial at this time. So we thought it was essential to provide this movie the paramount award.”

She continued: “Artwork will at all times win. What’s human will at all times win. Our artistic urge can rework the world.”

Robust chimed in to say that the jury “wished to acknowledge movies that we felt have been transcendent intrinsically as items of labor,” aligning with how Robert De Niro kicked off the pageant throughout its opening ceremony by saying that “fascists ought to worry artwork.” Talking about “It Was Simply an Accident” and the opposite movies awarded, Robust quoted the playwright Henrik Ibsen.

“Ibsen talked about, ‘Deep inside, there’s a poem in a poem. And while you hear that, while you grasp that, you’ll perceive my music,’” he stated. “And I really feel that this movie and the opposite movies have these poems throughout the poem that permit us to understand one thing ineffable which have modified me.”