The 65th Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti was the president of the jury for the main competition. Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama film Amour.
The official poster of the festival features Marilyn Monroe, to mark the 50th anniversary of her death. French actress Bérénice Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
The festival opened with Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson, and the closed with Thérèse Desqueyroux by Claude Miller.
The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature films of the 2012 Official Selection:
The following independent juries awarded films in the frame of the Critics' Week.
Nespresso Grand Prize
France 4 Visionary Award
Nikon Discovery Award for Short Film
The official selection was announced on 19 April at Grand Hôtel in Paris. Among comments after the announcement, journalists noted the unusually high number of Hollywood films in the line-up, the absence of any female director in the main competition, as well as the absence of competing first-time feature film directors. The festival's artistic leader Thierry Frémaux responded that people should not focus only on the competition films: "The selection is an ensemble; you have to consider the whole package."
The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:
The following films were screened in the Un Certain Regard section:
The following films were screened out of competition:
The following films were screened in the Special Screenings section:
The Cinéfondation section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The following entries were selected, out of more than 1,700 submissions from 320 different schools:
Out of 4,500 submissions, the following films were selected for the short film competition:
The following films were screened in the Cannes Classics section. The Hungarian "montage film" ', directed by György Pálfi, was selected as the closing film for the Cannes Classics section.
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.
The line-up for the Critics' Week was announced on 23 April at the section's website. The feature competition consists entirely of directorial debuts, something the section's artistic director Charles Tesson stressed was not intentional, but only the way it turned out when the submissions had been judged by quality. The following films were selected:
The line-up for the Directors' Fortnight was announced at a press conference on 24 April. The following films were selected:
The Palme d'Or was won by the French-language film Amour directed by Michael Haneke. Haneke previously won the award for The White Ribbon in 2009. Love tells the story of an elderly couple preparing for death. During his acceptance speech, the director said "A very, very big thanks to my actors who have made this film. It's their film. They are the essence of this film." Moretti said that none of the winners had been selected unanimously, and described such an outcome as "a middle ground that would have pleased no one". He revealed that Holy Motors, Paradise: Love and Post Tenebras Lux were the entries that most had divided the jury.
The following films and people received the 2012 Official selection awards: