The 63rd Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 2010. American filmmaker Tim Burton served as jury president for the main competition. Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
English actress Kristin Scott Thomas was the mistress of ceremonies. Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Associated Press and Getty TV boycotted the press conference that announced the line-up for the festival, due to a dispute over access to the red carpet. In a press release, the agencies said that they "may be forced to suspend their presence at the festival altogether" if an agreement was not reached. Days before the festival was to begin, concerns were expressed that attendees might be delayed, or would not attend, due to plane flights to surrounding areas in France being delayed or canceled due to volcanic ash in the sky.
The festival opened with Robin Hood by Ridley Scott, and closed with The Tree by Julie Bertuccelli.
The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature films of the 2010 Official Selection:
Two days before the beginning of the festival, the just finished film Route Irish by Ken Loach, was added to the main competition. The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:
The following films were selected for the competition of Un Certain Regard:
The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:
The following films were selected to be screened:
The following short films were selected for the competition of Cinéfondation:
The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:
The following films were selected to be screened:
The Cinéma de la Plage section line-up includes classics films, commemorations and world premieres of new productions at the Cannes' Plage Macé. The following films were selected to be screened:
The following films were screened for the 49th Critics' Week (49e Semaine de la Critique):
The documentary film Benda Bilili! about disabled Kinshasa street musicians Staff Benda Bilili had its world premiere at the festival, with the group in attendance and performing at the Director's Fortnight opening party. The following films were screened for the 2010 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalizateurs):
The Palme d'Or was won by the Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. It was the first time that an Asian movie won the award since 1997. Tim Burton, chairman of the jury that determined the award, stated about its decision: "You always want to be surprised by films and this film did that for most of us". French film Of Gods and Men was the runner up. The Xavier Beauvois' film had been considered a favorite alongside Mike Leigh's Another Year. During the ceremony special attention was paid to Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi in hopes of increasing international pressure on the Iranian government to release Panahi from jail.
The following films and people received the 2010 Official selection awards: