No awards for Apprentice and A Yellow Bird at Cannes

SINGAPORE — Singaporean film-makers K Rajagopal and Boo Junfeng missed out on bringing home an award from the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival, despite positive reviews and high expectations.

Rajagopal's A Yellow Bird - about what happens to an Indian Singaporean man after he was released from prison after eight years - was is in the running for the coveted Camera d’Or award for best feature film debut, an award that went to Singaporean Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo in 2013. The Camera d’Or , which was awarded on Sunday night (May 22) during the closing ceremony of the film festival (Monday morning, Singapore time), went to French director Houda Benyamina for her film Divines. Her film is about two best friends who began assisting a drug dealer in an attempt to gain success and break out of poverty.

Meanwhile, Boo’s sophomore feature film Apprentice, which is about the relationship between a young correctional officer and the chief executioner of a prison, was an official selection at the Un Certain Regard section, together with 17 other films. The section presents a score of films that are "original and different", said its Facebook page.

Boo's award category was announced on Saturday (May 21) evening (Sunday morning, Singapore time). The Prize of Un Certain Regard went to The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki, directed by Finnish newcomer Juho Kuosmanen. The black and white film is based on the life of Finnish boxer Olli Maki and his 1962 championship match against American title holder Davey Moore.

Harmonium, directed by Japanese director Koji Fukada, took the Jury Prize, while the Directing Prize went to Captain Fantastic by Matt Ross. The prize for Best Screenplay went to The Stopover, by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, and the Special Jury Prize went to The Red Turtle, an animated film by Michael Dudok De Wit.

Still, just being selected for the festival is already a big feat, and both Rajagopal and Boo, in e-mail interviews with TODAY last week, had indicated as much.

“I am really happy to be here. It has been a long journey, and I am very pleased that a lot of the people who have been with me on this journey are here with me in Cannes – that alone is the biggest reward,” said Boo, whose debut feature film Sandcastle had also received critical acclaim in 2010 for International Critics’ Week.

“The awards will definitely help to bring the film more attention, but for now, just being in Cannes and having such an amazing platform to premiere Apprentice is a huge recognition of the efforts that went into making it,” he added.

Rajagopal also said that while nabbing the Camera d’Or would give his film bigger opportunities to be at other prestigious festivals and make it easier for international distribution, not winning would not affect the film too much either. "The selection to Cannes itself is an honour and has already created new prospects for the team," he noted.