Fahrenheit 9/11 Wins Top Prize in Cannes

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May 23rd, 2004 12:00 AM

Fahrenheit 9/11 Wins Top Prize in Cannes

Friends,

Hello from Cannes! I?m sure by now many of you have heard the good news??Fahrenheit 9/11? has won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It is the first time in nearly 50 years a documentary has won the Palme d?Or (the Golden Palm).

Myself and twenty-six members of our crew are here in Cannes and we are in a state of shock. None of us expected this. First came the critics? reviews on Monday (The New York Times called it my best film ever), then the audience reaction at our premiere (a 20-minute standing ovation, a new all-time record for the festival), the International Federation of Film Critics Award on Friday, and then the best film prize last night. It?s all been an incredible week for us and I can?t wait to get back home and show you all this wonderfully powerful film we?ve made.

No, we still don?t have a distributor in America as I write this but after winning the world?s top film prize I?d give it about one more day (if that) before we have someone brave enough (and smart enough) to show Americans what the world can already see (Albania, this week, became the final country?other than the U.S.?to sign on with a distributor).

I am still hoping for a July release (4th of July weekend?) both in the U.S. and around the world.

I fully expect the right wing and the Republican Party to come at me and this film with everything they?ve got. They will try, as they have unsuccessfully in the past, to attack me personally because they cannot win the debate on the issues the film raises?namely, that they are a pack of liars and the American people are on to them. And, if the early screenings of ?Fahrenheit 9/11? are any indication, those who see this movie will never view the Bush administration in the same way again. Even if you already can?t stomach George W. Bush & Co., I think this movie will take you to places you haven?t gone before, with laughter and with tears.

I will let you all know?as soon as we have a distributor?the date the film is opening. Until then, check out some of the articles that have been written, and check out the awards ceremony from Cannes.

Thanks everyone for your support.

Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

P.S. When you hear the wackos on Fox News and elsewhere refer to this prize as coming from ?the French,? please know that of the nine members of the Festival jury, only ONE was French. Nearly half the jury (four) were Americans and the President of the jury was an American (Quentin Tarantino). But this fact won?t stop the O?Reillys or the Lenos or the Limbaughs from attacking the French and me because, well, that?s how their simple minds function.

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