— In the past, Cannes jurors were sworn not to reveal the process or any internal disagreements in their decisions, not only until the awards night, but ever.

For the first time, this year the jury met with the press late on Sunday afternoon to discuss its picks in what appears to be part of an effort to dispel Cannes's elitist mystique.   The initiative was made by the festival administration, and it promised to offer some insight into some of this year's unexpected prizes, from Michael Moore's Palme d'or to a best-acting award to a 12-year-old child, or the Grand Jury Prize to a violent Korean revenge film.   If nothing else, the glimpse into the jury process suggested how much influence the jury president Quentin Tarantino had in setting the tone.

The nine jurors included Tarantino; Haitian-born, American author Edwidge Danticat; actresses Emmanuelle Béart, Kathleen Turner and Tilda Swinton; directors Tsui Hark and Jerry Schatzberg; Finnish critic Peter von Bagh and Belgian actor-screenwriter Benoît Poelvoorde.

Tarantino told the audience what he had whispered into Michael Moore's ear when he won the prize — that Fahrenheit 9/11 hadn't won for its politics but because they the jury thought it was the best film.

Moore, Tarantino reported, responded that this was the best news he could have had because he saw himself as a filmmaker, not a politician.

Tarantino said he had made a statement early on to the jury that he did not want the decisions to be about politics, by which he meant "anything that's outside of what's going through the projector at 24 frames per second.   All that mattered was the reels of film involved and what we felt about that.   In this case we all agreed that Fahrenheit 9/11 was the best film of the competition.

"If it was bad and told me what I wanted to hear, I would have driven a stake through its heart."

The enthusiasm for Fahrenheit 9/11 was apparently unanimous.   Several jurors mentioned their emotional response to the film.   British actress Swinton said Moore's film was "something radically new," in covering a story American television refused to do, and engaging in a dialogue about the filmmaker, the audience and the media.

Hong Kong's Tsui Hark, described Fahrenheit 9/11 as one of the "most shocking experiences I have ever seen on film because it's real and it's now, and people are dying.   In a way it creates its own category and we felt that should be recognized."

Jurors said they met for four to five hours every couple of days to discuss the films.   Each jury member would make a statement of their dislikes and likes about each film before the debate began.   Tarantino said he was anxious that the jurors not compromise and pick a consensus film they were half-hearted about so he told them: "We all have to make a commitment on one or two movies and then the majority will rule on those one or two movies."

When a Hong Kong reporter asked pointedly why critical favourite 2046 was shut out and why Maggie Cheung had won for Clean, the jurors declined to answer directly.

"No film lost.   Some won," said Swinton.

Kathleen Turner said that Maggie Cheung's performance set the tone for Clean, that she carried the film and "without a doubt she was extraordinary."

Tarantino acknowledged that the actress Zhang Ziyi, in 2046, was a "strong, strong candidate" but the jury preferred Cheung, and it "was one of the easiest decisions we had to make."

A Japanese journalist asked why they had given the award to the youngest winner in Cannes history, 14-year-old Yuuya Yagira, who was 12 when he acted in director Hirokazu Kore-eda's year-long film about four abandoned children, Nobody Knows. "Over the course of time, his performance stayed with me," said Tarantino.   "His face stayed with me, and his stature grew, to me, in my heart."

The jury president became testy with a French critic who expressed surprise that the directors on the jury praised Fahrenheit 9/11 as great cinema when it struck him as more like television.

"I think you're coming from a very narrow view.   I think you're talking about pretty pictures," said Tarantino.   "A film can be funny and that's all it has to be.   It can make me cry, it can make me laugh, it can disturb me, it can elate me.   This film did all of those, all right? Pretty pictures be damned."

When the journalist disputed his definition of cinema, Tarantino snapped: "I don't need you to come back on it, either," and removed his headphones so he could not hear the French to English translation.

Tarantino also defended the choice of the Korean film, Park Chan-Wook's Old Boy for the runner-up Grand Jury Prize.   Tarantino said that, as a genre filmmaker himself, he was proud that Cannes had included the film at the festival: "Some of the most exciting movies in the world now are coming out of Japan and Korea and they damned well better be represented at Cannes.

"The Korean genre-film movement right now is extremely exciting.   Hong Kong had to wait almost a decade before it was recognized.   The fact that [this film] can be made in a year and a half and go to Cannes and compete and win a great prize, that's wonderful."

© Copyright 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc.   All Rights Reserved.