Fahrenheit 9/11 wins top prize in Cannes

From Michael Moore Sunday, May 23, 2004

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 26 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 
US — to sign on with a distributor).

I am still hoping for a July release (4th of July weekend?) both 
in the US 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.

Thanks everyone for your support.

Yours, Michael Moore mmflint@aol.com http://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.