Emotional Cannes triumph for French classroom film

By James Mackenzie

CANNES, France (Reuters) - The director of "Entre les Murs," the French classroom drama that won the main Cannes film prize said on Sunday he had been deeply moved by the applause that met the film when it was shown at the festival.

"Entre les Murs" (The Class) became the first French film in 21 years to claim the coveted Palme d'Or award at the world's biggest film festival after captivating the notoriously picky audience of film industry insiders and journalists.

The film and its cast of non-professional, mainly teenaged actors from the tough Paris school where the film was set were given a prolonged standing ovation at its first official screening on Saturday.

"It was a moment of enormous emotion," Laurent Cantet told Reuters in an interview a few hours before jury president Sean Penn gave the prize to what he called "an extraordinary film."

"The great force of the film is the energy and faith they put into it and the warmth of the reception yesterday in Cannes is in large part down to that," Cantet said.

The film, based on an autobiographical novel by Francois Begaudeau, who also plays the central role, comes at a time when the problems in France's often overcrowded schools have been highlighted by strikes and protests by teachers and pupils.

With memories of the 2005 riots in poor, multi-ethnic suburbs around many French cities still vivid, the film also taps into a wider debate about the place of young people of immigrant background in French society.

"TACT AND FINESSE"