Overview

• Denzel Washington was awarded the honorary Palme d'Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival for his outstanding contributions to cinema.
• The award was presented in a surprise ceremony orchestrated by Spike Lee and festival director Thierry Frémaux, following a montage of Washington's career highlights.
• Washington and Lee premiered their fifth collaboration, 'Highest 2 Lowest,' a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 thriller 'High and Low,' outside of competition at the festival.
• On the red carpet, Washington confronted a photographer who grabbed his arm, repeatedly telling him to stop in a rare display of visible frustration.
• This marks Washington's second official Cannes appearance, his first being in 1993 with Kenneth Branagh's 'Much Ado About Nothing.'