Holy Spider is based on a real-life case in which a family man killed women in a religiously motivated effort to rid the city of Mashhad of prostitutes in the 2000s. He became known as the Spider Killer.
Zar Amir Ebrahimi has won the Best Actress award at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival for her role as a journalist helping to catch a serial killer in the thriller Holy Spider.
Ebrahimi is an actor and assistant director as well as a photographer of socially relevant issues, and is believed to reside in France. "I have come a long way to be on this stage tonight," she told the audience at the final award ceremonies in Cannes. "It was not an easy story. It was humiliation, it was solitude but there was cinema, it was darkness but there was cinema. Now I'm standing in front of you on a night of joy," Ebrahimi said. She was previously best known for her role in one of Iranian TV's longest-running drama series, Nargess. Ebrahimi won the best lead actress in an international film award in Nice four years ago for her role in the film Bride Price vs. Democracy.
Winners:
Palme d’Or: “Triangle of Sadness” by Ruben Östlund
Grand Prix: “Close” by Lukas Dhont and “Stars at Noon” by Claire Denis
Special Prize for Cannes’ 75th anniversary: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes, “Tori and Lokita”
Jury Prize: “Eo” and “Le Otto Montagne”
Best Actress: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, “Holy Spider”
Best Actor: Song Kang Ho, “Broker”
Best Director: Park Chan-wook, “Decision to Leave”
Best Screenplay: “Boy from Heaven”
Camera d’Or: “War Pony,” directed by Gina Gammell and Riley Keough
Short Film Palme d’Or: “The Water Murmurs”