Star of Port Arthur massacre film Nitram wins Best Actor at Cannes Film Festival

The star of controversial new Australian film Nitram has won the top acting prize at Cannes.

The star of a controversial new Australian film has won the top acting prize at Cannes.

Texan actor Caleb Landry Jones – who plays the title role in Nitram, about the Port Arthur massacre – was named Best Actor at France’s Cannes Film Festival.

“I cannot do this. Thank you so much,” Jones, 31, said in accepting his award.

At a post-ceremony press conference, the actor said he was lost for words.

“I was surprised maybe because of the number of incredible actors in films at the festival every year which in my opinion are some of the best films. Being part of Cannes history is why I couldn’t say anything,” Jones said, according to The Australian.

The chilling movie which focuses on the killer but does not name him – made its world debut at the 74th Cannes Film Festival.

American actor Caleb Landry Jones poses with his Best Actor award for Nitram at the Cannes Film Festival. Picture: AFP

Caleb Landry Jones was lost for words on stage. Picture: AFP

Nitram was first Australian film to be selected for the competition in a decade, and follows the events that led up to the shooting rampage in April 1996, in which 35 people – including children – were murdered and another 23 injured.

The film, directed by Justin Kurzel, does not show the killings. After winning Best Actor, Jones paid tribute to Kurzel’s guidance.

“He kind of showed me what it was to be an Australian male, about Australian masculinity, which wasn’t too different from Texan masculinity,” Jones said.

“He filled me with music, literature, movies and TV shows and gave me a manifesto. “Somehow each thing I was doing, even if I was aware of it or not, Justin provided me with all of this information to make my own and to come into a space he created where all I had to do was exist.

Texan actor Caleb Landry Jones won Best Actor at Cannes for Nitram. Picture: AFP

“When we finished the film I felt we’d achieved something we tried desperately to do in Geelong. I’d never worked in the way Justin works and now I’m not sure I know any other way to work.”

Speaking at Cannes, Kurzel explained why the movie was filmed in Victoria, not Tasmania.

“There was just no way I could go there”, Kurzel said, acknowledging how the killings “broke up that community”.

The film omits gunman Martin Bryant’s name, instead referring to him as “Nitram” – his first name spelled backwards. In one Cannes review, Variety called the film “exceptionally disturbing”.

The lead character is played US actor Caleb Landry Jones, who appeared on the red carpet at the Grand Lumiere Theatre for the film’s premiere. Jones and the director were joined by Australian screenwriter Shaun Grant and producer Nick Batzias.

Nitram stars Anthony LaPaglia, Essie Davis and Judy Davis.

Nitram screenwriter Shaun Grant, director Justin Kurzel, actor Caleb Landry Jones and producer Nick Batzias at Cannes. Picture: Christophe Simon / AFP

Caleb Landry Jones in a chilling scene from Nitram.

Mr Kurzel has faced severe criticism for the film, including from director Richard Keddie who said “art does not justify a Martin Bryant movie … and it is entirely irresponsible”. Others feared it would be exploitative and again traumatise both survivors and families of those who were murdered.

But Mr Kurzel – who lives in Tasmania – insisted that 25 years after the bloodshed “there are generations who are not aware of Port Arthur”.

“I felt a film could do more than an opinion piece or a (political) debate” to sound the alarm about gun reform,” he said.

“I understand why we have had a lot of heat and why some are very distressed about a film being made.

“But we made it because of the absolute absurdity of a character like this walking into a gun store and being able to buy semiautomatic weapons like fishing rods.”

When the project was first publicly announced in November, there were calls for it to be abandoned.

However, filming had already wrapped and the film went ahead. Production took place in Geelong, Victoria, rather than in Tasmania.

Streaming company Stan, which is a co-producer on the movie, described it as “a scripted feature film that looks at the events leading up to one of the darkest chapters in Australian history in an attempt to understand why and how this atrocity occurred”.

Port Arthur was the deadliest massacre in Australia’s history and prompted landmark changes in Australia’s gun control legislation.

The man who carried out the murders is now aged 54, and was given 35 life sentences for the crimes. He will spend the rest of his life in Tasmania’s notorious Risdon Prison.

Nitram will premiere in Australia at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 6.