Moore tells Bush: watch out for the pretzels

    AFTER winning the top prize at Cannes for his anti-Bush documentary, US filmmaker Michael Moore said he hoped the President had not been eating a pretzel when he heard the news on Saturday.

    Moore admitted to one regret after accepting the Palme d'Or - he forgot to thank George W. Bush for providing the funniest lines in "Fahrenheit 9/11", a blistering attack on Bush's handling of Iraq and the war on terror.

    Moore hopes to release the film this summer and spark heated political debate with his searing diatribe in the run-up to November's presidential election.

    Asked what he thought Bush's reaction might be to the award, he told a packed news conference: "He is probably choking on a pretzel or something. I hope nobody tells him that I have won this award while he is eating a pretzel."

    Bush fainted in 2002 after choking on a pretzel while watching a football game on television.

    "He has the funniest lines in the film. I am eternally grateful to him," Moore said.

    The Oscar-winning director mocked leading members of the Bush administration, saying: "I believe them to be actors.

    "I forgot out there on the stage to thank my cast. So if I could do that now, I want to thank Mr Bush, Mr Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld. I thought the love scene between Cheney and Rumsfeld brought a tear to my eye."

    Moore predicted that some right-wing media in the US would portray the award as being given by France, one of the staunchest opponents of America's war in Iraq.

    "The jury was not a French jury. This was an international jury dominated by Americans," he said.

    Angered by the way Americans had reacted against the French over its resistance to the conflict in Iraq, he said: "We owe the people of this country an apology for the way they were debased in our media."

    Moore, who won an Oscar for his anti-gun lobby film "Bowling for Columbine", was fiercely proud that a documentary had now won the Palme d'Or, one of cinema's greatest accolades.

    "Non-fiction is taking itself out of its own ghetto," he said.

    And then he proudly quoted what cult director Quentin Tarantino - the Cannes jury president - had told him.

    "He said: 'We want you to know that the politics of your film had nothing to do with the award. You were given the award because you made a great film."'

    Surprised winner

    However, the best actor award was a surprise, going to 14-year-old Japanese actor Yagura Yuuyi for his captivating performance in "Nobody Knows", about four children abandoned by their mother in Tokyo to fend for themselves.

    Yagura missed the awards ceremony because he had to return to Japan to sit school exams.

    The best actress award went to China's Maggie Cheung for her role as a woman trying to kick a drug habit and win back her son in "Clean", by French director Olivier Assayas.

    The Grand Prix went to ultra-violent Korean film "Old Boy", the story of a man imprisoned for 15 years who must find out who captured him and why. France also enjoyed two awards. Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri won the best screenplay award for Jaoui's film "Comme une Image", the tale of a 20-year-old desperate for love and attention from her callous father.

    Tony Gatlif was named best director for "Exils", about a man going back to Algeria from France to finds his roots.

    (Agencies via Xinhua)