‘Wind That Shakes the Barley’ earns top prize at Cannes

Cannes, France (ap) – British director Ken Loach’s “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” a saga set amid Ireland’s struggle for independence in the early 1920s, won top honors Sunday in an unanimous vote at the Cannes Film Festival.

“The Wind That Shakes the Barley” stars Cillian Murphy as an Irish medical student who takes up arms against a reign of terror by the Black and Tans, British troops sent in to quell calls for independence.

Prizes for best actor and actress went to ensemble casts. Penelope Cruz and her five key cast mates in Pedro Almodovar’s “Volver,” including Carmen Maura, Yohana Cobo and Lola Duenas, shared the actress prize. The film, a comic drama about women making do without men, also won the screenplay honor for director Almodovar.

The men of Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb’s World War II saga “Days of Glory,” about North African Muslims who volunteered in the fight to free France from the Nazis, received the best-actor honor. The cast included French stars Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri and Sami Bouajila.

Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the directing prize for “Babel,” which featured Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in a multicultural drama about loosely linked families around the globe.

The grand prize for second-place film was given to French director Bruno Dumont’s “Flanders,” a stark drama following soldiers from dreary farm country through a grisly tour of duty in the Middle East.

The third-place jury prize went to British filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s “Red Road,” a somber tale about a Scottish woman carrying out surveillance on a man responsible for tragedy in her past.

‘X-Men’ has record opening

Los Angeles (ap) – “X-Men: The Last Stand” stormed to a $107 million three-day opening, the largest ever for Memorial Day weekend and the fourth-biggest in box office history, according to preliminary estimates Sunday.

On the all-time list, “X-Men: The Last Stand” ranks behind only “Spider-Man,” “Star Wars: Episode III” and “Shrek 2” for opening weekend gross. For Memorial Day openers, “X-Men” crushed the previous three-day high of $72 million, set by “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” in 1997.

Final box-office figures are expected today.

Strait receives doctorate

San Marcos, Texas – Country music superstar George Strait has roped an honorary degree.

Strait was given an honorary doctorate of humane letters by his alma mater, Texas State University, in a private ceremony Friday. He graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s in agriculture.

“Dr. Strait? I like the sound of that,” Strait said. “I am so proud to be a graduate of Texas State University and appreciate so much that you did this for me.”

Strait has recorded 52 No. 1 singles, starting with “Fool Hearted Memory” in 1982 to “She Let Herself Go” this year. He also sponsors the annual George Strait Team Roping Classic.

Tribute to veterans

New York – “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” was not originally meant as a political statement, but Tony Orlando is running with it.

This Memorial Day, he is releasing a book called “Tie a Yellow Ribbon” and donating proceeds to U.S. Vets, a group that finds homes for veterans.

“It was truly a love song,” he said of the 1970s classic by Tony Orlando and Dawn, speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“I had no idea that it would have a significance to the American people or become part of the tapestry of American folklore.”

He said he first realized the song was becoming a statement about the military when Bob Hope told him at a concert to welcome home prisoners of war.

Hope told him: “‘Oh, I heard your record on the radio, and that opening line, “I’m coming home, I’ve done my time,” Tony, is every mother’s wish, and … every soldier’s dream come true.’

Orlando continued: “And he said, ‘You know, you’re going to be singing this song to welcome home troops for the rest of your career.'”

His book, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon: While We Are Apart,” celebrates what the yellow ribbon has come to signify, according to Amazon.com.

Film festival sequel planned

Traverse City, Mich. – Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, who engineered a film festival last summer in this northern Michigan resort town, announced he will present the second-annual Traverse City Film Festival.

To take place July 31 to Aug. 6, the festival will be two days longer than its predecessor and feature about twice as many films – nearly 50 in total.

Organizers are still picking the lineup, which will be announced next month. It will include prize winners from some of the world’s top festivals this year, a tribute to Stanley Kubrick and classic favorites that will be shown free of charge each night.

Moore, a Flint native known for his darkly humorous, politically tinged films such as “Roger & Me” and “Fahrenheit 9/11,” has made Traverse City something of an adopted hometown. He has a house in neighboring Antrim County.

He founded the film festival with local author Doug Stanton and photographer John Robert Williams, saying they wanted to encourage top-quality films and give movie buffs an alternative to standard cineplex offerings.

The 52-year-old director is currently working on a documentary called “Sicko” about the U.S. health care system expected to be released next year.