Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d'Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his Norwegian-set drama "Fjord," marking his second victory with the festival's top honor. Mungiu previously won in 2007 for "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days."

"Fjord" stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as Romanian Evangelicals who relocate to Norway but have their children removed by child services for spanking them. The film explores themes of political polarization and the tension between religious conservatism and social liberalism.

Mungiu becomes only the 10th filmmaker to win the Palme d'Or twice in the festival's history. The victory also extended an unprecedented streak for specialty distributor Neon, which has now been attached to seven consecutive Palme d'Or winners, including last year's "It Was Just an Accident" by Jafar Panahi and 2024's Oscar-winning "Anora."

This year's festival was widely regarded as lacking clear frontrunners, with Hollywood largely absent and many selections failing to generate significant critical excitement. The nine-member jury was headed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook and included Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao, and Stellan Skarsgård.

Other notable films in competition included Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski's "Fatherland," Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "All of a Sudden," and Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur." The festival's planned tribute to Barbra Streisand, who was to receive an honorary Palme d'Or, was postponed due to her knee injury preventing attendance.