There’s been a lot of talk over the past week about the reception of some of the year’s more anticipated movies at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Clerks 2 got a standing ovation, while on the other hand viewers turned up their noses at Southland Tales and The Da Vinci Code, for example. It was a handful of quieter, lesser known films, however, that came away with awards from the festival. This year’s jury, lead by Wong Kar Wai (2046), selected Ken Loach’s film The Wind That Shakes The Barley for the 2006 Palme D’Or, the prize for Best Film. The movie stars Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Red Eye) as a young man in Ireland in the early 1900’s who abandons his career as a doctor to join the freedom fighters that would eventually become known as the IRA. Although the film’s title sounds rather dull, I think this looks like an interesting film that covers the dramatic events that unfolded as Ireland struggled for its independence from Britain. Cinemas Online has a trailer for the film in Quicktime at the link below. The Wind That Shakes The Barley will be released in the U.K. on June 23rd, with a North American release still TBA.