` ` Le monde du Nord '' becomes first ever film to win in France . `` Apocalypse Now '' ( 1979 ) Director : In 1979 , Coppola 's unfinished version of ` ` Apocalypse Now '' takes top prize . Jane Campion is the only female director to win Palme César , for ` ` The Piano '' ` ` ' Fiction '' during Tarantino 's life - long love affair with Cannes in 1994 .
` ` Le monde du Nord '' becomes first ever film to win in France . In 1979 , Coppola 's unfinished version of ` ` Apocalypse Now '' takes top prize . Jane Campion is the only female director to win Palme César , for ` ` The Piano '' ` ` ' Fiction '' during Tarantino 's life - long love affair with Cannes in 1994 .