Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Palme d'Or at Cannes on Saturday for "Shoplifters," a critically acclaimed family drama with unguessable plot twists.

The film depicts a family that, while living on a grandmother's meager pension, sends their children to steal from stores. A series of media reports about people fraudulently claiming pensions inspired Kore-eda's film.

Prior to Kore-eda's accolade, the most recent Japanese winner of the Palme D'Or was director Shohei Imamura, who won the award for "The Eel" in 1997.