As you can imagine, started to write post a while back and a few things have happened that wish to update you all.  First Official Selection submission closed on March 10 but Critic's Week deadline was extended until March 17 and Directors' Fortnight deadline is March 24 with no extensions announced up-to-this moment.

Yesterday reliable news agency AFP announced that the Official Selection press conference will be on April 13 in Paris.  Some industry journalists made extrapolations to estimate Quinzaine and Semaine press conferences but considering their submissions deadline seemed improvable to me. Today better estimates were published with Critic's Week press conference con April 24 and Quinzaine's on April 25.  So we still have a bit less than a month to play around with possible film speculations, buzz and gossip.  Next news from Official Selection has to be the opening film that probably will come before the end of March. End of Update.

I know, there are more interesting French films that should be in anybody's Cannes wish list and will name more later on but today feel like talking about some master filmmakers and their latest oeuvres.

Before getting into one of my most admired directors let's review festival Preselection Conditions and Rules & Regulations 2017 article 3 to remind all the conditions a film has to have to receive an invitation to the Official Selection (Competition, Out of Competition and Un Certain Regard).

Preselection Conditions

Conditions
Only feature films that meet the following conditions may be submitted for consideration by the Official Selection:
• Films that have been produced during the twelve months preceding the Festival
• Films whose distribution is limited to their country of origin
• Films that have not been presented at any international motion picture event. If the film (feature or short) has been selected for an international section (competitive or not) of a festival, it becomes ineligible for the Festival de Cannes. A selection is international if it presents films from different countries.
• Films that have not been shown on the Internet or released on DVD.

Film Duration
In order to be selected as a feature film, your film must be more than 60 minutes long. The Festival de Cannes does not accept films with a duration of between 15 and 60 minutes. Films with a duration of under 15 minutes can be presented to the Selection of short films.

Rules & Regulations

Article 3
The Board of Directors chooses and invites the films which will be presented in Competition, Out of Competition or for Un Certain Regard. Each film invited to be part of the Official Selection by the Board of Directors will receive a Certificate of Participation.

Only films that meet the following conditions may be chosen for invitation in the Official Selection:

-Films that have been produced during the twelve months preceding the Festival;
-Films that have not been released anywhere other than their country of origin;
-Films that have not been presented at any other international motion picture event;
-If the film (feature or short) has been selected in an international section (competitive or not) of a festival, it becomes ineligible for the Festival de Cannes. A selection is international if it presents films from different countries;
-Films that have not been exhibited on the Internet;
-Films that respect the aims of the Festival as defined in Article 1;
-If participating in the "short film" category, films that do not exceed 15 minutes in length, including credits.

Most Interesting Directors

As mentioned will open with one of my most admired contemporary directors, Mexican Carlos Reygadas, a master filmmaker that constantly evolves to continuously surprise with most unexpected stories and filmmaking styles.  Also will talk about a master filmmaker that left us last year but leaves an amazing cinematic experience in his body of work and yes, he left a film that now his son could bring to Cannes.  Then there are two well-known female directors plus five less-established directors but all have in common one or more award winning films and a new one that could surprise us once again.

Seems that the first two directors could not have their films ready for Cannes which obviously is a tremendous disappointment for me, sigh.  Is when you go in depth when you learn more about the film and realize there are more chances film will not be finished on time for Cannes 2017; still, will leave info here.

Carlos Reygadas with Donde Nace La Vida (Where Life Begins)

According to available film info seems Reygadas will go this time beyond whatever I could imagine as not only he directs film but also is the lead actor plus his real-life partner, Natalia Lopez plays the female lead in a story about a beautiful family which battles to balance remnants of the old world and the modernity of their existence.

Just found the most unpleasant news, film most likely will NOT be ready for Cannes 2017 as filmming is expected to go until the end of the year; but, will leave info here as most are predicting will be in Cannes 2018.  Oh! you have no idea how much I wish news are not accurate, so film will premiere this year, sigh.

Mantarraya Mexico) produces in co-production with Nodream Cinema (Mexico), Le Pacte (France), Luxbox (France), Cinema du Monde (France), ZDF (Germany), Sorfond (Norway), Mer Film (Norway) and Snowglobe (Denmark).  Sales Agent is The Match Factory.

Abbas Kiarostami with 24 Frames

As most are saying and definitively I agree, Cannes screening of Kiarostami's last film would be a fitting tribute to the master filmmaker and two-time Palm d'Or winner.  During the recent WGA awards where Kiarostami received an honorary award, his son mentioned that film was in post-production; so, there are possibilities film could go to Cannes and if not, surely will be in Venice.

Kiarostami's last film is an experimental film, which was not his usual style in his latest films, and seems is a compilation of 24 four-and-a-half-minute short films, all made throughout the past three years.  Two of the four-minute segments where presented at Lumiere festival during a tribute to Martin Scorsese in November 2015.  According to those that have seen some of the shorts, cinematography will be quite unusual for Kiarostami as will play with the color blue.

I love his films and know they will live forever; know he likes to play with color in many of this film, usually in a subtle way but this experimental film is driving me crazy and can't wait to be able to see film as somehow imagine "something" in the style of Hernri-Georges Cluzot's L'enfer.  Should not have expectations but hope to soon find how close or far-away I am with what I imagine, sigh.

Lucrecia Martel with Zama

One of the most awaited film after a too-long silence (her last feature film is 2008 Headless Woman) from one of the most-interesting Argentinian filmmakers; perhaps now this epic film will open in Cannes as IMDb already has June 1st release date in Argentina.  Unfortunately one of the film producing companies is El Deseo, so if film makes it to Cannes will not be in competition as that's Almodovar brothers production company and Pedro is the Jury president for the 2017 edition.

Still film could end up in Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition but most likely could go to Directors' Fortnight parallel section.

Based on the novel by Antonio Di Benedetto written in 1956, tells about Don Diego de Zama a Spanish officer of the 17th century settled in Asunción, who awaits his transfer to Buenos Aires.

Film is produced by Rei Cine (Argentina) and Bananeira Films (Brasil), co-produced by El Deseo (Spain), MPM Film (France), Patagonik Film Group (Argentina), Louverture Films (USA), Canana (Mexico), Lemming Film (Netherlands), O Som e a Fúria (Portugal), KNM (Switzerland), Picnic Producciones (Argentina) and Nederlands Filmfonds (Netherlands).  International Sales by The Match Factory.



Naomi Kawase with  光 Hikari (Radiance)

Naomi Kawase undoubtedly is a Cannes favorite and no one is more glad than me as yes, I love her serene filmmaking style with the most breathtaking cinematography absolutely integrated into the storytelling.  She has been in competition three times, won the Grand Prix in 2007 with outstanding The Mourning Forest, became the youngest person to win the Camera d'Or with Sukazu, and served on the main competition jury, becoming the first Japanese to do so.  Then the festival sidebar Directors' Fortnight awarded her the 2009 Carrosse d'Or an award that celebrates her lifetime achievement.

So have very little doubt that her latest film will make it to Cannes and published release date, May 27, only gives clues to confirm it.

Story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya (Masatoshi Nagase), with a lazy eye and Misako (Ayame Misaki) who disconnects from the world.  Not much more is known but film already has a trailer plus a beautiful poster.

Produced by Comme des Cinémas (France), Kumie (Japan) and Kinoshita Management (Japan.) Distribution by Haut et Court and International Sales by MK2.



Kornél Mundruczó with Felesleges ember (Superfluous Man)

A couple of years ago not many knew about this Hungarian director but then everything changed when he did White God that premiered in Cannes and went to win the Un Certain Regard Award in 2014.  Yet, his two previous films also were in Cannes.  Definitively his latest film has high chances to make it to Cannes and just wonder if suggested story could propel film into the competition or maybe will go to a parallel section.

There is not much info in English but seems story is about a refugee boy with superpowers that befriends a doctor and the background is the refugee crisis. Story deals with topics of faith and the lack thereof.  Found more info:  the story is set in the Europe of tomorrow and is about 17-year-old Ariel, a young boy who attempts to illegally cross the border into Hungary. Unfortunately, his endeavors to escape are unsuccessful, and he is hit by the bullet of an aggressive police officer. As a result of the wound, the boy is endowed with a unique ability: he is able to levitate, just like an angel. The following day at the refugee camp, a disillusioned, cynical doctor, Stern, examines the boy. Upon realizing his capability, Stern decides to smuggle the refugee out of the secured camp in order to exploit this gift in his own interests. In the meantime, however, the camp’s director is soon on their trail...



Production is by Proton Cinema (Hungary) and The Match Factory (Germany). International sales are being handled by The Match Factory.  Film has been pre-purchased by ZDF-ARTE. Unfortunately director has been lured to work in America so his next film Deeper -starring Bradley Cooper- will surely not make it into the festival circuit.

Urszula Antoniak with Pomiędzy słowami (Beyond Words)

Simply loved mesmerizing Antoniak's first feature Nothing Personal that went to win 2009 Best First Film at Locarno. Since then she has gone to Cannes parallel section with her second feature, controversial Code Blue; but her third, also very controversial Nude Area opened in a local Polish festival.  So, there are chances that Antoniak's latest opus could go to Cannes and if not, then Locarno seems like the most likely fest to premiere film.

Film tells the story of  Michael (28) a German lawyer in Berlin who is visited by his distant father from Poland. During one weekend, father and son, strangers to each other, develop empathy and friendship. After his father’s departure Michael realizes his displacement. The city he lives in the only place he belongs to.

A co production between Family Affair Films (Netherlands), Opus Film (Poland) and Niko Film (Germany).



Małgorzata Szumowska with Twarz (Face)

My first Szumowska film was Elles and yes, went back to see some of her previous work and forward into In the Name of (2013 Berlinale Teddy award winner) and Body (2015 Berlinale Best Director winner).

Even do she has done several award winners films, she has never been in Cannes, so perhaps this year will be her chance to be in the most famous festival in the world, after being in Berlin and Locarno.

Poland's TVN Film is the co producer along her Nowhere Films production company.  Story is based on real events and revolves around a man who had a transplanted face and the search of a new identity in contemporary Poland.

There is not much info about film which makes me somehow doubt if film will be ready for Cannes or if will go to other film festivals as one thing I'm sure, her films will open in a major film festival or at least in other European film festival.

Ruben Östlund with The Square

Östlund has been one of my favorite contemporary directors since his outstanding 2008 De Ofrivilliga (Involuntary), can't say enjoyed Play but then his 2014 Cannes UCR winner Force Majeure was another tour-de-force in Nordic cinema that blew my mind.  Now he has been lured into the world of  English-spoken films BUT have hope as even do film has USA money, is a co production with Sweden, Germany, and France.  Sigh.

If film is as interesting as his great films then have NO doubt that film will be in Cannes and after premiering twice in Un Certain Regard perhaps is time to graduate into the main competition.

Film follows a museum manager in charge of an exhibition space that houses a new installation providing people with a symbolic space where only good things can happen. The movie’s protagonist is the manager of the museum who hires a ruthless PR firm to build some buzz around the installation, but the publicity evokes a public uproar.  More specific story-line tells about a city square where there are no rules and people can do whatever they want.



Produced by director's production company Plattform Produktion, Film i Väst, Société Parisienne de Production - Coproduction Office, Essential Filmproduktion, ARTE Deutschland. Sales are by Coproduction Office and USA rights have been pre-sold to Magnolia Films.

Some Festival News

As expected festival organizers started to announce news drop-by-drop which obviously increases daily interest in the festival.  Among the news the one that generated major buzz is Monica Bellucci named the festival ceremonies host as we will have the pleasure of watching her in the opening and the closing ceremonies and no doubt that will be more refreshing -and more elegant- than last year's fiasco with Lafitte.

Most blog regulars know how much I like Bellucci and it's a fact that I have seen almost all films in which she has performed: the good, the bad and yes, the ugly!  So, no doubt I will enjoy a bit more the ceremonies as like many of us, definitively enjoy to watch beauty.

More interesting for me are today news as one of my favorite contemporary directors has been named President of  Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury!  Outstanding master filmmaker Cristian Mungiu will preside over a jury that will have to watch lots of short films in both festival sections.  The director, screenwriter and producer follows in the footsteps of Naomi Kawase, Abderrahmane Sissako, Abbas Kiarostami and Jane Campion.

As an eminent representative of the Romanian New Wave, Cristian Mungiu enjoys a long and glittering history with the Festival. Having won the Palme with his astounding second feature film, 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days, he went on to garner the Best Screenplay and Best Actress prizes for Beyond the Hills and the Best Director prize for Graduation. 

"Cristian Mungiu is a glorious member of that Romanian school showcased by Thierry Frémaux in the 2000s", says Gilles Jacob, President of the Cinéfondation. "Just to look at the intelligence and interactive ramifications of a screenplay like Graduation is to understand that Cristian is the dream examiner for the big Festival exam – the Cinéfondation and the short films. I wonder who will pass? Good luck to all the candidates!"

For his part, Cristian Mungiu’s first reaction was to say: "Value and originality have never achieved easy recognition in the cinema. And it’s even harder to recognize the value and originality of very young directors. But the Cinéfondation is known for having succeeded in doing just that to great effect. The Cinéfondation has always given young directors the help and recognition they needed at the very outset of their career, so that they could express themselves with courage and find their own voice. Long may that continue to achieve the same impact. It’s an endeavor in which I’m proud to be playing a part."

Let's recall that short films usually identify potential filmmakers of the future and to point out those that will stand this year will for sure be no easy task. Great!

As you can see in above photographs the probable graphic identity for this milestone festival edition will be clean and simple.  Some are already praising the graphics, me hope for more celebratory graphic identity as believe should represent what 70 years of the film festival has been to the industry, the cinema world and we, the film audience. Sigh.  Believe that next "drop" has to be the festival poster and hope comes before the end of the week.

The 56th edition of La Semaine de la Critique celebrates Brazilian cinema by inviting Kleber Mendonça Filho, to be the President of the jury. As a parallel section dedicated to revealing emerging talents, La Semaine de la Critique is happy to welcome the frontrunner of the new generation of Brazilian filmmakers arising on the international scene.

La Semaine de la Critique has chosen him to give the Nespresso Grand Prize and the France 4 Visionary Award to one of the 7 feature films competing, as well as the Leica Cine Discovery Prize to one of the 10 short films. In order to carry out the mission of this jury, he will be joined by Diana Bustamante Escobar (producer and artistic director of the Cartagena Film Festival, Colombia), Eric Kohn (chief film critic and deputy-editor for Indiewire, USA), Hania Mroué (director of Metropolis Art Cinema, Lebanon) and Niels Schneider (actor, César Award for Best Male Newcomer, France).

Now let's go back to French cinema and my wish list for this festival edition.  As a huge art-lover I'm always interested in French art masters bio films, unfortunately not all films are as good as what the artist art is but there are some exceptions and the one that comes to my mind is the recent Renoir that was an acceptable film about a father and a son with the famous last name.  This year there are two French films, one about Rodin and another about Gauguin.  If any of these films make it, then I'll be content as assures better-than-average film quality.  Sigh.  So let's start with them to continue with a few more French productions and their directors.

Jacques Doillon with Rodin

It is Doillon's 28th feature film and as we recall, he has been selected in competition at Berlin 4 times, at Venice also 4 times and twice on the Croisette; so, there are chances that film goes to Cannes or if not, will end-up in Venice for sure.

Written by Doillon the script sees a 42-year-old Rodin meet Camille Claudel, a young woman desperate to become his assistant. He quickly acknowledges her as his most able pupil, and treats her as an equal in matters of creation. More than a decade of work and passionate engagement ensues. Countless break-ups are followed by just as many make-ups, until Camille decides to break up definitively, something from which she will never recover, and from which Rodin himself will emerge deeply wounded. The film also recounts the artist's numerous affairs with assistants and models, as well as his relationship with Rose Beuret, his lifelong partner. We discover Rodin as an erotically charged sensualist, for whom art is a profoundly sexual delight – a sculptor of flesh in movement, who gives life to the very stone itself.

Vincent Lindon plays Auguste Rodin and Izia Higlin, Camile Claudel.  Plot makes me recall two French films, 1988 Camille Claudel with Isabelle Adjani in the lead role and Gérard Depardieu as Rodin plus 2013 Camille Claudel 1915 with Juliette Binoche as the lead; both films are remarkable, so let's hope that Doillon's version ,which is centered in Rodin and not Claudel, will bring something new and outstanding.

It's a Belgium-France co production with Les Films du Ledemain, Wild Bunch, France 3 Cinéma and Artémis Productions as the production companies plus Wild Bunch also handling the international sales.  Rights have been bought in advance by Canal+ and Cine+.



Edouard Deluc with Gauguin

Not very familiar with director, but have seen his debut feature film 2012 Welcome to Argentina which to me style speaks more about Latin American cinema than what French cinema could be.  It is Deluc's second feature film. Nevertheless will not deny that film attracts me more for the actor that plays the famous French painter, Vincent Cassel; so, maybe film is here not for the right reasons.

Still there is positive potential in the story as centers on his Polynesian period where his most famous paitings are done and where he abandons the European moral codes. Check the synopsis in French: 1891. Gauguin s’exile à Tahiti. Il veut trouver sa peinture, en homme libre, en sauvage, loin des codes moraux, politiques et esthétiques de l’Europe civilisée. Il s’enfonce dans la jungle, bravant la solitude, la pauvreté, la maladie. Il y rencontrera Tehura, qui deviendra sa femme, et le sujet de ses plus grandes toiles.  Script writers are Deluc, Thomas Lilti, Etienne Comar in collaboration with Sarah Kamisky, a group of talented directors/screenwriters that also could make film to stand above average.  Summary in English:  the script begins in 1890. In order to break away from Western civilization, Paul Gauguin has exiled himself in Polynesia, where he meets Tehura, his partner, with whom he falls madly in love and who will inspire a number of his major pieces. A quest for the absolute and for freedom...



Film is also known as Noa Noa, Paul Gauguin, Voyage de Tahiti and has a release date in France for September 27, 2017; was produced by Move Movie with co production agreements with StudioCanal and US Cohen Media Group -who will handle US film release- and international sales by StudioCanal. Has been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Cine+.

Laurent Cantet with L'Atelier (The Workshop)

Cantet is back in France with a drama starring Marina Foïs and a script co-written with his regular Robin Campillo, a film that seems to have big chances to end-up in Cannes where he already won the Palme d'Or for his 2008 Entre les murs.

Synopsis: La Ciotat, the South of France, summer. Antoine has agreed to attend a writing workshop in which a few young people have to write a crime thriller with the help of Olivia, a famous novelist. The writing process will recall the town's industrial past, a form of nostalgia that doesn't interest Antoine. More concerned with the fears of the modern world, the young man soon clashes with the group and Olivia, who will be both alarmed and captivated by Antoine's violence.

Not sure if film has what it needs to be in a major festival but know that the best qualification comes from the director, so have to assume that film has possibilities for Cannes and if not, then has to be Venice.

Film was produced by Archipel 35/Archipel 33 in co production with France 2 Cinéma, Canal+ and Ciné+. International sales by Films Distribution.



Serge Bozon with Madame Hyde (Mrs. Hyde)

Bozon has been twice in Cannes Directors' Fortnight so his third feature film Mrs. Hyde has chances to premiere in Cannes and perhaps now to be part of the Official Selection as even when film is inspired by that Doctor (Jekyll) and that Mr. (Hyde) has a possible great twist with the Mrs. especially when she is played by none other than Isabelle Huppert!

Written by Bozon and Axelle Ropert, story centers around Mrs. Géquil, an eccentric teacher who is despised by her colleagues and her students. One stormy night, she is struck by lightning and faints. When she comes to, she feels completely different… but will Mrs. Géquil be able to control the powerful and dangerous Mrs. Hyde who also now lives inside her?

No need to say that I see everything with Huppert as many blog readers know, but of course I'm very curious about this version of the classic tale and can't wait to be able to see film, sigh (will be a long wait-lol).

Produced by Les Films Pelléas and co-produced by Arte France Cinéma, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, and Belgian Frakas Productions. Pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the film is also being supported by  the CNC, the Île-de-France region and the Cinémage and Indéfilms SOFICAS.  International sales handled by MK2.



Michaël R. Roskam with Le Fidèle (Racer and the Jailbird)

After his first feature film, Academy Award nominated Bullhead, director went to America to film inconsequential The Drop; now returns to his roots with a film starring Matthias Schoenaerts and Adèle Exarchopoulos and a compelling story that seems could be as violent as his first.  Roskam has never been in Cannes, Bullhead premiered in Berlin, but somehow believe this film has the right credentials to become his first visit to Cannes, perhaps in the Official Selection or in the Directors' Fortnight. 

Synopsis:  Set against the background of a brutal crime gang in Brussels, a tragic love story between Gigi, a high-flying gangster, and Bibi, a young racing driver with very upper-class roots. When Gino Gigi meets Bénédicte Bibi at the racetrack, it’s love at first sight. But very soon fate pulls them apart. Fierce and loyal, Gigi and Bibi are forced to fight for their love against reason and their own weakness. But how far can endurance be stretched? How far can they go to try and save what may already be lost?

Film genre has been labeled as Amour Noir which yes, tickles my imagination and raises expectations but the like Schoenaerts performances, at least more than Exarchopoulos performances -with the obvious exception of the Blue movie-.

Produced by Savage Film and co produced by Eyeworks (Belgium), Stone Angels (France), Kaap Holland (Netherlands), Submarine (Netherlands), Frakas Productions (Belgium) and RTBF. American Neon has pre-bought the North American rights from Wild Bunch that handles international sales.  Soon enough will find if film is majority or minority French, but for now will keep film in this segment.



André Téchiné with Nos années folles (Our Roaring Twenties)

His 22nd feature film.  Been 6 times in competition at Cannes where won Best Director in 1985; once in Venice and 3 times in Berlin.  Most important for me, a great filmmaker with a body of work with outstanding films told with a very particular storytelling style and his (always) LGBT-interest subtle content.  Will he be back to Cannes with this period drama?  Let's hope so as story seems as compelling as what is told in most of his films.

Synopsis: Based on a true story, the plot revolves around newlyweds Paul and Louise, as World War I breaks out. After two years on the front-line, Paul maims himself and deserts his post. But how can he hide when he is condemned to death in war-torn Paris? Louise dresses him up as a woman. He becomes Suzanne, drags his wife around the debauched Paris of the Golden Twenties and earns quite a reputation for himself. In 1925, once he is finally granted amnesty, Suzanne attempts to revert back to being Paul…

Téchiné co-wrote the script with Cédric Anger, based on the book La Garçonne et l’assassin by Fabrice Virgili and Danièle Voldman. Film leads are two interesting young actors, Céline Sallette and Pierre Deladonchamps.  Release date has been established for September 13, 2017 which gives an opportunity of an early premiere in Cannes or in Venice. Even do according to recent news, film seems will go more to Venice as production is scheduled to end this spring, Celluloid Dreams lists film as "Completed" so perhaps Cannes is still a possibility.

Production is by ARP Sélection and Celluloid Dreams has international sales.  By-the-way Celluloid Dreams English title is Golden Years instead of above name.

Drop-by-drop suddenly stop last week so noise has been low, except for the many articles with Cannes possible films that populate almost every single movies site in the net.  Among the jungle there is one place that every year I recommend as lists 100 films for Cannes and predicts the festival section where each film may end; I'm talking about Wask that already published films from 41 position to 100 and still has two more posts to finish the 100 films for this year.  Unfortunately site is in French, but if you do not read/understand the language suggest to use google translator that works fine for basic info.  To check site please go here.

Already covered films by great filmmakers Anne Fontaine, Lucrecia Martel, Naomi Kawase, Urzula Antoniak, and Malgorzata Szumowska but want to explore deeper to find more films by female directors with Cannes possibilities and more important, that could become must-be-seen for me.

Lisa Langseth with Euforia (Euphoria)

Absolutely must-be-seen for me as Alicia Vikander is allover this movie which marks the third collaboration between Vikander and Langseth. Director hasn't opened in a major festival but with Vikander producing and acting I'm sure doors will open and then we have to consider that Langseth's first feature Pure premiered in Pusan and her second, Hotel was in Toronto, so she already has some experience.  Film is Langseth's first English-language and third feature film which means that Alicia Vikander has started in all her movies.

Synopsis: The story of two sisters on a journey, where they try to get close to each other and approach the tough questions in life. Euphoria is a contemporary drama about responsibility and reconciliation, in a world where these concepts are gradually being lost.

Produced by B-Reel Films (Sweden) and co produced by Vikarious Productions (Alicia Vikander production company based in UK) and Dancing Camel (Germany). Production aid from Filmregion Stockholm-Mälardalen, Sveriges Television, Nordsvensk Filmunderhållning, SF Studios & Reel Ventures.  Also produced in association with Wild Bunch Germany and Dorian Media Ltd. With the support from Creative Europe, Swedish Film Institute, FFF Bayern, Deutsches Filmförderfonds & Nordisk Film & TV Fund.  International sales are by Great Point Media.

According to the Swedish Film Institute, release date in Sweden will be on 2017-10-06, which I believe is October 6, 2017; date suggest film could have an early premiere in Cannes or wait for late summer release in Venice.



Clio Barnard with Dark River

Second feature film (or third when we consider award winning documentary The Arbor) by acclaimed British director better-known for her outstanding The Selfish Giant that opened in 2013 Cannes Directors' Fortnight and went to win the Label Europa Cinemas award.  She has the right credentials for Cannes and maybe this year she could be part of the Official Selection.

Synopsis: Following the death of her father, Alice returns to her home village for the first time in 15 years, to claim the tenancy to the family farm she believes is rightfully hers. Once there she is confronted by a brother she barely recognizes, worn down by years of trying to keep the farm going, who is naturally hostile to her arrival and her claim over the tenancy. Their dispute unearths traumatic memories for Alice, memories which have remained dormant for years but which now threaten both of their futures.

Produced by Moonspun Films with Left Bank Pictures; backed by Film4, the BFI Film Fund, Screen Yorkshire and the Wellcome Trust.  Protagonist Pictures is handling world sales.

Rebecca Daly with Good Favour

Third feature film by Irish director that rose to prominence in 2011 Cannes Directors' Fortnight with the Other Side of Sleep.

The story takes place in the middle of a forest in Germany, where a small community of Christians has settled. One day, a young man aged 18-19 appears out of nowhere and enters their lives. He’s very mysterious, no one knows where he’s from, and the story is about how he changes the community and how it changes him, and what that entails. Daly wrote the screenplay with Glenn Montgomery. The initial idea for the story came to us from an article about a young man wandering around Berlin who claimed he didn’t know who he was, before the truth finally came out that he came from Amsterdam and had simply run away from his responsibilities and his pregnant girlfriend. A pathetic ending to the story, no? But we liked the initial idea of a boy who appears out of nowhere, who says he can’t remember anything, and what effect that could have on others.

Produced by Savage Productions (Ireland), Viking Film (Netherlands), Final Cut for Real (Denmark) and Wrong Men (Belgium).

Haifaa Al-Mansour with Mary Shelley

Acclaimed director third film after 2005 documentary Women Without Shadows and outstanding 2012 Wadjda, her first in English and with major cast of young actors has right credentials to be her first film in Cannes perhaps making the Official Selection; but we can't ignore that Wadjda opened in Venice, so there are chances film could wait for a Venice premiere.

The story is another version of the love affair between poet Percy Shelley and 18-years-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, which resulted in Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein.  Elle Fanning plays Mary Shelley but cast also includes Maisie Williams, Bel Powley, Joanne Froggatt, Tom Sturridge and Douglas Booth as Percy Shelley.  Film was also known as Storm in the Stars.

Can't imagine the probable challenge the director faced as we all have learned what happens when a director does a film not in her/his mother tongue, where very few succeed and many fail.  But let's hope this is a success story that could translate into a major festival inclusion.

It's a production by Gidden Media (USA), HanWay Films (UK), Juliette Films (Luxembourg), Parallel Films (UK), Sobini Films (USA), in association with Head Gear Films and Metrol Technology. HanWay Films handles international sales.



Noémie Lvovsky with Demain et tous les autres jours (Tomorrow and Thereafter)

There is not much info available for this film but the stars are Lucie Saint-Jean, Mathieu Amalric, Denis Denis Podalydès and Lvovsky.

Most surprising is to find that film started production in 2015 and according to Unifrance current status is still post-production; so, have to wonder what's going on with this movie and if will/could be released this year.

Synopsis: Mathilde is ten years old. Her parents are separated and she lives alone with her mother. Her mother is disturbed and has trouble coping with everyday life and the real world. Mathilde can see that others consider her mother crazy, but to her it’s just everyday life. She protects her mother. She can sense the threat of separation, without knowing when or how it could take place. She does all she can to forestall it, fully aware that all her efforts are doomed to fail.

Produced by F Comme Film and Gaumont; co produced by France 2 Cinema. Gaumont Distribution will distribute in France.

Sofia Coppola with The Beguilded

Not really a Coppola fan as it's hard for me to positively appreciate her style, perhaps there is one film that I liked, Lost in Translation, but believe as she developed her filmmaking style, it evolved into a different direction from her first film. Nevertheless, have seen all her movies and there is little doubt when I say will see this one too. Sigh.

Lately Colin Farrell has been working hard and seems he's allover the place in many different genre films; so, no surprise he is in this film along Nicole Kidman, Elle Fanning and Kristen Dunst. Not only cast has the right credentials for Cannes but also the director as she has been before in the festival as part of the Official Selection, therefore chances are that IF film is ready then could end up premiering in Cannes.  The only little -but important- drawback is because film is a remake!  Yes, is a remake of 1971 film with the same name by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Harman.  Ah! the cherry on top of the remake is that Siegel's film was a commercial failure.

I know everything has been ruined for me as can't imagine Farrell playing Eastwood's role; also not easy to imagine a role played by Geraldine Page now played by Nicole Kidman -no matter how much I like Kidman when she's given the right role this one is perhaps too much for her or maybe she'll surprise as she has done before.

Here I am, talking a lot about a movie that no matter what know will watch -eventually.  So let's move forward to check synopsis:  At a girls' school in Virginia during the Civil War, where the young women have been sheltered from the outside world, a wounded Union soldier is taken in. Soon, the house is taken over with sexual tension, rivalries, and an unexpected turn of events.

Film is scheduled to open on June 30, 2017 which strangely enough makes it a "summer movie".



Lynne Ramsay with You Were Never Really Here

In 2016 Cannes a "splashy" deal was made and Amazon Studios won rights to this film directed by the acclaimed director of outstanding We Need To Talk About Kevin and starring none other than Joaquin Phoenix as a war vet who devotes himself to saving women exploited by sex traffickers.  Film is based on  Jonathan Ames novella with the same name.

Film's director plus lead make it absolutely must-be-seen for me no matter if it makes it or not to Cannes or any other film festival, sigh.  But there is no doubt that film credentials and story could appeal to any festival programmer and Ramsay as well as Phoenix have the right credentials to premiere in Cannes.

Synopsis:  A former Marine and ex–FBI agent, Joe has seen one too many crime scenes and known too much trauma, and not just in his professional life. Solitary and haunted, he prefers to be invisible. He doesn't allow himself friends or lovers and makes a living rescuing young girls from the deadly clutches of the sex trade. But when a high-ranking New York politician hires him to extricate his teenage daughter from a Manhattan brothel, Joe uncovers a web of corruption that even he may not be able to unravel. When the men on his trail take the only person left in the world who matters to him, he forsakes his pledge to do no harm. If anyone can kill his way to the truth, it's Joe.

Produced by Why Not Productions (France) and Sixteen Films (UK); coproduced by Page 114 (France) and developed with suppport of Film4 (UK) and BFI (UK). Amazon Studios will distribute in USA and StudioCanal in UK.



Ann Hui with 明月几时有 Ming Jyut Gei Si Jau (Our Time Will Come)

Our Time Will Come previously known as The Great Escape is the latest film from critically acclaimed director Ann Hui and stars Zhou Xun as Fang Gu, a school teacher who becomes a guerrila fighter in order to defend Hong Kong from Japanese occupation.

One of the most admired directors from Hong Kong with outstanding films like A Simple Life and The Golden Era, which premiered in Venice but she has been three times in Cannes and perhaps this film could make her comeback after the last time in 1990.   What worries me are the many news about this being a "different" Ann Hui film which don't know if are good or bad news; Polybona Films president says "film will present a brave, bloody and aggressive Ann Hui" (!!!) which definitively are good news to those that enjoy action movies but perhaps not for those -like me- that highly enjoy her quiet outstanding films.

Still, watching the teaser can see beauty in her images, so perhaps her filmmaking essence is still present no matter what everyone says.

Synopsis:  Set in the 1940s, the story tells the story of a legendary woman Fang Gu, who is one of the key figures during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. It will also portrayal the fight and struggle for freedom and independence by youths of the resistance groups.

Film is slated to premier July 1st, 20 years after the day Britain transferred Hong Kong's sovereignty back to China.  Produced by Polybona Filmsand. Distributed by Bona Film Group Limited and Huaxia Film Distributions.

Since last week was impatiently waiting for the unveil of this edition visual identity and finally today the suspense ended with a pleasant surprise and a very-unpleasant shocker.  Sigh.

Let's start with the great news as none other than beautiful Claudia Cardinale is this year's cinema icon that graces the poster and the photo designers used is a fantastic photo from an unknown photographer that only adds some mystery to the photography.  As in last year poster a color filter is applied and this year the filter is red that enhance the gold letters.  So is a "hot" combination of red and hot for a milestone anniversary.

From my previous writings you can tell that I like the poster as yes, I do love Claudia Cardinale from all her movies I saw in my youth. See, along with Monica Vitti, Virna Lisi, Gina Lollobrigida and  Sofia Loren, Cardinale belongs to a group of 60's Italian Cinema beauties that gave some outstanding performances in several films by very well-known master filmmakers.  My huge problem, and very-unpleasant news, is the use of photoshop to slim Cardinale.  Check the original black and white photo.

 

As some of you know, my background is advertising and yes, I know about the use of photoshop to enhance visuals and getting to the point, approve to erase the hair between arm and face plus the reduction of her skirt in a couple of places BUT what was unnecessary is to slim her waist and her legs as NONE of those elements, if left them as the original, would have interfere with the number 70 or the letters in Cannes design.  So, the later is unacceptable as does not represent the actress and reinforces the negativity around women curves and photoshop. Shame, sigh.

There is a lot of controversy and one article that gives a clue about what's happening is the one that claims to have contacted Cannes authorities to be told to contact the advertising agency, which in turn told reporters to contact Cannes authorities!  Gosh, seems no one will assume responsibility as probably there most be hundreds (or thousands) of print material already printed with "slim" Claudia and to change them means lost of thousands of money. (LOL)  It is my experience that the person from the Client (the festival) who approved the work is in trouble BUT as always happens, it is the advertising agency the one that will be blamed (lol) and perhaps even fired.

Check the following photo published by Le Huffington Post in a article here; it shows all points where photo was manipulated.



Well, enough of the bad and lets proceed with the positive.  The following is a cut and paste of the official press release.

Full of joy, freedom and daring, just like Claudia Cardinale dancing on its official poster, the 70th Festival de Cannes (17-28 May) promises a celebration in passionate red and sparkling gold.

She dances, she laughs, she lives! Who better to symbolize the next Festival than Claudia Cardinale, the image of an adventurous actress, independent woman and social activist? Throughout the 12-days festival, the spirit of openness and welcome will infuse the Croisette – as it does every year – with pictures of a world that dares to look itself in the mirror, to stand proud and to speak out.

"I am honoured and proud to be flying the flag for the 70th Festival de Cannes,"says Claudia Cardinale, "and delighted with this choice of photo. It’s the image I myself have of the Festival, of an event that illuminates everything around. That dance on the rooftops of Rome was back in 1959. No one remembers the photographer’s name… I’ve also forgotten it. But this photo reminds me of my origins, and of a time when I never dreamed of climbing the steps of the world’s most famous cinema hall. Happy anniversary!"

With Monica Bellucci as Mistress of Ceremonies and Pedro Almodóvar as the President of the Jury, the Festival de Cannes will kick off on Wednesday 17 May.

The last ends the press release.  Now, what I find nice are the colorful -with a degrade that goes from hot to cold or from cold to hot- this year signatures; check the following examples to see if you agree.





To check the news at festival official site go here and what follows are the credits for the original photography, the advertising agency plus the visual identity creator and the vertical poster.

Credits
Bronx (Paris). Photo: Claudia Cardinale © Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche/Getty Images
Bronx agency (Paris) / www.bronx.fr designed the poster for the 70th Festival de Cannes.
The visual identity was created by Philippe Savoir (Filifox) / www.filifox.com.

Time runs fast when you are waiting but finally next week we will learn the Official Selection and then, the cinema feast turns inside out as we cinema lover will place each film into the microscope in an effort into guessing why film made it to the selection.  So, we are close to turn into film dissect mode.

After a few days with many non-pleasant analysis, tweets, and news about this year very-controversial poster there was an official communication from the festival that decided to use Claudia Cardinale words instead of their own and to my HUGE surprise among her words there was a phrase that hit me hard: 

"It is only cinema, let us not forget."

If you wish to read the complete statement go official site here.

Now we have the Cannes Film Festival saying through the words of an actress that is this year icon in the official poster that "whatever" is happening in the major manifestation of cinema in the world is "irrelevant", "inconsequential" and should not be taken "seriously" as "it's only cinema".  Gee, sorry Cannes but you do not say that to cinephiles and cinema lovers around the world, to those that believe cinema can be art, it is art and please listen up, Cannes and Ms. Cardinale, cinema is not "only" cinema as paintings are not "only" paintings, sculptures are not "only" sculptures, music is not only "music", architecture is not "only" architecture.  It is hard for me to do not dig deeper into the mess Cannes is doing this year so will stop with only the comparison of cinema and art but as many of us know there are more comparisons we can do; so, NO, cinema is not and will never be "only cinema".

Sigh.

Now after getting my breath back let's talk about what we love the most, cinema and more great filmmakers with films that could end-up in Cannes this year.

Do not enjoy Michel Hazanavicius films but LOVE Louis Garrel; do not like much of the later films by Godard but LOVE Louis Garrel!  So, yes will see Le Redoutable with not much expectations but will not talk too much about film as being part of my wish list.  In the same category is Erick Zonca but I LOVE performances by Romain Duris and Vincent Cassel, so will see Fleuve Noir.  there are other French films that surely deserve to be in Cannes but it's time to talk a bit about the Americans, American productions, and/or films in the English-language.

Todd Haynes with Wonderstruck

After Carol, Haynes turned his attention to the adaptation of Brian Selznick's novel with the same name, got the author to write the screenplay and Michelle Williams to play the adult lead along with Julianne Moore.  End result is a film with high probabilities to make it to Cannes.

Not know yet if is good or bad news, but 5-days ago there were several articles commenting about the film footage shown at CinemaCon, which most describe as "unlike anything the director has done before".   Let's hope all this buzz translates into positive news, sigh.  Not encouraging news were also found in those articles that claim film is "unfinished", which obviously makes me wonder if is ready for Cannes.

Storyline: The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.

Most interesting is to find that the young girl is played by a deaf newcomer young actress with no previous acting experience, which obviously tickles my curiosity in the most positive way as non-actors always bring something new to filmmaking, just take a look at most films from Asian master filmmakers to see what I mean.

Amazon Studios produces film along with Cinetic Media, FilmNation Entertainment, Killer Films and Picrow.  Visual effects by Alchemy 24. USA distribution in all media belongs to Amazon Studios.



Bong Joon-ho with 옥자 Okja

South Korean director of films like 2009 Mother or 2008 Tokyo! segment Shaking Tokyo plus his not-so-good English-language debut Snowpiercer has a new film (again) starring Tilda Swinton and (again) in the English-language (sigh).

Okja will have limited theaters and Netflix release on June 28 with makes Cannes the ideal fest to premiere film that has the right directorial and casting credentials that besides Swinton also includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Lily Collins and more.

Film already has a teaser which suggest is ready, open to international sales -even when is a Netflix production- which somehow makes us think film will have a Cannes premiere as everyone is forecasting.

Check synopsis: For 10 idyllic years, young Mija (An Seo Hyun) has been caretaker and constant companion to Okja—a massive animal and an even bigger friend—at her home in the mountains of South Korea. But that changes when the family-owned multinational conglomerate Mirando Corporation takes Okja for themselves and transports her to New York, where image obsessed and self-promoting CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) has big plans for Mija’s dearest friend. With no particular plan but single-minded in intent, Mija sets out on a rescue mission, but her already daunting journey quickly becomes more complicated when she crosses paths with disparate groups of capitalists, demonstrators and consumers, each battling to control the fate of Okja…while all Mija wants to do is bring her friend home. Deftly blending genres, humor, poignancy and drama, Bong Joon Ho begins with the gentlest of premises—the bond between man and animal—and ultimately creates a distinct and layered vision of the world that addresses the animal inside us all.



Darren Aronofsky with Mother!

How can anyone be not excited about any upcoming film by Aronofsky?  Not me, I am.  More excitement comes when I learn lead is Jennifer Lawrence and everything goes the drain (lol) when learn movie belongs to the horror genre!  Well, if many think Black Swan was horror, then have to imagine Mother! will have same style and that pleases me.

Story genre was "leaked" at recent CinemaCon (so many things happened there, should pay more attention to this annual convention) including the extended cast that includes Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, Kristen Wiig and Domnhall Gleeson.

Film plot is about a couple's relationship that's tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence and seems film will open on October 13th, 2017.

Will film be ready for Cannes or is it really Cannes material?  Don't know.  Still, my best reference is Black Swan and the incredible festival-attractive cast, so maybe film has chances to make it to Cannes and if not, then to Venice.  Now this film doesn't need any festival push but actually is the kind of film that brings lots of buzz to the festival and can be shown out of competition OR if is really good be in competition.



Movie is produced by Aronofsky's own Protozoa Pictures and distributed by Paramount Picture.

John Cameron Mitchell with How to Talk to Girls at Parties

British-American science fiction romantic-comedy film directed by John Cameron Mitchell and written by Philippa Goslett and Cameron Mitchell, based on the short story of same name by Neil Gaiman. The film stars Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Wilson, and Matt Lucas.  Festival darling director plus cast makes film very-attractive to festival programmers and my best guess says film has high probabilities to end-up in Cannes.

Alright, not crazy about director but have seen all his films and yet, believe that his acting is somehow more impactful than his films (lol), LOVED him in a recent episode of TV-show The Good Fight

Film takes us to an exotic and unusual world: suburban London in the late 70s to tell us the following story. Under the spell of the Sex Pistols, every teenager in the country wants to be a punk, including our hopeless hero Enn. Hearing the local punk Queen Boadicea (Kidman) is throwing a party, Enn crashes the fun and discovers every horny boy's dream; gorgeous foreign exchange students. When he meets the enigmatic Zan (Fanning), it's lust at first sight. But these girls have come a lot further than America. They are, in fact, aliens from another galaxy, sent to Earth to prepare for a mysterious rite of passage. When the dark secret behind the rite is revealed, our galaxy-crossed lover Enn must turn to Boadicea and her punk followers for help in order to save the alien he loves from certain death. The punks take on the aliens on the streets of London, and neither Enn nor Zan's universe will ever be the same again.



Film was produced by HanWay Films (UK), Little Punk (US) and See-Saw Films (UK). A24 has USA distribution rights and StudioCanal UK has UK rights.

Yorgos Lanthimos with The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Festival favorite son Lanthimos has a new movie with another very-attractive cast for festival programmers as film leads are Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell, which assures appeal to Cannes -or if film is not ready- to Venice.

Have to comment that Nicole Kidman and Colin Farrell most likely will be walking the red carpet in Cannes as if is not because this movie then also have chances with The Beguilded by Sofia Coppola and Kidman third possibility is above film by John Cameron Mitchell. 

Have a love/hate relationship with director as love his early work but unfortunately tend to not like too-much (ok, hate) his non-Greek films; so, probably will not be pleased with this film but of course, will watch it!

The story follows a young man that needs to take revenge, a doctor that has to make a decision, and his family that must survive. A psychological thriller with supernatural elements.  Inspired by a Euripides tragedy, the story centers on Steven, a charismatic surgeon, and a teenage boy who seeks to integrate him into his broken family. When the boy’s actions become increasingly sinister, Steven’s ideal life starts to fall apart and he is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice.

Film was produced by An Element Pictures (Ireland and UK), A24 (US), Film4 (UK) with support of New Sparta (UK and Three Point Capital (US).  A24 has USA distribution rights, Curzon Artificial UK rights and Haut et Court France's rights.



Wim Wenders with Submergence

Another hard-working actress with at least two opportunities of walking the red carpet is Alicia Vikander, now working along with James McAvoy, Reda Kateb and Charlotte Rampling in a film by none other than Wim Wenders!

Most interesting is to find that film is ready as according to world sales company info, 2017 first quarter was delivery date and is ready.  Obviously news increase Cannes chances for film, so imagine film could be in competition as Wenders has been many times in Cannes competition, out of competition, and Un Certain Regard; plus he has won the Palme d'Or with his marvelous 1984 Paris, Texas, many more awards being the last in 2014 with outstanding The Salt of the Earth that won Un Certain Regard Special Prize.

Film story is based on  J. M. Ledgard's novel of the same name that ranked second in New York Magazine list of 10 Best Books of 2013; with a script penned by Erin Digman.  

Synopsis: In a room with no windows on the coast of Africa, an Englishman, James More, is held captive by jihadist fighters. Posing as a water expert to report on al-Qaeda activity in the area, he now faces extreme privation, mock executions, and forced marches through the arid badlands of Somalia. Thousands of miles away on the Greenland Sea, Danielle Flinders, a biomathematician, half-French, half-Australian, prepares to dive in a submersible to the ocean floor. She is obsessed with the life that multiplies in the darkness of the lowest strata of water.  Both are drawn back to the previous Christmas, and to a French hotel on the Atlantic coast, where a chance encounter on the beach led to an intense and enduring romance. For James, his mind escapes to utopias both imagined and remembered. Danny is drawn back to beginnings: to mythical and scientific origins, and to her own. It is to each other and to the ocean that they most frequently return: magnetic and otherworldly, a comfort and a threat.



Film was produced by Green Hummingbird Entertainment, Lila 9th Productions, Neue Road Movies (Germany) and Waterstone Entertaiment in co-production with Backup Films, Morena Films (Spain) and Umedia (Belgium); in association with PalmStar Media.  Embankment Films handles world sales. Film rights already sold to Lionsgate (UK), Elevation Pictures (Canada), eOne Films (Spain), Mars Distribution (France), Warner Bros (Germany).



As you can notice poster has a BIG mistake as Vikander is not Academy Award nominee but Academy Award winner! so, perhaps is not the official poster.

Christopher Nolan with Dunkirk

Major film festivals enjoy having high profile movies as opening films, so here is one with chances as checks all requirements:  major production [check], great director [check], great cast: Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Harry Styles (lol) and more [check] and most relevant an epic story [check].  Will not spend time with this film as know will watch when release on July 21st and yes, film does not need a festival, the festival needs it as a high profile movie.

Check synopsis: Evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Empire, Canada, and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, France, between May 26- June 04, 1940, during Battle of France in World War II.



Alexander Payne with Downsizing

Another high profile production that doesn't need a festival but fest programmer would like to be the opening film; still, as is a Payne film maybe movie goes beyond the expected and could end up competing for an award.  More than a Payne film this is another Matt Damon movie but the twist is in story described as a "social satire" which tells me story could be more interesting than regular Damon films.

CinemaCon audiences had chance to view 10 minutes clip with  a mini-man (Neil Patrick Harris) introduces a group to his life in a mini-mansion. In his home, his wife (Laura Dern) is enjoying a bath in her mini-tub, with her mini-diamonds.  One couple in the group (Damon and Kristen Wiig) are interested in the option of being shrunk down and are listening to the sales pitch. Apparently when you’re shrunk down, money goes a lot further, and so it offers the opportunity for a better life.

Downsizing is scheduled to be released on December 22, 2017 which makes Cannes a too-early pre-release and most likely will go to maybe Venice and for sure Toronto. 

David Lynch with Twin Peaks

Many -including me- imagine Twin Peaks revival will premiere in Cannes with a couple of episodes and hopefully with David Lynch in attendance as series co-creator and to my HUGE and most pleasant surprise director of ALL episodes.  Gee, that's really special and unexpected.

After learning Lynch directed all eps it becomes clear what he says about the 18-hour limited event: "is a feature film in 18 parts".  Nobody knows what third installment is all about as nothing has been given out to the public, current synopsis tell a generic of what previous seasons were all about

TV series will premiere on May 21 via Showtime and will have 18 episodes, a premiere date that suggests leaves open Cannes premiere, in a spot just like the one given to the Young Pope last year at Venice fest.  The only drawback I can find is that series was promoted at 2017 SXSW.

Love the following teaser (lol)  soooo Lynch! Yes is Lynch playing a character, Gordon





There are many more films that should belong to anybody's wish list, including mine but will stop here to take a break and wait for next week announcement.

As not many are aware of this Festival de Cannes collateral event let's share some basics about the professional program.

La Fabrique des Cinémas du Monde is a professional program helping talented young directors from emerging countries increase their international exposure. Each year this program, developed by the Institut français, in partnership with France Médias Monde with the support of The International Organization of La Fancophonie, invites ten directors working on their first or second feature films to attend the Festival de Cannes along with their producers.

During work sessions, directors have the opportunity to discuss their project with the program’s patron, an internationally renowned director.  In addition, they have direct access to the festival’s different competitive selections (La Semaine de la Critique, La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) and major Professional events and receive accreditation for the Marché du Film. They also meet the French and international press accompanied by event press officer. 

The Institut Français  also has other programs to support cultural diversity like the Cinémathèque Afrique (African Film Archive) and Aide aux Cinémas du Monde (World Cinema Support), a fund which is co-managed with the CNC.

Most interesting is to find that a La Fabrique Cinéma film (Inxeba by John Trengove) opened the Panorama section at 2017 Berlinale and there are five films ready to be distributed in theaters and festivals.

The 10 projects that will participate in La Fabrique Cinéma de l'Institut français 2017 are the following and according to French press, there are six (6) projects from first-time directors and four (4) projects are director's second feature film.  Also there is one animation, one documentary and eight fiction projects done by 3 female and 7 male directors and most interesting, these numbers flip when it comes to producers are 7 are female and 3 male.

A Love of Boluomi, Kek-Huat Lau, Malaysia
Amanda and Caio, Daniel Ribeiro, Brazil
Hawa Hawaii, Amirah Tadjin, Kenya
Nuna: The Last Myth of the Wamani, Jimy Carhuas Tintaya, Peru
One Summer Day, Zay Yar Aung, Myanmar
Renaissance, Andrey diarra, Mali
Shock Labor, Marcos Diaz Sosa, Cuba
The Bridge, Hala Lofty, Egypt
The Maiden's Pond, Bassem Breche, Lebanon
The Sovereign, Wim Steytler, South Africa

To check announcement at official site go here.

Post is a work-in-progress as soon more data about this year event and about each project will be announced; but, wanted to share the names of the 10 projects today.  Will update post as soon as data becomes available.

Will confess, just caught the last minutes of the press conference but the best part is that had no wait to learn the films!  In less than 20 seconds was able to read all the announced films and my first spontaneous reaction was to how many films Nicole Kidman has in Cannes this year, my horrible omission as loved part 1 of Jane Campion's Top of the Lake and among some surprises learning that Kristen Stewart short film will be screened as part of the 70th Anniversary Events.

Talking about Kristen Stewart, who could imagine that she will be part of group that includes Abbas Kiarostami, Jane Campion and David Lynch? Not many.  But we have to recognize that she's very talented and no, it's not surprising that she's evolving into directing.  Somehow her development road reminds me of a road traveled by an earlier film co-star; yes,  Jodie Foster.

Among the selection there are some inexplicable omissions but know everyone will be talking about it, so let's talk about the surprises.  For me the biggest surprises are the films that ended up in Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition and Special Screenings like for example, films by Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Michel Franco, James Cameron Mitchell and Hong Sangsoo.  On the positive side of the scale, it's a pleasant surprise to see in Special Screenings a film by Vanessa Redgrave and perhaps the most unexpected surprise is to find that one of my favorite directors, Fatih Akin, finished his film and is in competition!

Very pleased with the great news that a French film will open the festival as was afraid it will succumb to a blockbuster that will attract press coverage but meant not much to a great cinema festival.

From the press conference we learn that this year's edition will include four out-of-competition films, three midnight screenings, one special screenings and nine first films out of 1,930 submitted films.  Also that there will be 12 female directors in the official selection, up from 9 last year.

Today 18 films were announced as part of the main competition but expect more to be announced soon, most likely will be one or two films from China.  The best news from the competition come with the many French produced/co-produced films (yay!) which somehow minimizes the too-many American films (lol).

Spontaneously my reaction is that lineup has something for everyone as yes, it has politically charged cinema with themes about the refugee crisis, climate change, mental health and even, exploitation of animals; but also has lots of Hollywood and world cinema A-listers that will grace the red carpet plus what I thought was already a given -but no- it's first time Cannes will screen TV shows;s also for the first time, will have a virtual reality film and last, there are films by Netflix and Amazon which undoubtedly seem like they finally are acknowledging what was not long ago "the future" and the now established way to watch movies via internet streaming that generated enough cash to allow companies to produce their own films.

Competition

120 Battements par minute (BMP-Beats Per Minute), Robin Campillo, France
A Gentle Creature, Sergei Loznitsa,  France, Netherlands, Germany and Lithuania
Aus dem Nichts (In The Fade), Fatih Akin, France and Germany
Felesleges ember (Jupiter's Moon), Kornél Mundruczó, Germany and Hungary
그후 Geu-Hu (The Day After), Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
Good Time, Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie, USA
Happy End, Michael Haneke, France, Germany and Austria
光 Hikari (Radiance), Naomi Kawase, France and Japan
L'Amant Double, François Ozon, France and Belgium
Le Redoutable, Michel Hazanavicius, France
Нелюбовь Nelyubov (Loveless), Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, Belgium, Germany and France
옥자 Okja, Bong Joon-ho, South Korea and USA
Rodin, Jacques Doillon, France and Belgium
The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola, USA
The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland, UK and USA
The Meyerowitz Stories, Noah Baumbach, USA
Wonderstruck, Todd Haynes, USA
You Were Never Really Here, Lynne Ramsay,  France and UK

Out of Competition
Opening Film: Les fantômes d'Ismaël (Ismael's Ghosts), Arnaud Desplechin, France
How to Talk to Girls at Parties, James Cameron Mitchell, UK and USA
無限の住人 Mugen no jûnin (Blade of the Immortal), Takashi Miike, Japan
Visages, Villages, Agnès Varda and JR, France (documentary)

The Jury
President: Pedro Almodóvar, director, screenwriter and producer, Spain
Jessica Chastain, actress, USA



Check Competition and Out of Competition films basic info and available trailers @MOC

Un Certain Regard

Opening Film: Barbara, Mathieu Amalric, France
على كف عفريت Aala Kaf Ifrit (Beauty and the Dogs), Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia, France, Sweden, Norway, Lebanon and Switzerland
(*) Après la guerre (After The War), Annarita Zambrano, France and Italy
(*) En attendant les hirondelles (Until the Birds Return), Karim Moussaoui, Germany and France
Fortunata (Lucky), Sergio Castellitto, Italy
(*) Jeune Femme, Léonor Serraille, France and Belgium
(*)La Novia del Desierto (The Desert Bride), Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, Argentina and Chile
Las Hijas de Abril (April's Daughter), Michel Franco, Mexico
L'Atelier (The Workshop), Laurent Cantet, France
لِرد Lerd (Dregs), Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
(*) Out, György Kristóf, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia
ПОСОКИ Posoki (Directions), Stephan Komandarev, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Germany
散歩する侵略者 Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha (Before We Vanish), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan
(*) Tesnota (Closeness), Kantemir Balagov,  Russia
Western, Valeska Grisebach, Germany, Bulgaria and Austria
(*)Wind River, Taylor Sheridan, UK, Canada and USA

Un Certain Regard Jury

Check Un Certain Regard films basic info and available trailers @MOC

Special Screenings
12 Jours (12 Days), Raymond Depardon, France (documentary)
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, USA (documentary)
(*)Demonds in Paradise, Jude Ratman, France and Sri Lanka (documentary)
Keul-Le-Eo-Ui-Ka-Me-La (Clair's Camera), Hong Sangsoo, France and South Korea
Napalm, Claude Lanzmann,  France (documentary)
Promised Land, Eugene Jarecki,  UK and USA (documentary)
Sea Sorrow, Vanessa Redgrave, UK (documentary)
(*)They, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA and Qatar

Midnight Screenings
A Prayer Before Dawn, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, UK and France
악녀 Ak-Nyeo (The Villainess), Jung Byung-Gil, South Korea
불한당: 나쁜 놈들의 세상 Bulhandang (The Merciless), Byun Sung-hyun, South Korea

Virtual Reality (Film/Installation/Exhibition)
Carne y Arena, Alejandro González Iñárritu, USA

70th Anniversary Events
24 Frames, Abbas Kiarostami, Iran
Come Swim, Kristen Stewart, USA, 17'
Top of the Lake: China Girl, Jane Campion and Ariel Kleiman, Australia, UK and New Zealand
Twin Peaks, David Lynch, USA

Check Special Screenings, Midnight Screenings, Virtual Reality and 70th Anniversary Events films basic info and available trailers @MOC

(*) First Film. Competes for the Camera d'Or.

Camera d'Or Jury
President: Sandrine Kiberlain, actress, France



Short Films Competition

According to the official website, this year the selection committee received 4,843 short films and to my huge surprise out of that quite large number of films, only selected nine (9).

Usually there are ten (10) films in this competition, so there is one spot that was not filled.  I know there are some years with only 9 while others with 10 films; but we can't deny that seems almost impossible to understand why out of almost five thousand shorts there was not one to fill another spot. Acceptance ratio is unreal, so filmmakers that made the selection deserve recognition just because they made it! Sigh.

These are the nine short films running for the 2017 Short Film Palme d'Or

A Drowning Man, Mahdi Fleifel, UK, Denmark and Greece, 15'
Across My Land, Fiona Godivier, USA, 15'
Damiana, Andrés Ramírez Pulido, Colombia, 15'
Katto (Ceiling), Teppo Airaksinen, Finland, 15'
Koniec Widzenia (Time to Go), Grzegorza Mołdy, Poland, 15'
Lunch Time, Alireza Ghasemi, Iran, 15'
Pépé le morse (Grandpa Walrus), Lucrèce Andreae, France, 14' (animation)
Push It, Julia Thelin, Sweden, 8'
小城二月 Xiao Cheng Er Yue (A Gentle Night), Qiu Yang, China, 15'

Cinéfondation Selection

This year the Cinéfondation Selection has chosen sixteen (16) films (14 works of fiction and 2 animations), from among the 2,600 works submitted this year by film schools from all over the world. Fourteen (14) countries from three (3) continents are represented. Four (4) of the films selected come from schools taking part for the first time.

These are the short films running for the 2017 three Cinéfondation prizes

À perdre haleine, Léa Krawczyk, La Poudrière, France, 4' (animation)
Afternoon Clouds, Payal Kapadia, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), India, 13'
Atlantída, 2003 (Atlantis, 2003), Michal Blaško, FTF VŠMU, Slovakia, 30'
Ben Mamshich (Heritage), Yuval Aharoni, Steve Tisch School of Film & Television, Tel Aviv University, Israel, 25'
Camouflage, Imge Özbilg, KASK, Belgium, 24' (animation)
Deux égarés sont morts, Tommaso Usberti, La Fémis, France, 27'
Give Up the Ghost, Marian Mathias, NYU Tisch School of Arts, USA, 13'
Heyvan (Animal), Bahman Ark, Iranian School of Cinema, Iran, 15'
Láthatatlanul (Invisibly), Áron Szentpéteri,Színház-és Filmművészeti Egyetem, Hungary, 32'
Lejla, Stijn Bouma, Sarajevo Film Academy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22'
Paul est là (Paul is Here), Valentina Maurel, INSAS, Belgium, 24'
Pequeño Manifiesto en Contra del Cine Solemne (Little Manifesto Against Solemn Cinema), Roberto Porta, Universidad del Cine (FUC), Argentina, 14'
溶ける Tokeru, Aya Igashi, Toho Gakuen Film Techniques College, Japan, 45'
Wild Horses, Rory Stewart, NFTS, UK, 26'
Yin Shian Bien Jian Gon Lu (Towards the Sun), Wang Yi-Ling, National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan, 28'

Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Cristian Mungiu, director, screenwriter and producer, Romania



To check short films news at official site go here.

Check short films basic info and available trailers @MOC

Check Posters to all films at pinterest here.

---///---
4/12/17

One day before the much awaited press conference festival organizers release the short films lineup in the two sections where filmmakers of the future can be identified, the Short Films and the Cinéfondation competitions.  Consequently, as of this moment, the greatest cinema feast has begun in a year that will celebrate a milestone anniversary the 70th since May 31st, 1939 when the city of Cannes and the French government signed the International Film Festival's official birth certificate.

Post will be in progress until after tomorrow's press conference.

The Press Conference with English Translation. If you wish to see it in original language go here.

A few hours ago in Paris, la Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Artistic Director, Edouard Waintrop, announced the films in this year selection of the Festival de Cannes parallel section that's run by the Société des Réalisateurs de films (French Director's Guild) and believe that my greatest spontaneous surprise is the many "new" unexpected films that made the selection.

Before getting into the selection  lets review what has been going on with this Cannes parallel section before today's announcement.

The Poster

For starters we have the magnificent poster that showcases a photography by Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide with the outstanding composition of a sign she did in Italy.  What seems like a part of the sign reads "Sogno" which means Dream in English and definitively is a word many of us associate to cinema and now, thanks to this poster, to the most famous Directors' Fortnight.

Here is the copy/paste of what Waintrop says about the poster.

"To be transported by a dream is one of the things the cinema does best. Even in lockstep with the harshest reality, when it is dramatic even tragic, cinema takes us out of our context - just as this poster, built around a superb image by the great Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, does. Portraitist of the world, she has for decades transported us from paradise to purgatory and back, and transformed our world with her eye.
In Italy, she captured this sign, Sogno, dream, which is worth a program, the one we hope for the Directors’ Fortnight.
Come dream with us... "
Édouard Waintrop
Artistic Director of the Directors’ Fortnight

La Carrose d'Or 

As we already know this year the SRF will honor Werner Herzog with the Carrose d'Or and among the different events to commemorate the occasion, on May 18th there will be a tribute that includes the screening of Bad Lieutenant: Por of Call New Orleans, a conversation with Herzog as well as the promotion of the book by Hervé Aubron and Emmanuel Burdeau, Werner Herzog, pas à pas.

The Factory

The Quinzaine is also hosting the 4th edition of its talent development initiative The Factory, which this year is focused on emerging directors from Lebanon. So there will be One Country, 8 directors, 6 nationalities, 4 short films and one feature film to open the 2017 Director's Fortnight in Cannes.

The following are the 8 directors that in couples will produce the four short films:

Ahmad Ghossein (Lebanon) & Lucie La Chimia (France)
Mounia Akl (Lebanon) & Ernesto Vilalobos (Costa Rica)
Rami Kodeih (Lebanon) & Una Gunjak (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Shirin Abu Shaqra (Lebanon) & Manuel Maria Almereyda Perrone (Switzerland)

To the right is The Lebanon Factory poster with artwork by renowned Lebanese artist Nada Sehnaoui and design by Mike Malajalian.

If you wish to learn more about The Lebanon Factory go to their official facebook page here.  Have to confess that I'm still (after reading all about the Factory) what the "one feature film" is all about as today we learned the film that will open la Quinzaine and definitively is not related to The Lebanon Factory.

The Selection

The official announcement came to me in the wee hours but brave me, saw it live. Yes, after went back to sleep (lol) as was way too-early to wake up.   So today will be a slow-motion day for me, sigh.

Have very little doubt to call this year's selection eclectic as find a very diverse mix of film from all over the world but with too-many American films for my taste, especially when some American films come from this year's Sundance fest.  Still, I'm very glad that some of my wish list films do appear in the selection as will give us glimpses of great directors plus great French actresses.

There are some films by established directors like Claire Denis, Philippe Garrel, Bruno Dumont, Abel Ferrara, Amos Gitai and Sharunas Bartas; but, also there are newcomers and directors with their second or third film which undoubtedly balance the selection. Then we have films with great French cinema actresses like Juliette Binoche, Cecile de France, Vanessa Paradis; so, seems there will be a lot of 'stars' walking on the Promenade de la Croisette this year.

The selection in figures.  Out of the 1,649 feature films and 1.679 short films seen comes a Selection with with 19 feature films, 10 short films, 5 debut feature films, 5 French films, 5 American films, 3 Italian films and 7 films by female directors.  There are five French filmmakers, three Italians and a Lithuanian for a total of nine European directors.

Feature Films

Opening Film: Un Beau Soleil Intérieur (Dark Glasses), Claire Denis, France
(*)Closing Film: Patti Cake$, Geremy Jasper, USA

A Ciambra, Jonas Carpignano, Italy, France and Germany
Alive in France, Abel Ferrara, France (documentary)
Bushwick, Cary Murnion and Jonathan Milott, USA
(*)Cuori Puri (Pure Hearts), Roberto De Paolis Italy
Frost, Sharunas Bartas, Lithuania, France, Ukraine and Poland
(*) I Am Not A Witch, Rungano Nyoni, UK, France and Germany
Jeannette, L'Enfance de Jeanne d'Arc (Jeannette, the Childhood of Joan of Arc), Bruno Dumont, France
L'Amant d'un Jour (Lover for a Day), Philippe Garrel, France
(*) La Defensa del Dragón, Natalia Santa, Colombia
L'Intrusa, Leonardo Di Costanzo, Italy
Marlina si pembunuh dalam empat babak (Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts), Mouly Surya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and France
Mobile Homes, Vladimir de Fontenay, Canada and France
(*)Nothingwood, Sonia Krolund, France and Germany (documentary)
Ôtez-moi d'un doute (Just to Be Sure), Carine Tardieu, France and Belgium
The Florida Project, Sean Baker, USA
The Rider, Chloé Zhao, USA
West of the Jordan River (Field Diary Revisited), Amos Gitaï, Israel and France

(*) First Film. Competes for the Camera d'Or.

Short Films

Água Mole, Laura Gonçalves and Alexandra Ramires (Xá), Portugal (animation), 9'
La Bouche, Camilo Restrepo, France
Copa-Loca, Christos Massalas, Greece
Crème de menthe, David Philippe Gagné and Jean-Marc E. Roy, Canada
Farpões, Baldios, Marta Mateus, Portugal
Min Börda (The Burden), Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Sweden, 13'
Nada, Gabriel Martins, Brazil
Retour à Genoa City, Benoit Grimalt, France, 28' (documentary)
Tijuana Tales, Jean-Charles Hue, France, 15' (experimental)
Trešnje (Cherries), Dubravka Turić, Croatia

Check available info and trailer @MOC
Check available posters for ALL Cannes films, including la Quinzaine here.

To check list at official site go here.

Early this morning organizers released the video with Charles Tesson, Semaine de la Critique Artistic Director, and Charlotte Lipinska, journalist and film critic, announcing the selection for the 2017 edition of the Critics' Week and is as eclectic (and strange) as always but this year also has some new elements like it is the first time ever the competition has an animation film and also a documentary.

No doubt cinema industry is changing and finally the mother of all festivals is starting to change as by now we know there are changes, some more fundamental than others, in all Cannes sections.  Change is always a constant and brings bad reactions, change in Cannes is no exception and there are many voicing their negative reactions to Cannes change.  So, I'm curious to see if the festival and/or the parallel sections will succumb to negative reactions; obviously, next year we will find what happens if change trend stays, continues or is stopped.

But before going in depth into the selection let's review what has been happening in this Cannes parallel section

The Poster

After last year's wonderful poster with Jessica Chastain the follow-up task was going to be hard and believe the 2017 poster doesn't match the beauty of last years' and uses a visual gimmick to attract the attention -which is good and bad.  Good because absolutely attracts anybody attention -as two women embracing always do- and bad because come on! why? why would anyone use two women to sell a cinema event? (lol).

Nevertheless the composition is not so great and, as someone wrote to mention how a controversial actress who might or might-not be dating the president was erased from photo, I believe that more people should have been erased to make a cleaner composition. Sigh.

Here is what organizers say about the poster designed by Les bons faiseurs with a photography by Alice Khol: Oldest among the parallel sections in Cannes and driven by its mission to reveal new Talents by selecting first and second films, La Semaine de la Critique chose to spotlight fort its 56th edition the magical and emotional moment when a film crew meets the very first audiences.  (... in the photo) the young actress Garance Marillier embraces director Julia Ducournau after the screening of her debut feature, Raw, selected in the competition of the 55th Semaine de la Critique.

Next Step

Created in collaboration with the TorinoFilmLab and supported by the CNC, the CCAS and the Moulin d’Andé-CÉCI, Next Step is a program, consisting of a 5-day workshop held in France in December.

The aim of this project is to support the 10 short filmmakers discovered by La Semaine de la Critique as they branch out into feature films. During the workshop, the filmmakers have the opportunity to discuss their projects with international experts and tutors, in order for them to receive advice on their scripts, to understand the reality of the industry and define an appropriate development strategy. Furthermore, a half-day workshop is dedicated to film music to encourage the participating directors to both better understand the work that goes into music composition for films and start thinking about the music for their feature film projects.

The next edition of Next Step will take place in December 2017 with the 4th session dedicated to the 10 short film directors selected at the 56th Semaine de la Critique in Cannes.

The Selection

Organizers received 1,700 short films and watched 1,250 feature films.  They proceed to select 13 short films and 11 feature films, 6 being first films (will compete for the Camera d'Or) and 5 second films.

The following is what organizers say about the selection:

With 13 short films and the 11 first and second feature films selected, the 56th Semaine de la Critique reflects the young directors' concerns about the ever changing world we live in.  The selected filmmakers take a political stance on human and social realities, in heterogeneous territories, stretching from Europe to Africa, from Latin America to Iran.  Films of far-reaching modernity, crossover of various cinematic genres, from the thriller to the eruption of fantasy, documentary, but also, for the first time at La Semaine de la Critique, an animation film will be competing.  To complete this year's selection, 2 films imbued with humor and tenderness are the rejoicing opportunities to meet again with the wonderful actors Josh Hartnett and Mark Hamill.

Feature Films

Competition
(*) Ava, Léa Mysius, France
Gabriel e a montanha (Gabriel and the Mountain), Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa, France and Brazil
(*) La Familia, Gustavo Rondón Córdova, Venezuela, Chile and Norway
Los Perros, Marcela Said, Chile and France
Makala, Emmanuel Gras, France (documentary)
(*) Oh Lucy!, Atsuko Hirayanagi, Japan and USA
(*) Tehran Taboo, Ali Soozandeh, Germany and Austria (animation)

Special Screenings
Opening Film:  Sicilian Ghost Story, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, Italy and France
Closing Film: Brigsby Bear, Dave McCary, USA
Petit Paysan (Bloody Milk), Hubert Charuel, France
Une Vie Violente (A Violent Life), Thierry de Peretti, France

(*) First Film. Competing for the Camera d'Or.

Short Films

Competition
Ela - Szkice na pozegnanie (Ela - Sketches on a Departure), Oliver Adam Kusio, Germany, 26'
Jodilerks Dela Cruz, Employee of the Month, Carlo Francisco Manatad, Philippines and Singapore, 13'
Les enfants partent à l’aube (Children Leave at Dawn), Manon Coubia, France, 23'
Le Visage (Exposure), Salvatore Lista, France, 30'
Los Desheredados, Laura Ferrés, Spain, 18'
Möbius, Sam Kuhn, Canada and USA, 15'
Najpiękniejsze fajerwerki ever (The Best Fireworks Ever), Aleksandra Terpińska, Poland, 30'
Real Gods Require Blood, Moin Hussain, UK, 20'
Selva, Sofía Quirós Ubeda, Costa Rica, Argentina and Chile, 17'
Tesla: Lumière mondiale (The Tesla World Light), Matthew Rankin, Canada, 8'

Special Screenings
After School Knife Fight, Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel, France, 21'
Coelho Mau (Bad Bunny),  Carlos Conceição, Portugal and France, 33'
Les Îles (Islands), Yann Gonzalez, France, 23'

The Jury
President: Kleber Mendonça Filho, director, screenwriter, film programmer and film critic, Brazil
Dana Bustamante Escobar, producer and film programmer, Colombia
Erick Kohn, film critic, USA
Hania Mroué, film programmer, Lebanon
Niels Schneider, actor, Canada

Invitation to the Morelia International Film Festival
Selection of 3 short films
Juan Perros, Rodrigo Imaz, Mexico, 34'
Microcastillo (Microcastle), Alejandra Villalba García, Mexico, 22'
Verde (Green), Alonso Ruizpalacios, Mexico, 22'

To check films at official site go here.

The Video

Today the Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion (L'ACID) announced the usual nine (9) films in the selection that promotes the diffusion of independent films in movie theaters and discourages debates between authors and audiences for the last 24 years.

The ACID program at the Cannes International Film Festival was created in 1993. Films are chosen by fifteen or so filmmakers, members of ACID, formerly programmed in Cannes or whose films were supported during the year. It screens nine feature films, fiction and documentary, chosen among hundreds of works from all around the world.  ACID filmmakers follow their love for a film and wish to give visibility to directors whose work is scarcely distributed, in order to facilitate a theatrical release.

ACID’s Cannes program is a long-awaited meeting for distributors, film programmers and international festivals. It allows them to see films and for ACID to rely on the programmers’ feedback to prepare the releases.  The films shown are accompanied by ACID and its filmmakers in the various stages of the theatrical release (search for distributors / promotion / programming / organization of the Q&A’s / audience research). Also the screenings, in the presence of ACID filmmakers and the films’ crews, are also open to the public and to high school students of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

Among authors discovered in ACID Cannes are Lucas Belvaux, Sébastien Betbeder, Serge Bozon, Djinn Carrénard, Vincent Dieutre, Rachid Djaïdani, Alain Gomis, Arnaud et Jean-Marie Larrieu, Hicham Lasri, Ursula Meier, Avi Mograbi, Yolande Moreau et Gilles Porte, Ioanis Nuguet, Nicolás Pereda, Pierre Schoeller, Claire Simon, Justine Triet…

ACID TRIP #1: Serbia

The ACID is opening a new slot in its Cannes program, featuring a carte blanche for foreign independent filmmakers association.  As an integral part of its regular program the first ACID TRIP will benefit young Serbian cinema and the Bande à part association allowing them a number of shorts and two feature films.

The 2017 selection has 12 feature films, 9 in the main program, 1 special screening and 2 part of the ACID Trip #1: Serbia screenings.  The selection has 8 premieres, 7 fiction and 5 documentaries plus 5 short films in the ACID Trip #1: Serbia.  Among the selection what immediately calls the attention is the debut feature film by well-known actor Vincent Macaigne presented as a special screening; as far as can recollect, this is the first time this section has a film by someone that is well-known, so, yes, it's unusual.

The Selection
Avant la fin de l'été (Before Summer Ends), Maryam Goormaghtigh, France and Switzerland
Belinda, Maria Dumora, France
Coby, Christian Sonderegger, France
Kiss and Cry, Lila Pinell and Chloé Mahieu, France
Last Laugh, Zhang Tao, Hong Kong and France
L'Assemblée, Mariana Otero, France (documentary)
Le ciel étoilé au dessus de ma tête (The Starry Sky Above Me), Ilan Klipper, France
Sans adieu, Christophe Agou, France
Scaffolding, Matan Yair, Israel and Poland

Special Screening
Pour le réconfort, Vincent Macaigne, France

ACID TRIP #1:Serbia
Feature Films
Rekvijem za gospodju J. (Requiem for Mrs. J.),  Bojan Vuletić, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, France and Russia)
Vlaznost vazduha (Humidity), Nikola Ljuca, Serbia, Netherlands and Greece
Short Films
Dos patrias, Kosta Ristić, Serbia and Cuba, 4'
If I Had It My Way I Would Never Leave,  Marko Grba Singh, Serbia, 16'
Izlaz u slucaju opasnosti (Emergency Exit), Vladimir Tagić, Serbia, 15'
Kamen u ruci (A Handful of Stones), Stefan Ivancić, Serbia, 15'
Tranzicija(Transition), Milica Tomović
, Serbia, 22'

To check films at official site go here available as of this moment only in French but eventually there will be info in English.

Check clips or trailers @MOC

Info about films in the Main Program

Avant la fin de l'été (Before Summer Ends) by Maryam Goormaghtigh
Synopsis:  After five years studying in Paris, Arash has not adjusted to life there and has decided to return to Iran to live. Jolted by the news, his two friends Hossein and Nima, who do not want him to leave, convince him to take a last trip through France - secretly hoping he will change his mind. Their friendship strengthens with the evolving landscapes and their ongoing adventures, and each one's view of their lives in France changes to the point of overturning their convictions.



Belinda by Maria Dumora
Synopsis:  Belinda is 9. Not the easily intimidated type. She loves life, she loves snow, ice to slide on, the children’s home where she lives with her sister. Her sister whom she loves even more than the rest. The authorities part them. So the sisters run away, crossing forests at night to reunite.  Belinda is 15. Not the type to work in a shoe shop. In mechanics at a pinch. She lives with her mother and is about to become godmother to Nicolas, her sister’s son.  Belinda is 23. She lives with her father, Frantz. She still loves dresses, high-heeled shoes and wearing her hair in a chignon. But, more than anything, she loves Thierry, his blue eyes and his accent from the Vosges mountains. She is there to meet him when he is released from jail. They want to get married so that nothing will ever part them again. But...



Coby, Christian Sonderegger
Synopsis:  Small town smack in the American Midwest. Suzanna age 23 changes gender and becomes a boy: Coby. Her transformation deeply disrupts the lives of all who love her. Ultimately, Coby's chrysalis becomes the one of a whole family compelled to modify their own perspective. Not only a physical metamorphosis is at stake here but also a spiritual one that eventually takes place under the director's luminous and unexpected eye.



Kiss and Cry, Lila Pinell and Chloé Mahieu
Synopsis: Sarah, 15 years old, returns to figure skating and high level competition at the Colmar club. Confronted with the rivalry between the girls and the harsh words of the trainer, her body is put through its paces by the ice while her adolescent desires turn her attention away from her sporting ambitions.



L'Assemblée by Mariana Otero
Synopsis: Last year, citizens gathered together in Paris on Place de la République to fight against a reform project of the labor code and the El Khomri law . This movement quickly became an occasion to invent another way of doing politics. This is the birth of Nuit Debout.



Last Laugh by Zhang Tao
Synopsis:  In a Shandong village, an old peasant woman falls. Immediately, her children take advantage of it to declare her disabled, in order to sign up her in a nursing home. Waiting for a bed to be released, the old mother is brought to each of her children’s home, no one willing to keep her.



Le ciel étoilé au dessus de ma tête (The Starry Sky Above Me), Ilan Klipper
Synopsis: Bruno has published his first novel in 1996. Back then the press wrote : « There is a before and after Le ciel étoilé au-dessus de ma tête ». 20 years later, Bruno is 50. He is single, without kids and his roomate is a Femen. He wakes up at 2pm and spends most his days in his underwear looking for inspiration. For him everything’s fine but his relatives are getting worried…



Sans adieu by Christophe Agou
Synopsis:  In the Forez, in the East of the Massif Central, France, Claudette, 75 years old, and her neighbors, all peasant farmers from a rural underclass, feel that consumerist society is ignoring them while at the same time gradually taking over what remains of their cultural heritage and know-how. But, all do not intend to be pushed around….



Scaffolding, Matan Yair
Synopsis: 17-year-old Asher is split between his charismatic teacher and his brash father, who wants him to take over his scaffolding business.

For the first time will share some info about this award founded by Vincent Doerr, that has been given for the last six years..  Will start sharing what he says about this edition.

From May 17 to 28, Festival de Cannes celebrates its Seventh Birthday. Over the last 70th editions, the Film Festival gave us the biggest talents from cinema industry. From Rosselini, Welles, De Sica to Clouzot, Bunuel, Godard, Fellini and Visconti…, Cannes carried them to the edge of film heritage as cult directors.
Film soundtracks are fully a part of this heritage, precisely because Music and Image are indivisible. Much more than that, soundtracks immerses spectators in the realm of imagination and merges with the soundtrack of our lives. As a redolence, music imbues our memories and our imagination throughout films.
Cannes Soundtrack was founded as an echo of the Festival, in the aim of setting up Music & Cinema and rewarding the best soundtrack, and their composers, among the Official Competition.
Vincent Doerr / Founder Cannes Soundtrack

If you're interested in learning more about the history of soundtracks and the festival suggest you read a very well-written article at Cine Chronicle here, unfortunately available only in French.  Also if you wish to learn about past winners and composers in competition each year go to official site here.

Strongly suggest you check the award facebook page as for the festival 70th birthday they are doing reviews of the best scores of past festivals; go to facebook page here.  As an example let me share one post about Angelo Bandalamenti and his Mulholland Drive main theme:

Today our review leads us to Mulholland Drive, a masterpiece by David Lynch, rewarded in 2001 during the Festival de Cannes. fifteen years from now David Lynch established his own signature with Blue Velvet: surreal pictures against codes from Hollywood industry. Wild at Heart was a doped road movie searching for ideals, Twin Peaks absorbed us more and more in Lynch's universe. Angelo Badalamenti, regular composer of the Director, composed ethereal scores and managed to put music onto strangeness. From this association, Badalamenti and Lynch created the perfect chord !



An outstanding film from David Lynch and an ethereal score from Angelo Badalamenti. This piece is a haunting yet beautiful score and it, to me, is one of the greatest pieces ever written and it's conducted by Badalamenti himself. If you haven't seen Mulholland Drive I highly suggest it. It's one of the greatest films out there and features an amazing, multi-layered performance from Naomi Watts.

If reviews do not have much info at least is interesting to see the list that includes, Neil Young, Giorgio Moroder,  Ennio Morricone, Michael Myman, Nino Rota, Ry Cooder and more.

Cannes Soundtrack awards the Best Original Music award to the soundtrack of one of the films in the main competition which -as of today- there are eighteen (18) films (surely there will be more).  The award jury is composed by 24 journalists and the award ceremony will be on May 27.

2017 Jury
Caroline Vie - 20 minutes
Nicolas Schaller - L'Obs
Marilyne Letertre - Madame Figaro
Olivier Bousquet - VSD
David Fontaine - Le Canard Enchaine
Renan Cros - Stylist
Laura Terrazas - Le Figaro
Renaud Baronian - Le Parisien
Yal Sadat - Chronic'Art
Audrey Abril - Sens Critique
Marie-Pauline Mollaret - Ecran Noir
Jeremie Couston - Telerama
Yannick Vely - Paris Match
Theo Ribeton - Les Inrockuptibles
Annie-Claire Cieutat - Bande a part
Damien Aubel - Transfuge
Hubert Charrier - La Grande Evasion
Antoine Guillot - France Culture
Pierre Siclier - Le Blog du Cinema
Time Zoppe - Trois Coleurs
Philippe Rouyer - Positif
Fernando Ganzo - So Film
Aurelien Allin - Cinemateaser
Nathalie Dassa - CineChronicle



The Competition Composers for 2017 edition have not been announced yet and imagine the list will be available when Festival de Cannes organizers say they have announced all films in competition.  As soon as the list becomes available will modify post to include the names of all composers in each film.

For the third consecutive year the SCAM (Société civile des auteurs multimedia) will honor documentaries with the award L’Œil d’or and this morning organizers had their press conference where they announced the members of the jury and the films that will be considered for the 2017 award.

A little background from the official site about the award for our recall benefit.  Cinema has its roots in documentary film. This unique depiction of the world is becoming increasingly popular on the big screen and among the public. It is garnering more critical recognition and becoming more visible at festivals. As such, it deserves to be acknowledged at Cannes.

The L'Œil d’Or - Documentary Award was created in 2015 by LaScam (The French civil society for multimedia authors), in collaboration with the Cannes Festival and its General Delegate Thierry Frémaux, with the support of the INA (the French national audiovisual Institute). It will be awarded to a documentary screened in one of the Cannes Festival sections: Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Cannes Classics, Directors' Fortnight, Semaine de la Critique, Special Screenings & Out of Competition and Short & Feature-Length Films.

On May 23 organizers will held the Doc Day 2017 that this year includes a conversation with Amos Gitaï plus more events where the documentary has the center stage. The Doc Day is organized by Cannes Marché du Film with the support of the Ford Foundation and the partnership of the CNC and the organizers of L’Œil d’or.

The following are the films that will be considered for the award and do include the documentaries in Cannes Classics as we learned them just a few minutes ago.

Official Selection
12 Jours (12 Days), Raymond Depardon, France
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, USA
Carré 35, Eric Caravaca, France
Demons in Paradise, Jude Ratman, Sri Lanka and France
Le Vénérable W., Barbet Schroeder, France and Switzerland
Napalm, Claude Lanzmann, France
Promised Land, Eugene Jarecki, USA
Sea Sorrow, Vanessa Redgrave, UK
Visages, Villages, Agnès Varda and JR, France

Quinzaine des réalisateurs
Alive in France, Abel Ferrara, USA and France
Nothingwood, Sonia Kronlund, France
Retour à Genoa City, Benoit Grimalt, France, 28'
West of the Jordan River (Field Diary Revisited), Amos Gitaï, France and Israel

Semaine de la Critique
Los Desheredados, Laura Ferres, Spain, 18'
Makala, Emmanuel Gras, France

Cannes Classics
Cary Grant - De l’autre côté du miroir (Becoming Cary Grant), Mark Kidel, France
David Stratton-A Cinematic Life, Sally Aitken, Australia
Filmworker, Tony Zierra, USA
Jean Douchet, l’enfant agité, Fabien Hagège, Guillaume Namur and Vincent Haasser, France
La belge histoire du festival de Cannes (The Belgian’s Road to Cannes), Henri de Gerlache, Belgium

Earlier April organizers announced that Sandrine Bonnaire will be the president of the jury but today we learn that none other than outstanding filmmaker Lucy Walker is also in the jury along with Lorenzo Codelli, Dror Moreh and Thom Powers.

The Jury
President: Sandrine Bonnaire, actress, director and screenwriter, France
Lucy Walker, director, UK
Dror Moreh, director, Israel
Lorenzo Codelli, film critic, Italy
Thom Powers, film programmer, USA

This year the award will be presented on Saturday May 17 at 12:00 at the Palais des Festivals.  To read more about the award go official site here, available with some info in English but most data is in French.

The Press Conference

Has become harder to find reliable info about this edition of the Cannes LGBT award as most of the past official web sites are not working anymore and the only place to find info from official sources has become the usually dangerous "social media".

But finally today organizers via facebook and twitter accounts, announced that the selection is available this year via TÊTU, a LGBT media that according to what I read from their twitter account "c’est aussi un regard masculin différent porté sur la culture, la découverte et le bien-être" which means that gives a different masculine view about the culture, coming out and well-being. Sigh.  Seems there is no "female" point of view in this media. (!!!)

According to what is announced at TÊTU here there are seven (7) feature films and six (6) short films that were selected by organizers and according to what have been able to learn about films in ALL sections, believe there are more movies with some LGBT interest.  Imagine perhaps later organizers will figure that they should also consider them. Sigh.

The Selection

Feature Films (7)

Official Selection

Competition
120 Battements par minute (BMP-Beats Per Minute), Robin Campillo, France (GL)
Synopsis: Paris, the early 1990s: a group of young activists is desperately tied to finding the cure against an unknown lethal disease. They target the pharmaceutical labs that are retaining potential cures, and multiply direct actions, with the hope of saving their lives as well as the ones of future generations.

Yes, Adèle Haenel is in film and in below film still.  My crystal ball tells me that this film has excellent odds to win the award this year.



Out of Competition
How to Talk to Girls at Parties, John Cameron Mitchell, UK and USA
Synopsis: John Cameron Mitchell, director of the acclaimed films Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus takes us to an exotic and unusual world: suburban London in the late 70s. Under the spell of the Sex Pistols, every teenager in the country wants to be a punk, including our hopeless hero Enn (Alex Sharp). Crashing local punk queen Boadicea’s party, Enn discovers every boy’s dream – gorgeous foreign exchange students. When he meets the enigmatic Zan (Elle Fanning), it’s love at first sight.  But these teens are, in fact, aliens from outer space, sent to Earth to prepare for a mysterious rite of passage. When their dark secret is revealed, the love-struck Enn must turn to Boadicea (Nicole Kidman) and her followers for help in order to save the girl he loves from certain death. When the punks take on the aliens, neither Enn’s nor Zan’s universe will ever be the same again.

No idea of the "interest" film has but surely could be Gay-interest as most JCM films have.  Because of cast film will have lots of buzz and perhaps will be a popular contender to win the Queer Palm IF indeed has some relevant LGBT interest.



Special Screenings
They, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA and Qatar
Synopsis: J has been diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder, goes by the selected pronoun “they”, and takes hormone blockers to suspend their puberty. J is in their early teens and lives with their parents in the countryside. While J’s parents are away on a trip, their older sibling Lauren and her boyfriend Araz are assigned the duties of house-sitting and looking after J. Through a series of activities, performances and events, J’s growth and complex gender identity are explored within the precarious family dynamic. The rural landscape becomes a queer site for dismantling the narratives of coming-of-age and transition, pharmaceutics and human biotechnology, and the effort for self-determination between recalling/forgetting the past and imagining/avoiding the future.  J, Lauren and Araz spend time in their parents’ greenhouses, the artificial environment for sheltering organic growth, as well as in the clinic : the technologized institution that shapes their bodies . They recast the family and the medical-industrial complexes through role-play games and test the role of language in the formation of their identities and relationships by reading poetry, telling stories, and entertaining bilingual games. These adventures become an entry point into the open-ended questions of growth and becoming that THEY are facing.

From synopsis film story seems quite interesting and obviously is a Gender Identity interest film.

Meet the director



70th Anniversary Events
Nos années folles (Golden Years), André Téchiné, France
Synopsis: The plot revolves around newlyweds Paul and Louise, as World War I breaks out. After two years on the frontline, Paul maims himself and deserts his post. But how can he hide when he is condemned to death in war-torn Paris? Louise dresses him up as a woman. He becomes Suzanne, drags his wife around the debauched Paris of the Golden Twenties and earns quite a reputation for himself. In 1925, once he is finally granted amnesty, Suzanne attempts to revert back to being Paul…

Cross-dressing interest?  Téchiné is one of my most admired living French directors and obviously all his films are must-be-seen for me.  Have seen almost ALL his movies and know many have some LGBT interest and his latest is no exception.  Film cast is outstanding as leads are played by great Céline Sallette and Pierre Deladonchamps.

Check the poster



Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
Marlina si pembunuh dalam empat babak (Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts), Surya Mouly, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and France
Synopsis: In the deserted hills of an Indonesian island, Marlina, a young widow, is attacked, raped and robbed for her cattle. To defend herself, she kills several men of the gang. Seeking justice, she goes on a journey for empowerment and redemption. But the road is long, especially when the ghost of her headless victim begins to haunt her.

No idea about the LGBT interest.  According to synopsis perhaps has some lesbian-interest but I'm not sure.



Nothingwood, Sonia Krolund, France and Germany (documentary)
Synopsis:  About a hundred kilometers away from Kabul, Salim Shaheen, the most popular and prolific actor-director-producer in Afghanistan, comes to show some of his 110 films and to shoot the 111th in the process.  He has brought with him his regular troupe of actors, each more eccentric and out of control than the next. That trip is an opportunity for us to get to know Shaheen, a real movie buff who has been making Z movies tirelessly for more than thirty years in a country at war.  Nothingwood is the story of a man who spends his life making his childhood dreams come true.

Documentary is also known as The Prince of Nothingwood and have no clear idea of the interest but probably will be gay-interest.



ACID
Coby, Christian Sonderegger, France
Synopsis:  Small town smack in the American Midwest. Suzanna age 23 changes gender and becomes a boy: Coby. Her transformation deeply disrupts the lives of all who love her. Ultimately, Coby's chrysalis becomes the one of a whole family compelled to modify their own perspective. Not only a physical metamorphosis is at stake here but also a spiritual one that eventually takes place under the director's luminous and unexpected eye.

Gender identity interest.



Short Films (6)

Cinéfondation
בן ממשיך Ben Mamshich (Heritage), Yuval Aharoni, Steve Tisch School of Film & Television, Tel Aviv University, Israel, 25'

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
Trešnje (Cherries), Dubravka Turić, Croatia, 30' (G)

Semaine de la Critique
Coelho Mau (Bad Bunny),  Carlos Conceição, Portugal and France, 33'
Les Îles (Islands), Yann Gonzalez, France, 23'
Möbius, Sam Kuhn, Canada and USA, 15'
Najpiękniejsze fajerwerki ever (The Best Fireworks Ever), Aleksandra Terpińska, Poland, 30'

The Jury
President: Travis Mathews, director, USA
Didier Roth-Bettoni, journalist, France
Lidia Leber Terki, director, France
Yair Hochner, director and festival director, Israel
Paz Lazaro, Berlinale Panorama programmer, Spain

More interesting news is that Le Vertigo, the official Queer Palm Club, is back in Cannes from May 17 to 28 and yes, will be open from midnight to dawn! But the best of all LGBT news is that this Cannes edition has la crème de la crème of open gay world directors and more outstanding is the fact that three of them are competing for the 2017 Palme d'Or: Robin Campillo, Todd Haynes and François Ozon.  Great filmmakers and storytellers.

Among the films with some LGBT-interest not listed in their selection, there is one that stands out, the latest Roman Polanski film starring his wife and Eva Green which has some lesbian-interest as checked book film is based on plus see film still below.  The film is out of competition and is called: D'après une Histoire Vraie (Based on a True Story) and the most interesting fact about this movie is that the script is co written by Polanski and Olivier Assayas (great!) and is based on the novel of the same name by Delphine de Vigan.

The very short synopsis: Emmanuelle Seigner plays a writer who has an affair with an obsessive fan played by Eva Green.



The Poster

This year the Queer Palm poster pays tribute to the President of the festival Competition jury, Pedro Almodóvar and poster is a re-design by Maud Lammens of the original poster from his 1991 Tacones Lejanos (High Heels) designed by Juan Gatti.

In the re-interpretation design the high heels is kept, the Queer Palm logo is added as well as the phrase: " Gracias Pedro" (Thanks Pedro).  It's a clean design that got me a bit puzzled as initially couldn't figure what the phrase said (lol); it was until a friend saw the poster and rapidly told me what the phrase said that I could figure out (LOL)! Nevertheless, the 2017 Queer Palm poster has a nice composition, a lot nicer than those posters from previous editions.

Check the original poster

Yesterday night the Society had their award ceremony and perhaps the biggest surprise is the film that won the Animated category!

No surprise which film got the top award as was the favorite to win this and yes, the Oscar; which most likely will happen when we consider that in six of the last ten years, the winner of CAS Live Action feature competition went to win the Oscar.

Jon Faveau was presented the Filmmaker Award, John Prichett received the Career Achievement Award and Wenrui Fan from Chapman University was presented with a Student Recognition Award.

To check winners in TV categories go official site here. Winners are in *BLUE.

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1/10/1
A few moments ago the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) announced the nominees for the current edition of the awards that honor Outstanding Achievements in Sound Mixing in film and television as well as Technical Achievement in production and post-production.

“We are blessed this year with a rich portfolio of Cinema Audio art applied. As the creative contributions of sound mixing to modern filmmaking becomes more obvious to the world at large, these productions truly represent the talents of our community,” said Mark Ulano, CAS President. “We are proud to congratulate all our well deserving nominees for their stellar work. We also have the good news of announcing for the first time nominations for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture Documentary.”

Yes, for the first time group will honor Sound Mixing in Documentary.  Perhaps the most surprising is the nomination for Sully, a film that has escaped honors in the current award season.
 
The following are the nominations for the Motion Picture categories.

Live Action
Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge
*La La Land
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Sully

Animated
*Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Secret Life of Pets
Zootopia

Documentary
13th
Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words
Gleason
O. J.: Made in America
*The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble

To check nominations for television and technical achievement awards go official site here.  Awards ceremony will be on February 18 in the Bunker Hill Ballroom of the OMNI Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza.  During the ceremony the highest honor of the CAS, the CAS Career Achievement Award will be presented to Production Mixer John Pritchett and Jon Favreau will receive the CAS Filmmaker Award.

As today finally the official site has all films info available and after checking most films, this post becomes final as unless something unthinkable happens and a new movie is announced less than 7 days before the opening of the festival, all relevant info is here.

But there has been much noise around the festival and none is more loud that the situation with the two Netflix films that are in competition for a Palme d'Or for the very-first-time ever.  Rest tranquil as yes films are still in the competition BUT horror of all horrors, the incredibly retrograde situation made festival organizers to include a new rule for the future, starting with the 2018 festival.  So it's the last time a film will be considered in the Official Selection when there is no compromise for theatrical release in France (!!!).

Will not say much about this situation that absolutely shadows the future and as one French citizen living in the country said, -something like this- ...festival is protecting Paris cinemas, outside Paris there are not enough theaters and internet is omnipresent so, guess what we watch...  Nevertheless streaming is the present as well as the future and streaming platform original productions are shattering cinema out-dated distribution system, especially the absurd region system as now services like Netflix allow film worldwide release with NO windows, in one day the world can see the movie -if they wish. Honestly regret politics affect this festival but well, cinema is cinema no matter how long it is or where audiences decide to watch it.  Before we, the audience, had no choice, it was a cinema or not watching a film; now we, the audience, have multiple choices and we are free to select how and where we want to watch a film.  Sigh.

Perhaps will do a post with more info about the festival events -there is a radio this year (???)- and the anniversary celebration.

To check info plus films stills and some trailers go to official site here.

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4/27/17
Today organizers announced more films in the Official Selection and the most pleasant news is that there is another film in the competition and yes, is The Square by Ruben Östlund!  I'm so pleased as was one of my wish list films.

Among the other films announced today, there are two in the Un Certain Regard section, one by Santiago Mitre with A-plus Latin American cast Ricardo Darin, Elena Anaya, Paulina Garcia, Dolores Fonzi, Alfredo Castro and more. Ah! the name of the movie is La Cordillera.  The other film has very little info available as of today, but know things will change soon; the movie is Walking Past the Future by Li Ruijun that I assume is a China production.  Based on a True Story by Roman Polanski's latest film is also part of the official screening but in the Out of Competition section.

Then there are two Special Screenings both being documentaries: Le vénérable W. by Barbet Schroeder and Carré 35 by Eric Caravaca.  To my surprise there is a film in a section (new?) called Children's Screening and not surprisingly is animation.  Much delighted to see a tribute to André Téchiné that includes the screening of his last film Nos années folles that was in my wish list and will be part of the 70th Aniversary section.  Last, the first film from the Cinéma de la Plage section has been announced and is Djam by Tony Gatlif.

Wonder if this edition will have only 19 films in competition; my best guess is that there will be at least one more to make the competition between 20 films.

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4/13/17
Will confess, just caught the last minutes of the press conference but the best part is that had no wait to learn the films!  In less than 20 seconds was able to read all the announced films and my first spontaneous reaction was to how many films Nicole Kidman has in Cannes this year, my horrible omission as loved part 1 of Jane Campion's Top of the Lake and among some surprises learning that Kristen Stewart short film will be screened as part of the 70th Anniversary Events.

Talking about Kristen Stewart, who could imagine that she will be part of group that includes Abbas Kiarostami, Jane Campion and David Lynch? Not many.  But we have to recognize that she's very talented and no, it's not surprising that she's evolving into directing.  Somehow her development road reminds me of a road traveled by an earlier film co-star; yes,  Jodie Foster.

Among the selection there are some inexplicable omissions but know everyone will be talking about it, so let's talk about the surprises.  For me the biggest surprises are the films that ended up in Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition and Special Screenings like for example, films by Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Michel Franco, James Cameron Mitchell and Hong Sangsoo.  On the positive side of the scale, it's a pleasant surprise to see in Special Screenings a film by Vanessa Redgrave and perhaps the most unexpected surprise is to find that one of my favorite directors, Fatih Akin, finished his film and is in competition!

Very pleased with the great news that a French film will open the festival as was afraid it will succumb to a blockbuster that will attract press coverage but meant not much to a great cinema festival.

From the press conference we learn that this year's edition will include four out-of-competition films, three midnight screenings, one special screenings and nine first films out of 1,930 submitted films.  Also that there will be 12 female directors in the official selection, up from 9 last year.

Today 18 films were announced as part of the main competition but expect more to be announced soon, most likely will be one or two films from China.  The best news from the competition come with the many French produced/co-produced films (yay!) which somehow minimizes the too-many American films (lol).

Spontaneously my reaction is that lineup has something for everyone as yes, it has politically charged cinema with themes about the refugee crisis, climate change, mental health and even, exploitation of animals; but also has lots of Hollywood and world cinema A-listers that will grace the red carpet plus what I thought was already a given -but no- it's first time Cannes will screen TV shows;s also for the first time, will have a virtual reality film and last, there are films by Netflix and Amazon which undoubtedly seem like they finally are acknowledging what was not long ago "the future" and the now established way to watch movies via internet streaming that generated enough cash to allow companies to produce their own films.

Competition

120 Battements par minute (BMP-Beats Per Minute), Robin Campillo, France
Aus dem Nichts (In The Fade), Fatih Akin, France and Germany
Felesleges ember (Jupiter's Moon), Kornél Mundruczó, Germany and Hungary
그후 Geu-Hu (The Day After), Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
Good Time, Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie, USA
Happy End, Michael Haneke, France, Germany and Austria
光 Hikari (Radiance), Naomi Kawase, France and Japan
Krotkaya (A Gentle Creature), Sergei Loznitsa,  France, Netherlands, Germany and Lithuania
L'Amant Double, François Ozon, France and Belgium
Le Redoutable (Redoubtable), Michel Hazanavicius, France
Нелюбовь Nelyubov (Loveless), Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, Belgium, Germany and France
옥자 Okja, Bong Joon-ho, South Korea and USA
Rodin, Jacques Doillon, France and Belgium
The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola, USA
The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ireland, UK and USA
The Meyerowitz Stories(New and Selected), Noah Baumbach, USA
The Square,  Ruben Östlund, Sweden, Germany, France and USA
Wonderstruck, Todd Haynes, USA
You Were Never Really Here, Lynne Ramsay,  France and UK

Out of Competition
Opening Film: Les fantômes d'Ismaël (Ismael's Ghosts), Arnaud Desplechin, France
D'après une histoire vraie (Based on a True Story), Roman Polanski, France and Belgium
How to Talk to Girls at Parties, James Cameron Mitchell, UK and USA
無限の住人 Mugen no jûnin (Blade of the Immortal), Takashi Miike, Japan
Visages, Villages, Agnès Varda and JR, France (documentary)

The Jury
President: Pedro Almodóvar, director, screenwriter and producer, Spain
Maren Ade, director, screenwriter and producer, Germany
Jessica Chastain, actress and producer, USA
Fan Bingbing, actress and producer, China
Agnès Jaoui, actress, screenwriter, director and signer, France
Park Chan-wook, director, screenwriter and producer, South Korea
Will Smith, actor, producer and musician, USA
Paolo Sorrentino, director and screenwriter, Italy
Gabriel Yared, composer, France



Check Competition and Out of Competition films basic info and available trailers @MOC

Un Certain Regard

Opening Film: Barbara, Mathieu Amalric, France
على كف عفريت Aala Kaf Ifrit (Beauty and the Dogs), Kaouther Ben Hania, Tunisia, France, Sweden, Norway, Lebanon and Switzerland
(*) Dopo la guerra (After The War), Annarita Zambrano, France and Italy
(*) En attendant les hirondelles (Until the Birds Return), Karim Moussaoui, Germany and France
Fortunata (Lucky), Sergio Castellitto, Italy
(*) Jeune Femme, (Montparnasse Bienvenue) Léonor Serraille, France and Belgium
La Cordillera (The Summit), Santiago Mitre,  Argentina, France and Spain
(*)La Novia del Desierto (The Desert Bride), Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, Argentina and Chile
Las Hijas de Abril (April's Daughter), Michel Franco, Mexico
L'Atelier (The Workshop), Laurent Cantet, France
لِرد Lerd (A Man of Integrity), Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
路过未来 Lu Guo Wei Lai (Walking Past The Future), Li Ruijun, China
(*) Out, György Kristóf, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia
ПОСОКИ Posoki (Directions), Stephan Komandarev, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Germany
散歩する侵略者 Sanpo Suru Shinryakusha (Before We Vanish), Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan
(*) Tesnota (Closeness), Kantemir Balagov,  Russia
Western, Valeska Grisebach, Germany, Bulgaria and Austria
(*)Wind River, Taylor Sheridan, UK, Canada and USA

Un Certain Regard Jury
President: Uma Thurman, actress, USA



Check Un Certain Regard films basic info and available trailers @MOC

Special Screenings
12 Jours (12 Days), Raymond Depardon, France (documentary)
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, USA (documentary)
Carré 35 (Plot 35), Eric Caravaca, France (documentary)
(*)Demonds in Paradise, Jude Ratman, France and Sri Lanka (documentary)
Le vénérable W. (The Venerable W.), Barbet Schroeder, France and Switzerland (documentary)
Keul-Le-Eo-Ui-Ka-Me-La (Clair's Camera), Hong Sangsoo, France and South Korea
Napalm, Claude Lanzmann,  France (documentary)
Promised Land, Eugene Jarecki,  UK and USA (documentary)
Sea Sorrow, Vanessa Redgrave, UK (documentary)
(*)They, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA and Qatar

Midnight Screenings
A Prayer Before Dawn, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, UK and France
악녀 Ak-Nyeo (The Villainess), Jung Byung-Gil, South Korea
불한당: 나쁜 놈들의 세상 Bulhandang (The Merciless), Byun Sung-hyun, South Korea

Virtual Reality (Film/Installation/Exhibition)
Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible), Alejandro González Iñárritu, USA

Children's Screening
Zombillénium (Zombillenium), Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord, France and Belgium

70th Anniversary Events
24 Frames, Abbas Kiarostami, Iran
Come Swim, Kristen Stewart, USA, 17'
Nos années folles (Golden Years), André Téchiné, France
Top of the Lake: China Girl, Jane Campion and Ariel Kleiman, Australia, UK and New Zealand
Twin Peaks, David Lynch, USA

Check Special Screenings, Midnight Screenings, Virtual Reality and 70th Anniversary Events films basic info and available trailers @MOC

Cinéma de la Plage

Djam, Tony Gatlif,  France

(*) First Film. Competes for the Camera d'Or.

Camera d'Or Jury
President: Sandrine Kiberlain, actress, France



Short Films Competition

According to the official website, this year the selection committee received 4,843 short films and to my huge surprise out of that quite large number of films, only selected nine (9).

Usually there are ten (10) films in this competition, so there is one spot that was not filled.  I know there are some years with only 9 while others with 10 films; but we can't deny that seems almost impossible to understand why out of almost five thousand shorts there was not one to fill another spot. Acceptance ratio is unreal, so filmmakers that made the selection deserve recognition just because they made it! Sigh.

These are the nine short films running for the 2017 Short Film Palme d'Or

A Drowning Man, Mahdi Fleifel, UK, Denmark and Greece, 15'
Across My Land, Fiona Godivier, USA, 15'
Damiana, Andrés Ramírez Pulido, Colombia, 15'
Katto (The Ceiling), Teppo Airaksinen, Finland, 15'
Koniec Widzenia (Time to Go), Grzegorza Mołdy, Poland, 15'
Lunch Time, Alireza Ghasemi, Iran, 15'
Pépé le morse (Grandpa Walrus), Lucrèce Andreae, France, 14' (animation)
Push It, Julia Thelin, Sweden, 8'
小城二月 Xiao Cheng Er Yue (A Gentle Night), Qiu Yang, China, 15'

Cinéfondation Selection

This year the Cinéfondation Selection has chosen sixteen (16) films (14 works of fiction and 2 animations), from among the 2,600 works submitted this year by film schools from all over the world. Fourteen (14) countries from three (3) continents are represented. Four (4) of the films selected come from schools taking part for the first time.

These are the short films running for the 2017 three Cinéfondation prizes

À perdre haleine (Breathless), Léa Krawczyk, La Poudrière, France, 4' (animation)
Afternoon Clouds, Payal Kapadia, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), India, 13'
Atlantída, 2003 (Atlantis, 2003), Michal Blaško, FTF VŠMU, Slovakia, 30'
בן ממשיך Ben Mamshich (Heritage), Yuval Aharoni, Steve Tisch School of Film & Television, Tel Aviv University, Israel, 25'
Camouflage, Imge Özbilge, KASK, Belgium, 24' (animation)
Deux égarés sont morts, Tommaso Usberti, La Fémis, France, 27'
Give Up the Ghost, Marian Mathias, NYU Tisch School of Arts, USA, 13'
حیوان Heyvan (Animal), Bahman Ark, Iranian School of Cinema, Iran, 15'
Láthatatlanul (Invisibly), Áron Szentpéteri,Színház-és Filmművészeti Egyetem, Hungary, 32'
Lejla, Stijn Bouma, Sarajevo Film Academy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22'
Paul est là (Paul is Here), Valentina Maurel, INSAS, Belgium, 24'
Pequeño Manifiesto en Contra del Cine Solemne (Little Manifesto Against Solemn Cinema), Roberto Porta, Universidad del Cine (FUC), Argentina, 14'
溶ける Tokeru, Aya Igashi, Toho Gakuen Film Techniques College, Japan, 45'
Vazio do lado de fora (Empty On The Outside), Eduardo Brandão Pinto, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil, 22
Wild Horses, Rory Stewart, NFTS, UK, 26'
迎向邊疆公路 Yin Shian Bien Jian Gon Lu (Towards the Sun), Wang Yi-Ling, National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan, 28'

Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Cristian Mungiu, director, screenwriter and producer, Romania



To check short films news at official site go here.

Check short films basic info and available trailers @MOC

Check Posters to all films at pinterest here.

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4/12/17

One day before the much awaited press conference festival organizers release the short films lineup in the two sections where filmmakers of the future can be identified, the Short Films and the Cinéfondation competitions.  Consequently, as of this moment, the greatest cinema feast has begun in a year that will celebrate a milestone anniversary the 70th since May 31st, 1939 when the city of Cannes and the French government signed the International Film Festival's official birth certificate.

Post will be in progress until after tomorrow's press conference.

The Press Conference with English Translation. If you wish to see it in original language go here.

Believe it or not, next week the most prestigious film festival in the world will (finally) start and yes, the biggest cinema party will start as well.  Great!!!

There have been many incidents, events and situations happening this year because of all the first-time-ever's that festival organizers decided to do this year; but, trying to be forward-positive will share what have learned about the collateral events happening in the 70th anniversary of the festival as well as some events that will generate buzz.

Cannes fait le mur 2017

Organized by the City of Cannes along with Paris Match and Nesspreso the traditional event will decorate Cannes streets with large posters of photographs from the Paris Match archives that will celebrate cinema and yes, the 70th festival anniversary.  To check the event suggest go to Paris Match site and check the slide show here as there are some samples of the photographs and posters to be use this year.

Nevertheless the event will have 8 posters in walls and 10 banners across streets; to check info at the City of Cannes official site go here, available only in French.

8 Wall Posters
Michèle Morgan - Hôtel de Ville (côté gare routière)
Benoît Magimel and Rod Paradot - Lycée Jules Ferry, 81 bd de la République
Jeanne Moreau and Jean-Claude Brialy - Hôtel Renoir, 7 rue Edith Cavell - voie rapide
Grace Kelly - Hôtel Cannes Riviera, 16 bd d'Alsace, vue depuis la voie rapide
Henri Verneuil, Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Reginald Kernan, Françoise Verneuil, Odette Ventura, Élodie Belmondo, Andrea Parisy and Michel Audiard - Espace Ranguin
Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren - Cinéma les Arcades, 77 rue Félix Faure
Bourvil, Louis de Funès and Terry Thomas - Voile entrée de ville à La Bocca, avenue Francis Tonner
Mireille Darc and Michel Audiard - Gare SNCF de Cannes



10 Street Banners along d'Antibes street
Monica Vitti
Mike Todd and Elisabeth Taylor
Brigitte Bardot
Gina Lollobrigida and Martine Carol
Romy Schneider and Alain Delon
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jeanne Moreau and Raoul Lévy
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Sofia Loren
Buydens, Kirk Douglas and Éric Douglas
Monica Bellucci



Passion Cinéma

There is another event organized by Paris Match, an exposition at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc d’Antibes that will run from May 18 up to October 2017.  Monica Bellucci will open the expo on May 18 and there will be a private vernissage.  But there are good news as the opening event will have a facebook Live that you could watch here if you wish. Expo includes 25 tirages d’art and yes, they are for sale.



24 Images
The Festival de Cannes through the eyes of Pierre Lescure, Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux

For the Festival's 70th anniversary, the Palais is hosting an exhibition of INA photos and videos: "24 images, the Festival de Cannes through the eyes of Pierre Lescure, Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux", retracing Cannes' finest moments.

The French National Audiovisual Institute (INA), is celebrating the Festival de Cannes' 70th anniversary with an exhibition entitled "24 images". Using short filmed interviews, Pierre Lescure, Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux portray the atmosphere, secrets, anecdotes and memories that were rekindled by images they selected from the INA's photography archive.

These exclusive videos can be explored in a dedicated "24 images" app, created by the INA. These photographs, at once emotional, amusing and unusual, depict an era that shaped the festival.  Expo will run from May 17 to 28 at Palais des festival, 4th floor and access requires badge.

amfAR Gala Cannes

No outside-cinema event generates more buzz than the annual gala that benefits the support of AIDS research as it's a star-studded event held at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes.  This glamorous and unpredictable gala will include several musical performances and a parade of prominent appearances, as many of the celebrity guests help with the event’s exciting live auction of exclusive items and experiences. Longtime amfAR supporter Carine Roitfeld will once again curate a fashion show of one-of-a-kind looks from a who’s who of the world’s most celebrated fashion designers. Forty of the world’s top models will participate in the spectacular Golden Age of Hollywood Collection runway presentation, accessorized with jewelry by Harry Winston.

Just for fun let me share how much tickets cost, they go from Supporter Ticket at £13,000 per person to Grand Philanthropist Package at £500,000 per person. So if you wish to attend the gala now have an idea of how much you or your company will have to spare.

But perhaps what calls everybody's attention are the cinema related celebrities that this year include Event Chairs like Pedro Almodovar, David Lynch, Nicole Kidman Jessica Chastain, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Kruger, and many more that you can see at official site here.  There is always a few ways to see the carpet arrivals plus always videos appear from the event with candid celebrities doing their thing.  Gala will be on Thursday, May 25.

Cannes Classics

The program of Cannes Classics 2017 will be dedicated for its most part to the history of the Festival.

Almost fifteen years ago, when the relationship between contemporary cinema and its own memory was about to be shaken by the emergent arrival of digital technology, the Festival de Cannes created Cannes Classics, a selection that displays the work of valorization of heritage cinema carried out by the production companies, the right-holders, the cinematheques or the national archives around the world.

Being now an essential component of the Official Selection and a presence of the history of cinema which inspired several international festivals, Cannes Classics showcases vintage films and masterpieces of the history of cinema in restored prints.  Because Cannes is also devoted with the mission of enchanting the audience of today's relationship with the memory of cinema, Cannes Classics puts the prestige of the biggest festival of the world at the service of the cinema rediscovered, accompanying all the new exhibitions: releasing in movie theaters, on VOD or on DVD/Blu-ray editions of the great works of the past.

The program of the 2017 edition of Cannes Classics consists of twenty-four screenings, one short film and five documentaries. The films are screened as wanted by the right-holders, in DCP 2K or DCP 4K, and L'Atalante by Jean Vigo that Gaumont wished to screen in 35mm.

The films selected for this 2017 edition will focus mostly on the history of Cannes. They come from nations that have allowed the Festival de Cannes to become a land of cinematographic discoveries: Hungary, Lebanon, Serbia, United Kingdom, Italy, United States, Israel, Mauritania, Niger, Poland, Switzerland, Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Australia. Many countries which also consider that safeguarding heritage cinema is essential.

The films will be screened in the Palais des Festivals, Salle Buñuel or Salle du Soixantième, in attendance of those who have restored them and, if they are still among us, of those who have directed them. Every film will be introduced by Thierry Frémaux or Gérald Duchaussoy with personalities linked to the films in attendance.

On the occasion of the celebration of its 70th edition, a brief history of the Festival of Cannes

From 1946 to 1992, from René Clément to Victor Erice, sixteen history-making films of the Festival de Cannes

•1946: La Bataille du Rail (Battle of the Rails) by René Clément (1h25, France): Grand Prix International de la mise en scène and Prix du Jury International.
Presented by Ina. Film digitized and restored by Ina with the support of the CNC. 2K restoration made from an acetate interpositive and an answer print. Technical means: Jean-Pierre Peltier. Coordination: Bénilde Da Ponte, Brice Amouroux.

•1953: Le Salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear) by Henri-Georges Clouzot (1952, 2h33, France, Italy): Grand Prix.
Presented by TF1 Studio in collaboration with la Cinémathèque française and the support of the CNC, of the Archives audiovisuelles de Monaco, of Kodak and the CGR cinémas. 4K Restoration from nitrate image negative and a sound duplicate made by Hiventy. Please note that this presentation is the preview of a major Clouzot event scheduled in France in the fall of 2017.

•1956: Körhinta (Merry-Go-Round) by Zoltán Fábri (1955, 1h30, Hungary): in Competition.
Presented by the Hungarian National Film Fund - Hungarian National Film Archive. A 4K Scan and Digital Restoration from the original 35mm image & sound negatives plus additional materials: the original dupe positive and another film positive. Restoration made by the Hungarian National Film Fund – Hungarian Filmlab.

•1957: Ila Ayn? (Vers l'inconnu ?) by Georges Nasser (1h30, Lebanon): in Competition.
Presented by Abbout Productions and Fondation Liban Cinema. With the generous support of Bankmed – Lebanon. The original 35mm Fine Grain Master Positive was scanned in 4k, retouched and color-corrected in a resolution of 2K. All works were carried out by Neyrac Films - France. Sound restoration by db Studios - Lebanon. In collaboration with The Talkies. World Sales: Nadi Lekol Nas.

•1967: Skupljači Perja (I Even Met Happy Gypsies) by Aleksandar Petrović (1h22, Serbia): in Competition, Grand Prix Spécial du Jury ex-æquo, Prix de la Critique Internationale - FIPRESCI ex-aequo
Presented by Jugoslovenska Kinoteka/The Yugoslav Film Archive and Malavida.
New 35mm print from the original negative in perfect shape then scanned in 2K and cleaned up.

•1967: Blow-up by Michelangelo Antonioni (1966, 1h51, United Kingdom, Italy, United States of America): Grand Prix International du Festival.
Presented by Criterion, Cineteca di Bologna and Istituto Luce - Cinecittà, in collaboration with Warner Bros and Park Circus. Restoration work carried out at Criterion, New York and L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna under the supervision of Director of Photography Luca Bigazzi.

•1969: Matzor (Siege) by Gilberto Tofano (1h29, Israel): in Competition.
A presentation of the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israel Film Archive, in partnership with United King Films and the support of the Rabinovich Foundation. The original 35mm black and white negatives were scanned in 4K by Cinelab Romania. It was digitally restored and finalized in 2K by Opus Digital Lab in Tel Aviv. Restoration and color grading lead by Ido Karilla, supervised by DOP David Gurfinkel.

•1970: Soleil O (Oh, Sun) by Med Hondo (1h38, Mauritania-France): Semaine de la critique.
Presented by The Film Foundation. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Med Hondo. Restoration funded by the George Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project.

•1976: Babatu, les trois conseils by Jean Rouch (1h33, Nigeria-France): in Competition.
Pressented by the CNC, Inoussa Ousseini, the Comité du film ethnographique and the Fondation Jean Rouch. Digital restoration made from the 2K digitization of the 16mm negatives. Restoration carried out by L21.

•1976: Ai no korîda (In the Realm of the Senses/L’Empire des sens) de Nagisa Oshima (1h43, France-Japan): Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
Presented by Argos Films and TAMASA. Digization and 4K resoration from the original negative by Eclair. Sound restoration from the original magnetic sound by L.E. Diapason. The film will be released in French theaters.

•1980: All that Jazz by Bob Fosse (1979, 2h03, United States of America): Palme d’or ex-æquo.
Presented by Park Circus. 4K restoration by Twentieth Century Fox and the Academy Film Archive in collaboration with The Film Foundation. The restoration was produced from the original camera negative at Sony Colorworks in Culver City California.

•1981: Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron) by Andrzej Wajda (2h33, Poland): Palme d’or.
A presentation of the ZEBRA Film Studio (Studio Filmowe ZEBRA) with the collaboration of the Polish Film Institute. 2K film restoration from original colour 35 mm negative. Restored sound from original magnetic tape. Restoration lead by Daniel Pietrzyk, colour grading lead by Aleksandra Kraus, at Yakumama Film, Warsaw. Sound restoration lead by Tomasz Dukszta.
Artistic supervision by: Andrzej Wajda (director), Jerzy Łukaszewicz (DOP), Piotr Zawadzki (sound).

•1982: Yol– The Full Version (The Way) by Yilmaz Güney, directed by Serif Gören (1h53, Switzerland): Palme d'or ex-æquo, Prix de la Critique Internationale - FIPRESCI
Presented by DFK FILMS LTD. Zürich. Restoration from the original 35mm negative, from the interpositive and the positive print. Restoration and new sound mix from the original digitized tapes. International Sales: The Match Factory.

•1983: Narayama Bushikō (Ballad of Narayama) by Shôhei Imamura (2h13, Japan): Palme d’or.
Presented by Toei. 4K Scan, image restoration ARRISCAN and sound Golden Eye in 2K from the 35mm original negative, a duplicate and video tapes.

•1992: El Sol del Membrillo (The Quince Tree) by Victor Erice (2h20, Spain): Prix du Jury ex-æquo, Prix de la Critique Internationale - FIPRESCI
Presented by the Filmoteca de Catalunya and Camm Cinco SL. 6K scan, restoration and color-grading from the 35mm negatives and other original video tapes. Digitazing and sound restoration from 35mm magnetic tapes. Technical support made by the Filmoteca de Catalunya, supervised by Victor Erice. Variations on the initial editing brought by the director.

•1951-1999: A short history of short films presented by the Festival de Cannes. A program curated by Christian Jeune and Jacques Kermabon.
Spiegel van Holland (Miroirs de Hollande) by Bert Haanstra (1951, 10mn, The Netherlands)
La Seine a rencontré Paris by Joris Ivens (1958, 32mn, France)
Pas de deux by Norman McLaren (1968, 13mn, Canada)
Harpya by Raoul Servais (1979, 9mn, Belgium)
Peel by Jane Campion (1986, 9mn, Australia)
L’Interview by Xavier Giannoli (1998, 15mn, France)
When the Day Breaks by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby (1999, 10mn, Canada)

Other events, other restored prints, other guests

•Madame de… by Max Ophüls (1953, 1h45, France)
A Gaumont restoration. A show to pay a tribute to Danielle Darrieux for her birthday and presented by Dominique Besnehard, Pierre Murat and Henri-Jean Servat who will screen the latest filmed interview of Danielle Darrieux.

• L’Atalante by Jean Vigo (1934, 1h28, France), restored 35mm print
Presented by Gaumont, la Cinémathèque française and The Film Foundation of Martin Scorsese. First digital restoration in 4k and conversion to a 35mm print. A new discovery of the closest version of the director’s work thanks to Gaumont, Luce Vigo and historian Bernard Eisenschitz. Restoration carried out at L’Image Retrouvée laboratory in Bologna and Paris.

• Native Son (Sang noir) by Pierre Chenal (1951, 1h47, Argentina)
A presentation by Argentina Sono Film. Restoration with the collaboration of the Library of Congress.

• Paparazzi by Jacques Rozier (1963, 18mn, France)
Presented by Jacques Rozier and la Cinémathèque française. 4K Digitization and 2K restoration works made from image and sound negatives at Hiventy laboratory, with the support of the CNC and in collaboration with Les Archives Audiovisuelles de Monaco, la Cinémathèque Suisse and Extérieur nuit.  The film will be introduced by Jacques Rozier.

• Belle de jour (Beauty of the Day) by Luis Buñuel (1967, 1h40, France)
Presented by STUDIOCANAL. Digitization from the original negative and 4K restoration carried out by Hiventy laboratory for STUDIOCANAL with the support of the CNC, of la Cinémathèque française, of the Fonds Culturel Franco-Américain and the Maison YVES SAINT LAURENT. French theater distribution: Carlotta.

• A River Runs Through It by Robert Redford (1992, 2h04, United States of America)
Presented by Pathé. 4K Scan and 4K restoration from original image and sound 35mm negatives. Restoration carried out by Pathé at Technicolor France laboratory for the image in collaboration with Philippe Rousselot, cinematographer of the film, and L.E. Diapason for the sound restoration.

•Lucíaby Humberto Solas (1968, 2h40, Cuba)
A presentation of the Film Foundation. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). Restoration funded by Turner Classic Movies and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.

Documentaries about Cinema
The history of cinema by cinema itself, a presentation of five documentaries

• La belge histoire du festival de Cannes (The Belgian's Road to Cannes) by Henri de Gerlache (2017, 1h02, Belgium)
Presented by Alizé Production. Produced by Alizé Production, co-produced by RTBF (Belgian television) & Proximus.
A joyful road movie to discover the Belgian cinema which has been at Cannes for 70 years. The filmmakers of yesterday are talking with those of today to paint a picture of a free and heterogeneous cinema. A "Belgian story" of the biggest festival in the world.

• David Stratton - A Cinematic Life by Sally Aitken (2017, 1h37, Australia)
Presented by Stranger Than Fiction Films. Produced by Stranger Than Fiction Films, with Screen Australia, ABC TV Arts, Screen NSW and Adelaide Film Festival.
An love adventure of film critic David Stratton with his adopted country, Australia, which led him to understand himself. It is also the glorious history of Australian cinema and its creators told by this Cannes-regular film-lover interested in the world.

• Filmworker by Tony Zierra (2017, 1h29, United States of America)
Presented and produced by True Studio Cinema.
Young actor Leon Vitali abandoned his prosperous career after Barry Lyndon to become the faithful right hand of director Stanley Kubrick. For more than two decades, Leon has played a crucial role behind the scenes by helping Kubrick. A complex and interdependent relationship between Leon and Kubrick based on devotion, sacrifice and the harsh and joyful reality of creative process.

• Becoming Cary Grant  by Mark Kidel (2017, 1h25, France)
Presented by ARTE France and Showtime Documentary Films. Produced by YUZU Productions, coproduced by ARTE France, in association with ro*co films productions.
Cary Grant is one of the biggest Hollywood actors. In his fifties, he started a cure of LSD to free himself from his demons. For the first time, with his words, he retraces his journey. The story of a man in search of himself and the love he did not find in his life. The words of Cary Grant are interpreted by Jonathan Pryce.

• Jean Douchet, l'enfant agité by Fabien Hagège, Guillaume Namur, Vincent Haasser (2017, 1h30, France)
Presented and produced by Carlotta and Kidam.
Three young cinephiles follow Jean Douchet, question his friends and former students. This documentary reveals the man and his critical philosophy, a part of the history of the Cahiers du Cinéma and this Art of loving to which he has devoted his existence.

On the day-by-day analysis perhaps will not talk about each movie in this section but definitively will express may adoration to several of the films included this year in the anniversary celebration as there are some films that are my-life milestones, films that changed me, that made me think beyond, that allowed me to view my little world different and made me wish to see the outside-world and yes, I did saw the world thanks to the spark films lit inside me.

Cinéma de la Plage

The screenings that take place each night under the stars and are open to the public have this year some very interesting movies that I'm sure will look better under the stars.

Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 1999
Bugsy Malone, Alan Parker, UK, 1976
Saturday Night Fever, John Badham, USA 1977
Bad Boys, Michael Bay, USA, 1995
Missing, Costa Gavras, USA, 1982
Chariots of Fire, Hugh Hudson, UK, 1981
Djam, Tony Gatlif, France, 2017
Week-end à Zuydcoote(Week-end at Dunkirk), Henri Verneuil, France and Italy, 1964
Un 32 août sur terre  (August 32nd on Earth), Denis Villeneuve, Canada, 1998

There will also be two concerts one on Sunday, May 21st, M en Concert and another on Thursday, May 25 along the screening of Djam.

Ces années-là

To mark its 70th anniversary, the Festival has published Ces années-là, the story of the festival in the words of film critics from all four corners of the globe.  Under the direction of Thierry Frémaux.  Preface by Pierre Lescure.  Available from May 10, 2017; published by Stock.

70 festivals, 70 Palmes d’or, 70 selections, 70 presidents and... 70 stories rewinding the film of all those ceremonies and glorious years, written by some of the most enlightened and meticulous critics, not only from France but also America, Italy, Russia, India, Mexico and Turkey, superbly capturing the abundant diversity of Cannes, a town that opens its arms for a short time each year to a dream that begins afresh with each new season.

"Ces années-là" tells the story of an adventure that began in 1939 against a backdrop of world war and was rehabilitated in 1946 as a way of consigning the horrors to oblivion. The melancholic and captivating story of an institution which, despite its occasional wayward moves and biases, has never failed in its primary mission: to reveal. A story of masters (Rossellini, Truffaut, Loach, Coppola, Wajda, Wenders, Lynch and Tarantino) and masterpieces (The Leopard, La Dolce Vita, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Blow up, Taxi Driver, Paris Texas, Underground, The Tree of Life). But also an idea, a vision of film that's constantly renewed, that pushes back the limits, and marches ever onwards.

The journalists selected by Thierry Frémaux, General Director of the Festival, testify to the permanence of this obsession: Georges Simenon as president of the Jury, the upheaval of May 1969, the Nazi salute by Maurice Pialat; the uncertain consecration of Oncle Boonmee, the committed stance of The Class or Fahrenheit 9/11, but above all, all those shared secrets and moments of happiness.

Masterclasses

There will be a Masterclass by Clint Eastwood and as a tribute a screening of his film Unforgiving.  Alfonso Cuarónwill also have a Masterclass on May 24th.  There is not much more info as we all learned about the masterclasses in the screenings schedule, there is no press release yet.

Talking about what organizers have not done yet, perhaps the most notable is the lack of the jury members announcement for the three relevant official selection competitions Un Certain Regard, the shorts competitions and la Camera d'Or.  As of today we only know the president.

Radio Festival

The 70th year of the festival sees the launch of Radio Festival, the event's first webradio!  My first reactions is WHY? as I don't listen to radio anymore!

But to be honest while doing this long post been listening to great music!  To listen to the radio go here, there is a banner that says Listen Radio Festival just below the slide show.

Imagine there will be people that would like to listen to what happens every day and podcasts are available live via festival website and apps.

Post got too-long and will stop here but maybe will do another with more info as there are too-many things happening in this anniversary edition.  Enjoy!!!

Finally today organizers released the names of the jurors in ALL juries! Will stop this post to update main Cannes post will the names. Done.  Please check the jurors as has been a long time since a jury has so many outstanding directors together (!!!) as the short films jury has. Great!

Cannes in Numbers

Even when is not at the official site, let me share some interesting figures from this edition that hope are accurate. After all consideration selected only some that probably have less chance to be wrong, sigh.

-There are 60 films from 36 countries in the Official Selection.  Films were selected from 1,930 entries which is a bit higher than the 1,869 film considered in 2016.  From this total, 19 films are in competition and 18 in the Un Certain Regard competition.

-From the 19 films in competition, four are made by five American directors: Sofia Coppola, Todd Haynes, Noah Baumbach plus Benny Sadfie and Josh Safdie.  There are also four films made by four  French directors: François Ozon, Jacques Doillon, Robin Campillo and Michel Hazanavicius. Then there are two south-Korean directors (Bong Joon-ho, Hong Sang-soo), one Austrian (Michael Haneke), one Brit (Lynne Ramsay), one German-Turkish (Fatih Akin), one Greek (Yorgos Lanthimos), one Hungarian (Kornel Mundruczo), one Japanese (Naomi Kawase), one Russian (Andrei Zvyagintsev), one Swedish (Ruben Ostlund) and one Ukranian (Sergei Loznitsa).  There are three female directors this year, the same as last year.

As many have been saying, the 2017 competition directors lineup is impressive, perhaps one of the best in recent times.  It's not easy to guess which way the Palme d'Or will go as there are too many great filmmakers competing shoulder to shoulder.  If someone asks me, my wish is for Michael Haneke to become the FIRST director to win three Palme d'Or prizes; his body of work highly deserves all kinds of recognition and no-doubt that his latest will blow my mind while exploding my emotions as all his films have done.

But if Haneke doesn't make it, then things complicate as I simply LOVE the body of work of Andrei Zvyagintsev as well as all films (including documentaries) by Sergei Loznitsa, so will not complain if their must-be-seen for me films get the top award.  Still, no complains if Ruben Ostlund, François Ozon, Lynne Ramsay, Fatih Akim, Naomi Kawase or Todd Haynes get the top palm.  So there are high probabilities that I'll be pleased with winners this year (!).

-The selection includes 11 first-films which is 2 up from the 9 last year and 5 up from two years ago.

On the Light side of the Festival de Cannes

There will be some parties while the fest is running and probably will cover a few on day-to-day coverage but the most celebrity-interesting events no doubt will be on the red carpet that this year will have a shower of A-listers from world cinema and well, yes, from Hollywood (!).

So be prepared to see Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg on opening night along Monica Belluci, Jessica Chastain and Uma Thurman.  Also consider the actors, Mathieu Amalric, Louis Garrel, Will Smith, and Reda Kateb.  But if you're a true cinephile surely your excitement level will rise with the incredible amount of film directors that will walk the red carpet on opening night: Pedro Almodovar, Maren Ade, Chan-wook Park, Paolo Sorrentino, Joachim Lafosse, Christian Mungiu, Barry Jenkins, Eric Khoo and Athina Rache Tsangari!!! Fabulous!

But the next days are crowded with great actresses like Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Nicole Kidman, Emma Thompson, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Diane Kruger, Jenifer Jason Leigh, Kristen Dunst, Elle Fanning, Elisabeth Moss, Adèle Haenel, Eva Green, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jeanne Balibar, Elena Anaya, Paulina Garcia, Dolores Fonzi, Emma Suarez, Elizabeth Olsen, Céline Sallette, Aishwarya Rai, the now also director, Kristen Stewart and more.  Will not list the men, but yes Colin Farrell will be there as well as Jake Gyllenhaal, my favorite Louis Garrel and many more.

Yes the light and irrelevant comments will come to the day-to-day festival coverage, so if I miss something here will be right there for sure.

The Films Posters

This edition has quite a few very nice posters but my first initial spontaneous reaction is the surprise finding that many are using the color: rose/pink! Yes, there are quite a few posters with the color which suggests some mellow-ness in the graphics of 2017 Cannes films.

As a matter of fact the poster that has called more my attention up-to-today and gets my top award has the color in the most unexpected way. Take a look at the poster of Out by György Kristóf presented at Un Certain Regard.



But no, it's not the only one with the rose/pink color as take a look at the use of color in perhaps the most "macho" photograph from A Prayer Before Dawn by Jean-Stephane Sauvaire presented at Midnight Screenings.  This is truly a contradiction of mellow and violence, but believe the composition becomes very easy for the eye and gets my second place.



There are another two posters that get no award from me but also use the color in more conventional ways, check them.





And there are still more but will include only two with the color use mainly in the letters.



If you wish to check more posters go to my pinterest site here, there are 95 poster pins waiting for you to be seen and perhaps give your own award. Enjoy!!!

Finally one more day as tomorrow, May 17th, the festival will open with the Opening Ceremony that this year and due to all the official site changes and for the very-first-time in recent years, have the unsettling sensation that the ceremony will not be open to the world live.  Let's hope I'm wrong and if there is worldwide access will post link and/or video in this blog.

Since yesterday celebrities have been arriving to Nice airport and there are lots of nine-unfashionable photos for Marion Cotillard, Jessica Chastain, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Julianne Moore, Maren Ade, Fan Bingbing, Monica Bellucci and more.  If you wish to see some go to my pinterest site here where everyday will have new photos from photocalls, press conferences, red carpets, etc.

Radio Festival

Today organizers made available a specific site for Radio Festival and now there is a program that I assume will be updated daily.  As organizers say "during 12 days, experience the Festival live from its official webradio: Radio Festival. Starting May 17th, on the Festival de Cannes’ official website and replayed podcasts platforms.  It starts tomorrow at 9 a.m with Virginie Apiou and Marie-Noëlle Dana in « Notre cinéma est une histoire d’amour» -available only in French.

Listen to Radio Festival music today and from tomorrow on to podcasts and special emissions at the official site here.

15th Prix Unifrance

Just a few moments ago, award organizers published the short films that will compete for this annual award given next Thursday, May 25th at UniFrance pavillion in Cannes.  Also announced was the jury that will give the two awards, Le Grand Prix and Le Prix Coup de cœur.

These are the 18 short films that are being considered in this edition.

Enfant chéri by Valérie Mréjen and Bertrand Schefer
The Gas Station by Djinda Kane
Belle à croquer by Axel Courtière
Marlon by Jessica Palud
Negative Spaceby Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata
Tangente by Julie Jouve and Rida Belghiat
Les Bigorneaux by Alice Vial
Jungle by Colia Vranici
Nothing Happens by Michelle Kranot and Uri Kranot
Chez soi by François Raffenaud
Le Monde du petit monde by Fabrice Bracq
Bleu comme la mère by Yohann Zveig
Event Horizon by Joséfa Celestin
L'Étui rouge by Loran Perrin
[entends-moi] by Nicolas Coquet
Fruit défendu by Marion Jhöaner
La Table des grands by Nathalia Konchalovsky
Les Animaux domestiques by Jean Lecointre

To read about each short film go official site here; if you subscribe to site you'll be able to watch some short films too.  Also use link to learn jury members.

The Events of the 70th Festival de Cannes

May 17th will mark the beginning of not only the screenings, but of 12 days of celebration! From the Opening Ceremony to the awards ceremony on Sunday, May 18th, both emceed by Monica Bellucci, the Festival will celebrate its 70th edition by initiating brand new tailor-made events and inviting numerous stars and personalities.

Here are the events that will take place throughout this 70th edition. Have included only events not covered in other posts, but if you wish to read complete info go to official site here.

-On the opening night, from early evening until late at night, the Festival offers a Welcome Party to greet the festival-goers and the press. The party will take place on the Plage du Majestic  as well as on the Agora, with live music by the Fantasy Live Experience Orchestra and DJ Daddy Ryton.



-After the party on Friday, May 12th organized for professionals based in Cannes, three dinners will be held in honor of different components of the international film community, one for industry professionals, another for directors and the last for journalists and film critics.

on Friday, May 19th, in the Grand Salon of the Carlton Hotel, a dinner for the film industry professionals present in Cannes. On this occasion, a Tribute will be paid to American producer Jeffrey Katzenberg.
on Saturday, May 20th, at the Agora, the “Dinner of the Festivals” will reunite 150 directors of the greatest film festivals in the world.
on Thursday, May 25th, in the Grand Salon of the Carlton Hotel, the “Press Dinner” will gather 250 international journalists and critics present in Cannes.

-On May 23rd, the Anniversary Evening will celebrate the 70th season in exceptional style. Under the presidency of Isabelle Huppert, the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière will feature screenings, edited archives and film extracts, musical interludes and presentations by artists. The traditional anniversary dinner will bring together all the major figures at Cannes that evening, including many artists who have won the Palme d’or, or have left their mark on the history of the Festival.

-On the Plage Macé (Macé beach) two open-air concerts will be held for this anniversary edition:

on Sunday 21 May: an exceptional concert with -M-, who will present his new album "ÎL" EST UNE ÂME, le Baptême de LAMOMALI, accompanied by star African kora players Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté, Malian soul diva Fatoumata Diawara (discovered thanks to the success of Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu). Free entrance upon presentation of a ticket to be collected at the Cannes city hall and at the Festival.
onThursday 25 May: a second exceptional show, performed by TONY GATLIF AND HIS REBETIKO BAND, popular Greek music, followed by the premiere screening of his latest film, Djam (France-Turkey, 2017, 1h37), a musical journey through Turkey full of hope and sharing.

-Following on from Festival TV created in 2002, Cannes will inaugurate Radio Festival, its official web radio, which will, alongside programs from the archives and live broadcasts from the major events, feature discussion forums on the cinema of the future. Podcasts from May 17th on. Operator: Moustic.

-On the Web, the history of the event can now be viewed online on the new official site, designed to showcase the archives, with articles, photos, videos, reports, correspondence and rare documents -in collaboration with the Cinémathèque française, INA, AFP and Getty Images.

-A Prize will be given to Photographers by a dedicated jury, to discover the most striking images and reward, at the end of the Festival, the best photos from the 70th season, as a Tribute to press photographers who have also contributed to the Festival’s legend.

-The city of Cannes is in sync with the celebration. To celebrate the 70th edition of the Festival, the Cannes Town Hall has organized a series of events throughout the year devoted to cinema: a logo in effigy form of the 70 years of the Festival, a permanent red carpet, photographs of the stars by Gilles Traverso, masterclasses, exhibitions, meetings, a temporary museum, open-air screenings… and during the Festival in particular, the exhibition Cannes fait le mur, giant screens and a pétanque game, co-organized by the Festival de Cannes.

-Many important figures will attend the Festival, and in particular the anniversary night. From May 17th to May 28th, the screenings will be exceptional as well, welcoming the following guests of honor:

Clint Eastwood, who was President of the Jury in 1994, and will be in Cannes from 19 to 21 May. On Saturday 20th May at 4:45 PM, he will be at the Debussy Theatre to present the restored copy of Unforgiven, which is celebrating its own 25th anniversary at the Festival with Warner. The following day, he will inaugurate the 70th Anniversary Masterclass with a discussion in the company of American critic Kenneth Turan, in the Buñuel screening room at 4 PM.

Jane Campion who presided the Feature Film Jury in 2014 and remains to this day the only female director to have garnered a Palme d’or for The Piano in 1993, will present her latest work on Tuesday 23rd May, Top of the Lake: China Girl, which she co-directed with Ariel Kleiman.

David Lynch, 1990 winner of the Palme d’or with Wild at Heart, Best Director in 2001 with Mulholland Drive and President of the Jury in 2002, will return to the Festival to present Season 3 of Twin Peaks on Thursday 25th May at 7:30 PM in the Grand Théâtre Lumière.



Throughout the Festival, Alejandro González Iñárrituthe visionary director of Birdman and The Revenant, and winner of the Best Director for Babel, will present his 6 minutes 30 seconds film Carne y Arena, an immersive experience within an incredible Virtual Reality installation.

Alfonso Cuarón, a member of the Feature Film Jury in 2008, director, producer and screenwriter, will also give a Masterclass, in the company of film critic Michel Ciment on Wednesday 24th May at 4:30 PM in the Buñuel screening room, during which they will discuss his career in Hollywood and Mexico.



On Monday 22 May, the Debussy Theatre will host a Tribute to André Téchiné. The French director, who was a member of the Feature Film Jury in 1999, has presented 11 films in the Official Selection since 1975, including 6 in Competition. His new film, Nos années folles, will be screened to mark the occasion. Those who have accompanied him in his movies throughout the years will be present.

Finally, in memory of the immense Abbas Kiarostami, winner of the 1997 Palme d’or for Taste of Cherry, who died on 4 July 2016, there will be a screening of his posthumous film 24 Frames. The session will take place on Tuesday 23 May in the presence of his friends and his son Ahmad Kiarostami.



-Two actresses, whose commitment to the Festival in recent years has been plain to see, will enjoy their first experience at Cannes as short films directors and will be present on the Croisette.

Robin Wright, at the opening of Cannes Classics on Thursday 18 May in the Buñuel screening room at 8 PM, the actress, producer and now director will come to present her first short, The Dark of Night, homage to film noir. It will be followed by the screening of the restored copy of Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz, winner of the Palme d’or in Cannes in 1980.

Kristen Stewart, after starring in the last two years in the films of Woody Allen and Olivier Assayas and winning a Best Supporting Actress Cesar, the young American actress will come to present Come Swim– her first work as a director – on Saturday 20 May at 6:45 PM.



Some of the events we already knew about them, but perhaps the most interesting one is the prize that will be given to press photographers, which I find extremely interesting and one that should find a sponsor so every year could be awarded to the best photo from the festival.

Also very interesting to find that Robin Wright will also premiere in Cannes her first short film and surely no-surprise to find that it's an homage to film noir as genre absolutely fits her image, or at least, the image I have from her as an individual -not an actress.  Then we have Kristen with her first short film which yes, I'm dying to see to find where is she going as a director.  We have to recall that Stewart co-directed a music video from Sage +The Saints and directed a Chvrches music video, so she's has been practicing directing since about 3 years ago.

Download the Official App

If you wish to watch Cannes stuff while on the move then the fest app is a must even do is not that user friendly (lol) and has not much info yet -as of today.  To download the app available on iPhone, iPad and Android go to official site here.  Yes, I have both  IOS versions active.

Today's Closing Comments

To my HUGE surprise there are a lot of Cannes 2017 films already sold for major distribution, including some from what used to be hard-to-sell independent cinema in ACID selection.  Most already sold films have set release dates in France, USA and other countries so consequences is that for a change, we -the audience- will be able to watch many of the films sooner than later!  Great!  In the past we had to wait a year or more, and in the worst cases many films NEVER became available to wider audiences, sigh.

So seems things are changing for the better in an industry that collects each year billions of dollars and does NOT want to change its schemes.  This is an industry that needs to be reminded that "change is the only constant" if they wish to have a future.

Tomorrow we will have the Opening Ceremony and the premiere of Arnaud Desplechin Ismael's Ghosts that assures Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg will walk the red carpet but also know that there will be quite a films with press screenings so will check press initial reactions for Todd Haynes Wonderstruck and Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev, as well as probably films like Barbara by Mathieu Amalric, Claire Denis Un Beau Soleil Interieur and more.

The Red Buttons

By-the-way this year festival attendees received in the gift bag red buttons, some with the most funny inscriptions like "How come I didn't get invited?", "I'm so pathetic: I took a selfie on the red carpet",  "I did not understand it, but film was really good" (LOL!),  "Do you have an extra invitation?" and more...




IF jury in the balcony traditional photos become available later tonight, will include them in post; if not, then will be tomorrow.

Today's Agenda - Wednesday May 17

06:16pm Red Carpet Opening Ceremony

Youtube

Finally D day has arrived and even do there area a few hours more to the opening ceremony some activities already happened, like the opening film photocall and press conference plus critics already are venting how much they like film or don't like it all!

Opening Ceremony

Was too-short and too-much Pedro, so there was nothing else except for the main competition, not even a hello to the other juries much less movie clips for Un Certain Regard and other sections.

Truth is that film clips collages are always what attracts me and was not disappointed with the clips from the 19 films in competition nor with the Tribute to Pedro Almodovar.  Just for these two pieces will watch the ceremony again, sigh.

Will post video as soon as becomes available for those that wish to see all the colorful celebration of Pedro Almodovar filmography and music in his films.

Today is an easy day as only one film was screened but this afternoon press have seen already films that will be screened tomorrow and yes, there are tweets with their initial reactions but that will be posted tomorrow.  Let's start with the opening film.

Opening Film: Fantômes d’Ismaël (Ismael Ghosts) by Arnaud Desplechin

First let me share that yesterday afternoon news started to pour about film not being ready for Cannes and what press and audiences will see is a short version of the film that will premiere soon in Paris. Not good news for a festival that has had different levels of controversy since unveiling the infamous photoshoped poster to the Netflix incident and now learning that festival will screen unfinished films!? Now some are calling the film that will be shown in theaters, the director's cut with 20 more minutes.

On top Desplechin in the press conference says there are NOT two different cuts, "it simply has two different tones". "The original version is more intellectual. The version in Cannes is the more sentimental one".

Because of cast film is must-be-seen for me as simply watch everything that Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Louis Garrel and Alba Rohrwacher do, so having all of them in one film is quite outstanding for me and yes, I'm "dying" to see film that seems got lukewarm reception from the press.

Photocall
Not the first photocall from the festival as the first was with the Jury but because of the cast the photos are pouring and some are really nice.  Marion Cotillard called my attention as she looks fantastic and we have to recall that a few weeks ago she had her second baby.  Fabulous.  Video has no sound, so it's not fun to watch as an essential part of the experience is the noise photographers make, sigh. Girardot is taking selfies! (LOL) Those damn selfies are unavoidable, even if organizers wish not to have them, people will do it!  Alright photographers are calling Alba, as she left... now video has sound.  Great, Alba comes back.

Take a look at the group photo with left to right: Mathieu Amalric, Louis Garrel, Marion Cotillard, Arnaud Desplechin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alba Rohrwacher and Hippolyte Girardot. La Crème de la Crème du cinéma français.





Press Conference

According to what I read, many journalists are asking Desplechin about the two film versions and is here where he mentions what wrote above.  Usually don't like to watch press conferences as there are too-many film spoilers but if you wish to watch go to official site here.



Press Reactions
Seems press is divided with some liking film while others not. Not surprisingly most of the positive comments are in French while the not positive tend to be in English!  Not really a crazy fan of Desplechin but have enjoyed several of his films like A Christmas Tale, Jimmy P., and My Golden Days; if this film is similar to those, then have to agree with the comments in French but as I say no matter what press says, film is must-be-seen for me because of cast.

On the Positive side
-"Les Fantômes d'Ismaël" ouvre #Cannes2017 superbement. Beau, drôle, émouvant. Œuvre foisonnante en fragments d'un discours amoureux. Guillaume Gugen - France24
-Il y a de la passion, de la passion tourmentée et des acteurs magnifiques dans #LesFantômesdIsmael. Acte final moins convaincant #Cannes2017. Dom Maury Lasmartres, France
-#LesFantômesdIsamël est brillant dans son triangle amoureux. La mise en abime m'a en revanche laissé de marbre. #Cannes2017 #Ouverture. Mehdi Omaïs - Trois Couleurs, France
-The stylised dialogues/acting are a bit jarring but there's a welcome and unusual playfulness for Depleschin #Cannes2017. FilmLand Empire - London
-The opening film of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival is several movies at once, some more successful than others. Eric Kohn - indiewire, USA
-The reasonable and the insane. Arnaud Desplechin brilliantly toys with interlacing narratives to create a dizzying and fabulous tale worthy of abstract expressionism. Fabien Lemercier - Cineuropa

On the NOT Positive side
-Ismael's Ghosts - Tres boring. Superbly over dramatic melange of romantic insanity. Tries too hard to be something interesting, but isn't. Alex Billington - First Showing, Berlin
-Ismael's Ghosts is as atrocious as you might expect from the festival that once opened with Grace of Monaco. #cannes. Joe Utichi - Deadline, USA and London
-Ismael's Ghosts review – even Marion Cotillard can't save this silly, self-indulgent ragbag. Despite a classy cast, which includes Charlotte Gainsbourg and Mathieu Amalric alongside Cotillard, Arnaud Desplechin’s Cannes opener is a baffling mess. Peter Bradshaw - The Guardian
-The "sentimental" cut's a tumble of stories&tones—brash tenderness, lush burlesque—w/ mixed results. Gainsbourg is fabulous. Daniel Kasman - Mubi, USA
-Excesiva, abstracta y desbordante, lo nuevo del autor de “Rois et Reine” se presenta como un manifiesto contra la unicidad de la experiencia humana y de la expresión fílmica. Manu Yáñez‏ - OtrosCines Europe

The Red Carpet

Today is one of the most star-celebrity-crowded red carpet as not only the cast of the opening film will walk but also the ceremonies host, all juries members plus the usual guests from L'Oreal and other brands that sponsor the festival.

Red carpet was entertaining, will post video as soon as it becomes available.



The Jury

Last night the jury had their traditional dinner and as always, they came to balcony to greet fans and photographers.  Have seen some of the photos but quality is not that good; nevertheless, the best photos come from this morning phototcall, take a look below.

Found one nice photo from the dinner, take a look.



The jury photocall is amazingly silent, what happened? Photographers are not interested or someone silent the video?  Not fun to watch in silence (LOL).  Nevertheless video camera goes to Smith and Chastain, moves away to go back to them.  The only time we can see Maren Ade is when she gets close to Almodovar.



Almodovar and his femmes ...



Famous trio ...



Jessica Chastain has opted for red this morning as well as last night ...



Jury at Red Carpet


The Opening and Closing Ceremonies Host

As we know this year Monica Bellucci will host both ceremonies so she also had her photocall session and this is one sample.


Photo of the Day

Uma Thurman looking very elegant (and young)