Update on May the 10th – Since 2018, movies in the official selection and competition at the Cannes Film Festival will have to have an initial destination for theatrical distribution in France. Festival managers say so after the bitter controversy over Noah Baumbach and Bong Joon Ho, two films produced by Netflix: Cannes invited “in vain Netflix to accept that these two films” can reach French cinemas, and not the subscribers to the platform only. No agreement has been reached, the Festival says, hence the decision. Cannes “is pleased to welcome a new operator who has decided to invest in cinema, but wants to reiterate its support for the traditional way of displaying cinema In France and in the world.” In the recent days, the rumor of a possible exclusion of the two films was widespread, officially denied by the festival.
Update on May the 4th: the restored version of Michelangelo Antonioni ‘Blow Up’ will be screened during the Festival, to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Grand Prix (now called the Golden Palm). The restoration was done by the ‘Cineteca di Bologna’, Luce-Cinecittà Institute and Criterion, in collaboration with Warner Bros and Park Circus. The restoration was carried out in the Criterion laboratories in New York and ‘L’immagine ritrovata’ of the ‘Cineteca di Bologna’, under the supervision of the director of photography Luca Bigazzi. The ‘Cineteca di Bologna’ will be in Cannes with other restorations too: ‘Soleil O’, made in 1970 by Franco-Mauritanian director Med Hondo, ‘Lucía’, 1968 by the Cuban Humberto Solas, and ‘L’Atlante’ by Jean Vigo (1934), curated at the ‘Cineteca di Bologna’ new headquarters in Paris.
Updates on April 27 and 28: Official Selection is definitely completed with the following films: in competition ‘The Square’, directed by the Swedish Ruben Östlund, out of competition Roman Polanski ‘D’après une histoire vraie’; as for ‘Certain Regard’: ‘La Cordillera’, dir. by Santiago Mitre, ‘Walking past the Future’, by Li Ruijun; among the special screenings ‘Le Vénérable W.’, by Barbet Schroeder, ‘Carré 35’, directed by Éric Caravaca; among the kids screenings ‘Zombillénium’, directed by Arthur de Pins and Alexis Ducord. Among the celebrations, Cannes 70 foresees a homage to André Téchiné, with the presentation of his new film ‘Nos années folles’, and ‘Djam’, a Tony Gatlif film -concert, for the Cinéma de la Plage. Nicole Kidman, Jessica Chastain, Dustin and Lisa Hoffman, Diane Kruger, Milla Jovovich, Eva Longoria, Carine Roitfeld, Harvey Weinstein, Pedro Almodóvar, David Lynch, Vanessa Redgrave, Kenneth Cole (amfAR Chairman of the Board) and Milutin Gatsby (amfAR Global Fundraising Chairman) will be some of the supporters of the 24th amFAR Gala Cannes, which will take place on May 25. One of the most important charity events in the world, amFAR Gala Cannes is focused on the fundraising for the search on Aids.
Update on April 25: as for the Jury, director Pedro Almodóvar will be the president; the jurors will be Jessica Chastain, Will Smith, the German director Maren Ade, the Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, the Chinese actress Fan Bingbing; the French actress and singer Agnès Jaoui; the Korean director Park Chan-wook; and the French composer Gabriel Yared.
Updates on April 21:
* absent from the main competition, Italy conquers the opening of the Semaine de la Critique, the prestigious event taking place on the same days as the Cannes Film Festival (18-26 May) with ‘Sicilian Ghost Story’, directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, an Italian-Franco-Swiss co-production put at the opening the first time for an Italian film.
* Uma Thurman will chair the jury of Un Certain Regard; already a member of the jury directed by Robert De Niro in the 2011 festival, the actress recently joined the cast of Lars von Trier’s new project ‘The House that Jack Built’, next to Matt Dillon and Bruno Ganz.
Update on April 20: as for the Directors’ Fortnight (in French ‘Quinzaine des Réalisateurs’), the separately organised selection that usually runs parallel to the official festival from 18-28 May in Cannes, these are the feature films:
‘Un Beau Soleil Interieur’, dir. Claire Denis – Opening Night Film
‘A Ciambra’, dir. Jonas Carpignano
‘Alive in France’, dir. Abel Ferrara (pictured below)
‘L’Amant D’Un Jour’, dir. Philippe Garrel
‘Bushwick’, dir. Cary Murnion & Jonathan Milott
‘Cuori Puri’, dir. Roberto De Paolis
‘The Florida Project’, dir. Sean Baker
‘Frost’, dir. Sharunas Bartas
‘I Am Not A Witch’, dir. Rungano Nyoni
‘Jeannette, L’Enfance De Jeanne D’Arc’, dir Bruno Dumont
‘L’Intrusa’, dir. Leonardo Di Costanzo
‘La Defensa Del Dragon’, dir Natalia Santa
‘Marlina Si Pembunuh Dalam Empat Babak’, dir. Mouly Surya
‘Mobile Homes’, dir. Vladimir de Fontenay
‘Nothingwood’, dir. Sonia Kronlund
‘Otez-Moi D’Un Doute’, dir. Carine Tardieu
‘The Rider’, dir. Chloe Zhao
‘West of the Jordan River’ (Field Diary Revisted), dir Amos Gitai
‘Patti Cake$’, dir. Geremy Jasper* — Closing Night Film
And these the short films:
‘Aua Mole’, dir. Laura Goncalves & Alexandra Ramires
‘La Bouche’, dir. Camilo Restrepo
‘Copa-Loca’, dir. Christus Massalas
‘Crème De Menthe’, dir. David Philippe Gagne & Jean-Marc E. Roy
‘Farpoes’, Baliios, dir. Marta Mateus
‘Min Bord’, dir. Niki Lindroth von Bahr
‘Nada’, dir. Gabriel Martins
‘Retour A Genoa City’, dir. Benoit Grimalt
‘Tijuana Tales’, dir. Jean-Charles Hue
‘Tresnje (Cherries)’, dir Dubravka Turic
2017 edition of the Cannes festival will take place since May, 17 till May, 28. Italian actress Claudia Cardinale shines into the poster but no Italian film is listed as a possible Golden Palm awarded; however, Sergio Castellito’s ‘Fortunata’ , starred by Jasmine Trinca and Stefano Accorsi, and Annarita Zambrano’s ‘Aprés la guerre’ will be up in the section Un certain Regard. 29 the represented Countries, 9 the debut films.
The complete list of the 18 films that will be fighting for the Golden Palm (Palme d’Or) was presented today, April, 13, during the official press conference, by the president Pierre Lescure and the general delegate Thierry Frémaux, together with the films of the opening, not in the contest, ‘Les fantômes d’Ismaël, by Arnaud Desplechin. Here they are:
Competition:
‘Nelyubov’ (‘Loveless’, Andrey Zvyagintsev),
‘Good Time’ (Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie),
‘You Were Never Really Here’ (Lynne Ramsay)
‘The amant double’ (François Ozon),
‘Jupiter’s Moon’ (Kornél Mundruczó),
‘A Gentle Creature’ (Sergei Loznitsa),
‘The Killing Of A Sacred Deer’ (‘Mise À Mort Du Cerf Sacre’, Yorgos Lanthimos),
‘Hikari’ (‘Radiance’, Naomi Kawase),
‘Geu-Hu’ (‘The Day After’, Hong Sang-soo).,
‘The redoutable’ (Michel Hazanavicius),
‘Wonderstruck’ (Todd Haynes),
‘Happy End’ (Michael Haneke),
‘Rodin’ (Jacques Doillon),
‘The Beguiled’ (Sofia Coppola),
‘120 battements par minute’ (Robin Campillo),
‘Okja’ (Bong Joon-Ho),
‘Aus dem nichts’ (‘In The Fade’, Fatih Akin),
‘The Meyerowitz Stories’ (Noah Baumbach).
Out of competition:
‘Les Fantômes of Ismaël’ (Arnaud Desplechin, Opening film),
‘Mugen no J? Nin’ (‘Blade Of The Immortal’, Miike Takashi),
‘How To Talk To Girls At Parties’ (John Cameron Mitchell).
‘Visages, Villages’ (Agnès Varda & Jr).
Un Certain Regard:
‘Barbara’ (Mathieu Amalric),
‘La novia del desierto’ (La fiancée du desert / The Desert Bride, Cecilia Atan & Valeria Pivato),
‘Tesnota’ (‘étroitesse / Closeness’, Kantemir Balagov),
‘Aala Kaf Ifrit’ (‘La belle et la meute’ / ‘Beauty And The Dogs’, Kaouther Ben Hania),
‘L’atelier’ (Laurent Cantet),
‘Lucky’ (Lucky, Sergio Castellitto),
‘Las hijas de Abril’ (‘Les filles d’avril’ / ‘April’s Daughter’, Michel Franco),
‘Western’ (Valeska Grisebach),
‘Posoki’ (‘Directions’, Stephan Komandarev),
‘Out’ (Gyorgy Kristof),
‘Sanpo suru shinryakusha’ (‘Before We Vanish’, Kurosawa Kiyoshi),
‘En attendant les hirondelles’ (‘The Nature Of Time’, Karim Moussaoui),
‘Lerd’ (‘Dregs’, Mohammad Rasoulof),
‘Jeune femme’ (Leonor Serraille),
‘Wind River’ (Taylor Sheridan),
‘Après la guerre (‘After The War’, Annarita Zambrano).
Special Screenings (Séance Speciale):
‘An Inconvenient Sequel’ (Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk),
’12 days’ (Raymond Depardon,
‘They’ (Anahita Ghazvinizadeh),
‘Keul-Le-Eo-Ui Ka-Me-La’ (Clair’s House, Hong Sang-soo),
‘Promised Land’ (Eugene Jarecki),
‘Napalm’ (Claude Lanzmann),
‘Demons In Paradise’ (Jude Ratman),
‘Sea Sorrow’ (Vanessa Redgrave),
Midnight Screenings (Séance de Minuit):
‘Ak-nyeo’ (‘The Villainess’, Jung Byung-Gil),
‘Bulhandang’ (‘The Merciless’, Byun Sung-Hyun),
‘Prayer Before Dawn’ (Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire).
Events:
‘Top Of The Lake: China Girl’ (Jane Campion & Ariel Kleiman),
‘How to Swim’ (Kristen Stewart),
’24 Frames’ (Abbas Kiarostami),
‘Twin Peaks’ (David Lynch),
Special Installation in Virtual Reality: ‘Carne Y Arena’ (Alejandro G. Iñárritu).
Please note that Sofia Coppola’s ‘the Beguiled’ is a remake of the previous 1971 Don Siegel film, known in Italy as ‘La notte brava del soldato Ryan’; also of interest, a for television, the presence of ‘Top of the lake’, by Jane Campion, and ‘Twin Peaks’, David Lynch remake of the fortunate TV series.