The red carpet that leads up the steps to the hope of being in the limelight.
A poetic celebration of the insuperable quest for expression and freedom.
An upward journey to contemplate the past and move ahead towards the promise of a revival. From Tuesday, May 17 to Saturday, May 28, the Festival de Cannes will hold its 75th edition, and here is its poster.
Just as the unforgettable Truman embodied by the one-and-only Jim Carrey whose fingers brush his horizon, the Festival de Cannes takes the extreme nature of the world in its stride in order to grasp it again. The climate crisis, humanitarian disasters, and armed conflicts… the reasons for concerns are numerous. As in 1939 and in 1946, the Festival is once again asserting its strong conviction that art and cinema are where contemplation and the renewal of society unravel. And yet it remains faithful to its founding commitment enshrined in article 1 of its rules: “The purpose of the Festival International du Film, in a spirit of friendship and universal cooperation, is to reveal and showcase quality films in the interest of the evolution of the art of cinematography.”
Peter Weir and Andrew Niccol’s The Truman Show(1998) is a modern reflection of Plato’s cave and the decisive scene urges viewers to not only experience the border between reality and its representation but to ponder the power of fiction, between manipulation and catharsis. Just as Truman escapes falsehood as he rises, the Festival, with its famous ascending red carpet, offers viewers the truth of the artists when they enter the theater.
During the 2010s, the Awards continued to highlight the exacting artistry of international filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival, from Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) to Bong Joon-ho (Parasite).
In 2013, a personal favorite, Blue is the Warmest Color, took home the Palm D’Or.
In 2015, another personal favorite took home the Palm D’Or, Dheepan.
In 2017 industry leaders and businesses, the public, and around 100 artists, all gathered for an extraordinary festival, and to celebrate the 70th Cannes Film Festival.
In 2018 the festival had its first all-female presentation team led by Kate Blanchett and Agnes Varda.
Cate Blanchett – President of the Feature Films Jury (Image Credit : François Silvestre De Sacy /FDC)
By 2020, a “Special Session” was in order as the coronavirus was rampaging the global community. A unique selection of 56 feature films and 28 short films were distributed around the planet under the banner: Cannes 2020. The solidarity achieved over the years between the Cannes Film Festival and major film events allowed for a continuance.
Stay tuned as the countdown to the 75th Festival de Cannes is on!
Who Are The Marcuses? is a soon-to-be-released documentary feature about a mysterious couple whose more than half a billion-dollar gift to Ben Gurion University of the Negev ignites a re-imagining of conflict resolution in the Middle East and peace through the Earth’s most precious resource: water.
Currently, the film has an eye on festival play starting in late summer through the fall of 2022.
Australian director, screenwriter, and producer Baz Luhrmann will be at the Cannes Film Festival to present the world premiere of his latest film, Elvis, along with Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, and Olivia DeJonge. Elvis will be released in North America on June 24, 2022, and worldwide from June 22, 2022.
Elvis focuses on the life and work of Elvis Presley (Austin Butler), through the prism of his complex relationship with his mysterious manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks).
AUSTIN BUTLER as Elvis and TOM HANKS as Col. Tom Parker in Warner Bros. Drama “ELVIS” Pictures, a film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
The story delves into the complex dynamic between Presley and Parker over more than 20 years, from Presley’s rise to stardom to his unprecedented stardom, as America experiences major socio-cultural upheaval and loses its innocence. At the heart of this journey is one of the most important and influential people in Elvis’ life, Priscilla Presley (Olivia DeJonge).
A flamboyant filmmaker, Baz Luhrman is the only director to present two feature films at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival with Moulin Rouge! in 2001, selected in Competition, and Gatsby the Magnificent in 2013. In 1992, he caused a sensation at the 45th edition of the Festival with his first film Ballroom Dancing, screened in the Un Certain Regard section.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis is being produced by Bazmark and The Jackal Group and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Picture worldwide.
The 1990s ushered in a time of significant change globally and that change was reflected at the Cannes Film Festival. “Promotion” became the driving new buzzword. Hardly anyone was more creative than Madonna. After Italian politician, La Cicciolina, answered the age-old question of how to dress at Cannes, the former porn actress wore an outfit that seemed more appropriate for the bedroom than the red carpet, Madonna walked the steps and red carpet with her La Cicciolina-inspired outfit.
True to say cinema had broken loose and perpetual change was underway.
In 1990, Federico Fellini presented The Voice of the Moon at the Cannes Film Festival. Fellini had once declared that “Cannes is like a natural harbor for a film to moor in”. Despite having once said that he didn’t like ceremonies, this was his tenth film presented on La Croisette, after films such as The Nights of Cabiria in 1957, La Dolce Vita in 1960, Amarcord in 1974, and City of Women in 1980. The Festival paid tribute to him by presenting effigies of his characters on the Festival’s Louis Lumière theater stage curtain. The Voice of the Moon would be the last film by the legendary director who died in 1994.
Federico Fellini (Cr.Cannes_Festival)
In 1991, the award winners chosen under the presidency of Roman Polanski stirred up less debate but nevertheless set a precedent. The members of the jury, swept up by their enthusiasm, attributed all the major awards to the film Barton Fink. The Coen brothers won the Palme d’Or and the award for Best Director and the award for Best Actor went to its star John Turturro. From then on the Festival forbade future juries from attributing all the major awards to one film.
In 1993, the Palme d’Or was jointly awarded to Farewell, My Concubine by Chen Kaige, and to a woman, the director Jane Campion for The Piano. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first ‘Cinema & Liberty’ conference was held and attracted a hundred plus directors from all around the world. Tellingly, prizes were awarded to representatives from around the world: Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern European countries. The Festival also surpassed 20000 participants.
In 1995, American Sharon Stone was all the rage as she was on full display making a name for herself with controversial scenes in the neo-noir erotic thriller, Basic Instinct. The following year Quintin Tarantino premiered his Palme d’Or-winning, cult-classic, Pulp Fiction.
Quintin Tarantino (Cr. Cannes_Festival)
But, 1995 seemed to be a pivotal year in capturing the spirit of the time with new film genres utilizing the camera as a witness to history and capturing socio-cultural issues of the day such as the phenomenon of suburban slums with Matthieu Kassovitz’s film La Haine (Hate), which took the Best Director’s prize, or the fight against racism with the film Jungle Fever by the renowned Spike Lee. These new contemporary genres and accompanying film work created a buzz in public opinion as well as a source of controversy.
Cinema Paradiso
Undeniably, the recurrent reproach had been that the Festival rewards cinema d’auteur and not what the public wants to watch. The nineties largely proved this wrong. The decade saw the Palme d’Or going to The Piano, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Secrets and Lies by Mike Leigh, and other prizes going to Hate by Mathieu Kassovitz and The Eighth Day by Jaco van Dormael, all of which were big box office successes. In certain cases, the Cannes Festival has even helped a film to find its public. Cinema Paradiso initially met with very poor reception in Italy. In 1989, its director Giuseppe Tornatore shortened it by half an hour before presenting it at Cannes. It won the Jury Grand Prix and went on to be an international success.
With its worldwide reputation, the Festival continued to grow throughout the 1990s and left an indelible mark with such iconic moments as the Italian actor-director Roberto Benigni’s satisfaction, on his knees under the spotlights, after winning for his film Life is Beautiful at the end of the 90s. These films left their mark on the history of worldwide cinema, contributing to the democratization of various social phenomena such as homosexuality with the film Happy Together by Wong Kar-Wai.
50 years of promoting cinema
Growing over the years, the Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1997. 1,289 films from all around the world had been part of the official selection since the first Festival in 1946, through 50 years of cinema that has captured the evolution of our societies.
Stay tuned for new awareness and the new millennium!
The Cannes Film Festival, until 2003 called the International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world and is widely considered the most important festival in the world in terms of impact as it draws attention to and raises profiles of films contributing to the development of cinema, globally boosts the industry and celebrates film at an international level, As such, a ten-part series on the Cannes Film Festival is underway with the publishing of the History of the Cannes Film Festival – Parts I, II, III, IV, and V.
As the scandals of the 1960s subsided and the advent and sprouting of the Directors Fortnight during the 1970s, the decade of the 1980s promised hope and witnessed the emergence of foreign cinemas that theretofore had been forbidden to be exported, were now being screened. While the diplomatic barriers were being shaken, the festival’s reputation as a filmmakers’ forum emerged. Cannes had proven its commitment to defending the filmmaker’s freedom of expression.
In 1983, the choice of winners was sharply criticized, with the jury giving out additional Jury’s Grand Prix and a Grand Prix for art films at the last minute. The choice of films presented largely stressed committed cinema that never gives in to government pressure. This was also the decade that gave rise to socially aware young directors.
The Tin Dum
Françoise Sagan, the president of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 1979, sparked off a major scandal in Cannes by declaring: “It is true that I tried to put pressure on the jury. I did so simply because the day before, Mr. Favre le Bret completely stepped out of his role by trying to do the exact same thing.” Françoise Sagan was in favor of awarding the Palme d’Or to Volker Schlöndorff’s film The Tin Drum, while a number of jury members preferred Apocalypse Now. At the last minute, both films were awarded the Palme d’Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival.
Apocalypse Now
In 1983, Robert Favre le Bret, after witnessing the birth and evolution of the festival, stepped down as President of the Cannes Film Festival passing the torch to Pierre Viot. Viot teamed up with the 1978 appointed Delegate General (Director of the Festival), Gilles Jacob. Jacob had created the Caméra d’Or prize for the best first film which could be awarded to a film from any one of the three parallel events (the Official Cannes Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight, and Critics’ Week). He also grouped together the non-competitive categories in a selection called Un Certain Regard.
In addition, the town decided the Palais de la Croisette had become too small for the event and ordered the construction of the Palais des Congrès. The municipality’s initial idea for expanding the Palais Croisette was not viable and, given the Festival’s growing success, there was a need to go big and build a new one.
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès 1983
Its time had come and in 1983 the new Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was ready. The stakes were high as the structure would host numerous events throughout the year. Upon opening, many complained the architecture was too boxy and many described it as “a hideous concrete blockhouse.” Yet, the bunker style was accepted though it wasn’t a perfect fit for the festival. Nevertheless, the famous twenty-four steps decorated with the red carpet has welcomed tens of thousands of festival-goers, and hundreds of screenings, and helped maintain the ongoing popularity of the Film Market.
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès
In 1986 the 39th Cannes Festival was declared open by 14-year-old Charlotte Gainsbourg and 94-year-old Charles Vanel, hand in hand symbolizing the tradition of the past and the emerging talent of the present day.
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Charles Vanel (Image cr. AFP)
The duo of Viot and Jacob formed a well-balanced team, between boldness and tradition. The Festival continued its efforts to protect freedom of expression and promote cinema as a whole, but it also became committed to defending thematically the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
The Cannes Film Festival, until 2003 called the International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world and is widely considered the most important festival in the world in terms of impact as it draws attention to and raises profiles of films contributing to the development of cinema, globally boosts the industry and celebrates film at an international level, As such, a ten-part series on the Cannes Film Festival is underway with the publishing of the History of the Cannes Film Festival – Parts I, II, III, and IV.
Following the crisis of May 18, 1968, the Cannes festival needed a breath of fresh air and the Directors Fortnight (La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) of 1969 oxygenated the release of ideological constraints, opening the way for new ideas and cinema representation propagated on May 18th.
Directors Fortnight 1969
The Fortnight, initiated by the French Directors Guild, was a major evolution for independent cinema at the Festival, providing new directors an opportunity to make their work known. This new change quickly became the talk of the town, with the audience increasing exponentially from 4,000 filmgoers in 1970 to 72,000 in 1990.
Starting in 1999 Fortnight programming was overseen by an artistic director. The current artistic director is Paolo Moretti who has programmed Director’s Fortnight since 2018.
In 1972 Robert Favre Le Bret’s successor as the Cannes Film Festival’s Delegate General, Maurice Bessy, quickly understood the importance of parallel selections. He opened the Festival up to a wide range of films, such as the Studies and Documents section, the section dedicated to news films, and the section dedicated to compilation films and news archives.
Stay tuned for the advent of new media in the 1980s decade at the Cannes Film Festival!
The Cannes Film Festival, until 2003 called the International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world and is widely considered the most important festival in the world in terms of impact as it draws attention to and raises profiles of films contributing to the development of cinema, globally boosts the industry and celebrates film at an international level, As such, a nine-part series on the Cannes Film Festival is underway with the publishing of the History of the Cannes Film Festival – Part I, Part II, and Part III.
As Cannes became a world-class film festival during the 1950s and through the advent of the Cold War, the Cannes Film Festival, still known as the International Film Festival, was attracting hundreds of journalists and celebrities alike. The end of WWII brought about renewed agreements, and exchanges. Numerous international cinematographic events were organized and put forth. Most filmmaking countries attended one another’s events as a sign of respect and friendship.
But, in 1958, France entered into a constitutional crisis resulting in the demise of the 4th Republic and a needed transition to a new constitution and thereby, a new republic, the 5th Republic, on October 4th, 1958, led by Charles De Gaulle, who in turn became the first French president elected under the new republic in December of 1958.
Meanwhile, André Malraux became the International Film Festival’s organizer. He was also the Minister of Cultural Affairs. He gave a new dimension to the competition and let the younger generations express themselves. Malraux’s selections were not always uncontroversial, but he imposed a film that led to one of the biggest French scandals of the decade, Jacques Rivette’s La Religieuse (The Nun).
In 1959, André Malraux, in agreement with Robert Favre Le Bret (the Festival’s Delegate General), formalized the Film Market. This market moved into the Palais, asserting its role in developing the film industry. The International Film Market has grown each year and today is the largest event in the film industry worldwide.
André Malraux
Critics’ Week comes to Cannes
The film market did not make everyone happy, notably, those who judge films (cinema critics). In 1961, the Association Française de la Critique du Cinéma (French Syndicate of Cinema Critics) was founded, with Georges Sadoul as President. In 1962, the Association of Film Critics created Critics’ Week, a parallel event held outside the Palais that presented filmmakers’ first or second films. The public was particularly impressed by Bertrand Blier’s first feature film shown at this event, Hitler, connais pas .
Hitler, connais pas
The Cannes Film Festival gradually opened up to the International film world. Films from countries such as China, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Brazil began to feature amongst the award winners, and Japan was particularly in vogue with its Samurai films winning four Special Jury Prizes between 1960 and 1965.
Harakiri
Scandals
Since its creation, the Cannes Film Festival has seen quite a few scandals due to the choice of film selected, for various reasons. For example, in 1960, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, was considered pornographic by some people. This film was controversial at the Vatican, which threatened to excommunicate anyone who saw it.
Viridiana
And, there was also Luis Buñuel’s film Viridiana, which criticized religion and its deviations. Franco’s Spain tried to censor it, but the director sent the film anyway, which led to his being forbidden from returning to his country.
In 1964, for the first time, the president of the jury was not an academic but a director named Fritz Lang. Since the festival’s very beginnings, the jury had always been led by writers such as André Maurois, Marcel Achard, Marcel Pagnol, Maurice Genevoix, Jean Giono.
Up until this time, the film world had been qualified as a minor art form, but it would be legitimized by respected intellectual and cultural institutions such as the Académie Française.
From then on, the 7th Art combining the six previous arts of architecture, sculpture, painting, music, poetry, dance, became more and more liberated and the members of the jury were increasingly chosen from the film world.
In 1965, the actress Olivia de Havilland, pictured above, was the first woman president of the jury, followed the year after by Sofia Loren.
Deep Social Malaise
In May of 1968, France was overcome by a deep social malaise. The demonstrations started in and around Paris, and clashes with the police grew more intense. The crackdown was reinforced in the night of 10 to 11 May, leading to the country’s total paralysis.
Despite the shockwaves that submerged the country, the Cannes Film Festival began on 11 May and was supposed to continue to 25 May. A much-awaited restored version of the famous Gone with the Wind was scheduled to be shown.
In the following days, Eddie Barclay’s amazing parties provided a bit of light-heartedness amidst the national crisis. The atmosphere in Cannes was electric, and feelings were running especially high amongst the younger generation of filmmakers.
François Truffaut at the turbulent 1968 Cannes Film Festival
François Truffaut made the announcement, “Everything with any sort of dignity or importance in France has come to a stop. I propose that we bring Cannes to a halt to organize a debate about the future of French cinema!” The jury members pulled out one after the other, first Louis Malle, then Monica Vitti, and Roman Polanski.
Peppermint Frappé
The debates and the strike action that paralyzed the Palais du Festival became increasingly bitter. On the 18th of May, at the height of the troubles, Carlos Saura and Geraldine Chaplin prevented the showing of their film Peppermint Frappé by hanging onto the stage curtains.
Directors and producers called for the Festival to be shut down to prevent things from degenerating any further. After negotiations and incidents, they got their way on 19 May 1968 at noon – the president of the Festival Robert Favre Le Bret decided to cancel the festival to prevent things from degenerating any further. The Palais immediately emptied out.
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.
When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”
Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
Featurette: Check it out!
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
IN THEATRES, DOLBY CINEMA, AND IMAX MAY 27, 2022
DIRECTED BY
Joseph Kosinski
SCREENPLAY BY
Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie
STORY BY
Peter Craig and Justin Marks
BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED BY
Jim Cash & Jack Epps, Jr.
PRODUCED BY
Jerry Bruckheimer, Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison
EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY
Tommy Harper, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger,
Chad Oman, Mike Stenson
STARRING
Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis with Ed Harris and Val Kilmer
The Cannes Film Festival, until 2003 called the International Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world and is widely considered the most important festival in the world in terms of impact as it draws attention to and raises profiles of films contributing to the development of cinema, globally boosts the industry and celebrates film at an international level, As such, a five-part series on the Cannes Film Festival is underway with the publishing of the History of the Cannes Film Festival – Part I, and History of the Cannes Film Festival – Part II.
Cannes Becomes a World-Class Festival
During the 1950s and through the advent of the Cold War, the Cannes Film Festival, still known as the International Film Festival, was attracting hundreds of journalists and celebrities alike. The end of WWII brought about renewed agreements, and exchanges. Numerous international cinematographic events were organized and put forth. Most filmmaking countries attended one another’s events as a sign of respect and friendship.
The post-war international harmony soon gave way to a new crisis as the East and West were at odds at just about everything and the situation deteriorated very quickly during the various festivals. The Americans were thanked for their financial assistance and received special treatment, which was not to the liking of other countries, notably those of the Eastern Bloc.
Cannes needed to step to the forefront and make a name for itself. To avoid problems in choosing the selections, an article allowed films to be withdrawn under certain conditions. But this measure, designed to smooth things over, quickly became another divisive issue. In 1956, the decision was taken to eliminate censorship, and a new era dawned for the Cannes Film Festival.
All the foreign delegations complied with the customs of Cannes: after watching the films, they attended parties that sought to outdo each other in terms of their originality. Those organized by Unifrance Film left their mark on everyone’s memories. It was at this time that the Palais set up a stand with photos of actors and directors. In 1954, the first scandals erupted with the affair of the young British actress Simone Silva, who was photographed topless with Robert Mitchum at a picnic on the Lérins Islands.
Brigitte Bardot, who quickly became a role model, was discovered at Cannes, also amplifying the Cannes phenomenon. The films selected met with unequaled commercial success.
