72nd Cannes Film Festival: your complete guide to one of the major film events
Spring on the Cote d’Azur is the time when the French Riviera begins to wake up after the winter season. And this is not just nature that we are talking about. In May, the rich and famous flood Monaco and the Cote d’Azur for two reasons: the Cannes Film Festival and Monaco Grand prix.
The 72nd Cannes Film Festival is now in full swing, and it’s time to find out which movies from the program are worthy of special attention and who are the jury members this year. (The choice is not without surprises!)
Jury
This year the film festival will end on May 25th. The winners will be traditionally chosen by members of the jury under the direction of Alejandro González Inarritu, a Mexican director whose work has never gone unnoticed: for example, Birdman received an Oscar as the best film. In addition, the jury consists of Yorgos Lanthimos, Robin Campillo, Pawel Pawlikowski, Enki Bilal, Alice Rohrwacher, Kelly Reichardt and Maïmouna N’Diaye.
For some, the presence on this list of Elle Fanning, a young American known for her role in “Maleficent”, came as a surprise. The 21-year-old actress, who played in the “Neon Demon” (in the competition program of the 69th Film Festival), will evaluate the participants of the festival along with more mature and experienced film industry players.
Cannes official selection
A horror comedy by Jim Jarmusch “The Dead Don’t Die” opened the festival and also entered the competition program, which includes 21 films. This year’s list of nominees not only includes the films of the “regular guests” as Xavier Dolan and Ken Loach, but is also full of big names. Pedro Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino will also present their new movies!
Competition
Jim Jarmusch – The Dead Don’t Die
Marco Bellocchio – The Traitor (Il traditore)
Pedro Almodovar – Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria)
Diao Yinan – The Wild Goose Lake (Nan fang che zhan de ju hui)
Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne – The Young Ahmed (Le jeune Ahmed)
Bong Joon-ho – Parasite (Gisaengchung)
Mati Diop – Atlantique
Arnaud Desplechin – Oh Mercy! (Roubaix, une lumière)
Xavier Dolan – Matthias & Maxime
Jessica Hausner – Little Joe
Ken Loach – Sorry We Missed You
Ladj Ly – Les Misérables
Terrence Malick – A Hidden Life
Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles – Bacurau
Ira Sachs – Frankie
Corneliu Porumboiu – La Gomera
Céline Sciamma – Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
Elia Suleiman – It Must Be Heaven
Justine Triet – Sibyl
Abdellatif Kechiche – Mektoub My Love: Intermezzo
Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood
Out of competition
Claude Lelouch – The Best Years of a Life (Les Plus Belles Années D’Une Vie)
Dexter Fletcher – Rocketman
Nicolas Winding Refn – Too Old to Die Young – North Of Hollywood, West of Hell
Nicolas Bedos – La Belle Époque
Asif Kapadia – Diego Maradona
5 Must-watch of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival
If, after viewing the program, the question of which films to watch is still open, here are just a few movies that any self-respecting cinema lover should watch:
Rocketman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3vO8E2e6G0
The only fact that the film of Dexter Fletcher tells the story of the legendary Elton John, makes the picture worthy of attention. And Taron Egerton playing an extravagant singer is a quite nice bonus!
Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9bpyQzZfU8
The film tells the story of the famous television actor Rick Dalton and stuntman Cliff Bute. The events take place in 1969 in Los Angeles. Quentin would not have been Quentin if he had not chosen Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt for the main roles in his movie. Margo Robbie, Al Pacino and Kurt Russell are also in the film’s cast.
Pain and Glory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz4BshtJyZI
Pedro Almodovar finally decided to show up on the red carpet of Cannes with his new movie.
Three years after the release of “Julieta”, the Spanish film director got his place in the competition program with Pain and Glory, starring Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz.
The film tells the story of Salvador Mallo, the film director who went through a personal crisis. Throughout the film, we witness several encounters: some are real, some are just memories: his childhood in the 1960s, migration with his family to Paterna, the first adult love in the 1980s, the pain of breaking off this relationship, therapy and much more.
Sorry We Missed You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1hJVq1tr3E
In 2016, Ken Loach, the director of “I, Daniel Blake”, received his second Palme d’Or. Two years later, his name reappeared in the main competition program of the festival! This time, his movie will tell about the life of the British family, unable to accept the new realities of life.
Dylda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWeOWB-0T34
Un Certain Regard program includes a film of a 27-year-old Russian director Kantemir Balagov. The young man has already presented his movie “Closeness” earlier in Cannes. This time, his film tells the story of two young women who return to post-war Leningrad at the end of 1945.
Red carpet
The red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival is as legendary as the festival itself! Celebrities’ looks from Cannes are discussed all over the world with no less enthusiasm than the images from Milan Fashion Week. In addition to the stars of the mentioned films, most of the Hollywood elite arrives on the Cote d’Azur every day. Some stars replace others on the steps of the Palais des Festivals, at neverending parties and photocalls. Who could you at the opening of the festival?
In addition to Selena Gomez and Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Elle Fanning and other Hollywood icons walked the red carpet.
Sylvester Stallone is in the list of the most expected guests. The actor will present “Rambo 5” at Cannes.
Traditionally, the stars of show business, models and businessmen will climb the stairs of the Palais des Festivals before going to Monaco for the Formula 1 racing weekend. But this is another story!
