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  • Who is Cannes runner-up winner Jonathan Glazer?

    By AFP

    CANNES: Jonathan Glazer, who won the runner-up prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest”, has made just a handful of films in 20 years.

    But each one has been unique, drawing highly memorable performances from stars such as Nicole Kidman, Ben Kingsley and, in his latest feature, Sandra Hueller.

    The Cannes-winning film comes a decade on from the enigmatic British director’s last film, “Under the Skin”, the ultra-bizarre alien flick starring Scarlett Johansson.

    Christian Friedel, from left, director Jonathan Glazer, and Sandra Huller pose at the photo call for ‘The Zone of Interest’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 20, 2023. (AP)

    Here’s a quick summary of the man and his work:

    Ads and music videosLondon-born Glazer, 58, began in the theatre before moving into adverts and music videos.

    He made memorable ads for Guinness, Stella Artois and Levi’s in the 1990s and several videos for Radiohead, as well as Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity” which won the MTV video of the year award in 1997.

    ‘Sexy Beast’ (2000)Glazer caused a sensation with his first film starring Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley, putting a bravura spin on the tired British gangster genre with the sort of searing images that characterised his ads and music videos.

    It gave the world one of most unforgettably insane characters ever committed to celluloid in Kingsley’s motor-mouthed psycho Don Logan — as distant as it’s possible to be from his best-known role as Gandhi — earning the actor an Oscar nomination.

    ALSO READ | 

    ‘Birth’ (2004)Radically switching genres, Glazer turned next to this eerie New York tale about a widow (Nicole Kidman) confronted by a 10-year-old who claims to be her reincarnated dead husband.

    The film confounded and scandalised critics at the time and was booed at its Venice Film Festival premiere, with many disturbed by the sexual overtones of the central relationship, but its reputation has grown over the years and earned comparisons with legendary director Stanley Kubrick.

    ‘Under the Skin’ (2013)Glazer’s mysterious sci-fi set in a remote coastal Scottish town drew a stand-out performance from Scarlett Johansson, playing an alien in human form who roams the beaches and streets, picking up random men and luring them to an abandoned house.

    Mixing highly stylised abstract scenes with gritty Glasgow realism, Glazer’s film was both baffling and mesmerising, but this time the critics were won over, with the film topping multiple film-of-the-year lists.

    ‘The Zone of Interest’ (2023)After a decade in which he only made a couple of short films, Glazer has returned with another unique offering — looking at the disturbing ordinary private life of a Nazi officer at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

    It never shows the horrors of the camp directly, but the audience knows full well what the background noises — trains, incinerators, gunshots and screams — signify.

    On Saturday the jury at Cannes awarded the film the Grand Prix after critics had been near-unanimous in their praise following the premiere at the festival.

    CANNES: Jonathan Glazer, who won the runner-up prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest”, has made just a handful of films in 20 years.

    But each one has been unique, drawing highly memorable performances from stars such as Nicole Kidman, Ben Kingsley and, in his latest feature, Sandra Hueller.

    The Cannes-winning film comes a decade on from the enigmatic British director’s last film, “Under the Skin”, the ultra-bizarre alien flick starring Scarlett Johansson.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Christian Friedel, from left, director Jonathan Glazer, and Sandra Huller pose at the photo call for ‘The Zone of Interest’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 20, 2023. (AP)

    Here’s a quick summary of the man and his work:

    Ads and music videos
    London-born Glazer, 58, began in the theatre before moving into adverts and music videos.

    He made memorable ads for Guinness, Stella Artois and Levi’s in the 1990s and several videos for Radiohead, as well as Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity” which won the MTV video of the year award in 1997.

    ‘Sexy Beast’ (2000)
    Glazer caused a sensation with his first film starring Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley, putting a bravura spin on the tired British gangster genre with the sort of searing images that characterised his ads and music videos.

    It gave the world one of most unforgettably insane characters ever committed to celluloid in Kingsley’s motor-mouthed psycho Don Logan — as distant as it’s possible to be from his best-known role as Gandhi — earning the actor an Oscar nomination.

    ALSO READ | 

    Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins best actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’
    The real winner at Cannes was actress Sandra Hueller
    ‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in shocking way’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet
     Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes for ‘Perfect Days’, an ode to a toilet cleaner
    ‘Birth’ (2004)
    Radically switching genres, Glazer turned next to this eerie New York tale about a widow (Nicole Kidman) confronted by a 10-year-old who claims to be her reincarnated dead husband.

    The film confounded and scandalised critics at the time and was booed at its Venice Film Festival premiere, with many disturbed by the sexual overtones of the central relationship, but its reputation has grown over the years and earned comparisons with legendary director Stanley Kubrick.

    ‘Under the Skin’ (2013)
    Glazer’s mysterious sci-fi set in a remote coastal Scottish town drew a stand-out performance from Scarlett Johansson, playing an alien in human form who roams the beaches and streets, picking up random men and luring them to an abandoned house.

    Mixing highly stylised abstract scenes with gritty Glasgow realism, Glazer’s film was both baffling and mesmerising, but this time the critics were won over, with the film topping multiple film-of-the-year lists.

    ‘The Zone of Interest’ (2023)
    After a decade in which he only made a couple of short films, Glazer has returned with another unique offering — looking at the disturbing ordinary private life of a Nazi officer at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

    It never shows the horrors of the camp directly, but the audience knows full well what the background noises — trains, incinerators, gunshots and screams — signify.

    On Saturday the jury at Cannes awarded the film the Grand Prix after critics had been near-unanimous in their praise following the premiere at the festival.

  • Britain’s Molly Manning Walker wins Cannes newcomer prize for ‘How to Have Sex’

    By AFP

    CANNES: British director Molly Manning Walker won the coveted Un Certain Regard newcomer prize at Cannes on Friday for her much-praised feature debut “How to Have Sex”.

    “This film was the most magical moment of my life,” the 29-year-old Londoner said after receiving the prize, which she dedicated to “all those who have been sexually assaulted”.

    The film follows three best friends getting drunk in Crete, with one of the girls, Tara, on a mission to lose her virginity — but things soon go wrong.

    All the stereotypes of Brits abroad feature in the film but Manning Walker also sought to break them by digging deeper into the thorny issues of rape and consent.

    It caused a storm at this year’s festival and drew rave reviews.

    Variety found it “chillingly dark”, The Guardian admired its “complex chemistry” and The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it a “hidden gem”.

    ALSO READ | 

    Drawing from her own experience, Manning Walker speaking to AFP earlier during the festival, said she was inspired by “the best times of my life”, but also the sexual assault she suffered at 16 — and wanted to show it all without judgement.

    Shot in a fly-on-the-wall style, she resisted showing graphic assault scenes.

    “I think we as women know that experience way too much — we don’t need to be re-traumatised,” she said.

    Instead, she focused on her characters’ emotional experiences.

    “Everything was from her eyeline and everything was on her face and reading her emotion,” she said.

    Manning Walker is one of an emerging crop of exciting British woman directors alongside the likes of Charlotte Wells whose “Aftersun” was last year’s unexpected breakout at Cannes, earning an Oscar nomination for star Paul Mescal.

    Before directing she was a cinematographer for nearly a decade and shot films for other young British talents including Charlotte Regan’s “Scrapper” that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance film festival this year.

    She has also made music videos and adverts, as well as two short films including “Good Thanks, You?” that screened at Cannes in 2020.

    CANNES: British director Molly Manning Walker won the coveted Un Certain Regard newcomer prize at Cannes on Friday for her much-praised feature debut “How to Have Sex”.

    “This film was the most magical moment of my life,” the 29-year-old Londoner said after receiving the prize, which she dedicated to “all those who have been sexually assaulted”.

    The film follows three best friends getting drunk in Crete, with one of the girls, Tara, on a mission to lose her virginity — but things soon go wrong.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    All the stereotypes of Brits abroad feature in the film but Manning Walker also sought to break them by digging deeper into the thorny issues of rape and consent.

    It caused a storm at this year’s festival and drew rave reviews.

    Variety found it “chillingly dark”, The Guardian admired its “complex chemistry” and The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it a “hidden gem”.

    ALSO READ | 

    Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins best actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’
    The real winner at Cannes was actress Sandra Hueller
    ‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in shocking way’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet
     Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes for ‘Perfect Days’, an ode to a toilet cleaner
    Drawing from her own experience, Manning Walker speaking to AFP earlier during the festival, said she was inspired by “the best times of my life”, but also the sexual assault she suffered at 16 — and wanted to show it all without judgement.

    Shot in a fly-on-the-wall style, she resisted showing graphic assault scenes.

    “I think we as women know that experience way too much — we don’t need to be re-traumatised,” she said.

    Instead, she focused on her characters’ emotional experiences.

    “Everything was from her eyeline and everything was on her face and reading her emotion,” she said.

    Manning Walker is one of an emerging crop of exciting British woman directors alongside the likes of Charlotte Wells whose “Aftersun” was last year’s unexpected breakout at Cannes, earning an Oscar nomination for star Paul Mescal.

    Before directing she was a cinematographer for nearly a decade and shot films for other young British talents including Charlotte Regan’s “Scrapper” that won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance film festival this year.

    She has also made music videos and adverts, as well as two short films including “Good Thanks, You?” that screened at Cannes in 2020.

  • Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins best actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’

    By AFP

    CANNES: Turkey’s Merve Dizdar won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for “About Dry Grasses”, the latest from festival favourite Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

    She said she played “someone who is fighting for her life and she has overcome a lot of difficulties.”

    “Under normal circumstances I would have to work hard on this character in order to understand her, but I live in a part of the country which enabled me to fully understand who she is,” she added.

    “I understand what it is, being a woman in that area.”

    In “About Dry Grasses” she plays a former activist rebuilding her life after having her leg amputated from a bombing. She captures the interests of two village schoolteachers, and challenges their cynicism with her own dedication to political activism, in Ceylan’s trademark powerful dialogue.

    The film focuses on a dejected schoolteacher frustrated with his life in a remote Anatolian village.

    Shot in Ceylan’s visually arresting style, it looks at teacher-pupil relations and the roots of political engagement.

    Merve Dizdarp, from left, director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Ece Bagcı pose at the photo call for the film ‘About Dry Grasses’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 20, 2023. (AP)

    The 36-year-old Dizdar has been starring in films and television since the early 2010s after studying acting and starting out in theatre.

    Her roles have included some popular TV series in Turkey, including “Wounded Love”.

    Ceylan previously won the Palme d’Or for “Winter Sleep”, among multiple awards he has received over the years at the Cannes Film Festival.

    ALSO READ |

     Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes for ‘Perfect Days’, an ode to a toilet cleaner

    The real winner at Cannes was actress Sandra Hueller

    ‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in shocking way’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet

    CANNES: Turkey’s Merve Dizdar won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for “About Dry Grasses”, the latest from festival favourite Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

    She said she played “someone who is fighting for her life and she has overcome a lot of difficulties.”

    “Under normal circumstances I would have to work hard on this character in order to understand her, but I live in a part of the country which enabled me to fully understand who she is,” she added.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “I understand what it is, being a woman in that area.”

    In “About Dry Grasses” she plays a former activist rebuilding her life after having her leg amputated from a bombing. She captures the interests of two village schoolteachers, and challenges their cynicism with her own dedication to political activism, in Ceylan’s trademark powerful dialogue.

    The film focuses on a dejected schoolteacher frustrated with his life in a remote Anatolian village.

    Shot in Ceylan’s visually arresting style, it looks at teacher-pupil relations and the roots of political engagement.

    Merve Dizdarp, from left, director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Ece Bagcı pose at the photo call for the film ‘About Dry Grasses’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 20, 2023. (AP)

    The 36-year-old Dizdar has been starring in films and television since the early 2010s after studying acting and starting out in theatre.

    Her roles have included some popular TV series in Turkey, including “Wounded Love”.

    Ceylan previously won the Palme d’Or for “Winter Sleep”, among multiple awards he has received over the years at the Cannes Film Festival.

    ALSO READ |

     Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes for ‘Perfect Days’, an ode to a toilet cleaner

    The real winner at Cannes was actress Sandra Hueller

    ‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in shocking way’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet

  • Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes for ‘Perfect Days’, an ode to a toilet cleaner

    By AFP

    CANNES: Japan’s Koji Yakusho won best actor at Cannes on Saturday for “Perfect Days” by German director Wim Wenders, a touching tale about a Tokyo toilet cleaner.

    “I want to specifically thank Wim Wenders… who truly created a magnificent character,” he said as he received the award.

    Yakusho, 67, appears in most scenes of “Perfect Days” as a mysterious, bookish man without friends, content to spend his spare time reading, watering his plants, taking photos and listening to songs on his car stereo.

    Director Wim Wenders, left, and Koji Yakusho pose at the photo call for the film ‘Perfect Days’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 26, 2023. (AP)

    The versatile actor’s roles in over four decades of movie-making have ranged from warlords and gangsters to killers and cops — and now an everyman who keeps the public washrooms of Tokyo pristine.

    He has also crossed over to Hollywood for “Memoirs of a Geisha” in 2005 and “Babel” a year later.

    “Wim had given me very little information… There was a lot of mystery. Even today, it’s a character I know almost nothing about,” he said of his role, which involved almost no dialogue.

    Koji Yakusho (AP)

    “It was the first time I shot like that, over a very short period, without rehearsal,” he said about working with one of the giants of European cinema.

    Germany’s Wenders, 77, won the top prize Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984 for “Paris, Texas”.

    Born in 1956 in Isahaya, Nagasaki prefecture, Yakusho first worked as a town hall employee before turning to acting in 1979, after following up on an ad in a newspaper.

    Out of 800 candidates he was one of four selected, “and today I am the only one to be an actor”, he told French media in 2003.

    His first big role that helped propel his career was in the popular hit “Tampopo” (1985) about the hunt for a noodle soup recipe.

    Since then among his notable films have been “The Eel”, winner of the Palme in 1997, and “The Third Murder” in 2017.

    In 2009 he made his first and only feature “Toad’s Oil” in which he also played the lead role.

    Asked what keeps him going in the trade, he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019: “I always think I haven’t got it quite right, but in the next film I’ll finally nail it. I guess that’s the drug of this business for me, which has kept me going for 40 years.”

    ALSO READ | 

    Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins best actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’

    The real winner at Cannes was actress Sandra Hueller

    ‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in shocking way’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet

    CANNES: Japan’s Koji Yakusho won best actor at Cannes on Saturday for “Perfect Days” by German director Wim Wenders, a touching tale about a Tokyo toilet cleaner.

    “I want to specifically thank Wim Wenders… who truly created a magnificent character,” he said as he received the award.

    Yakusho, 67, appears in most scenes of “Perfect Days” as a mysterious, bookish man without friends, content to spend his spare time reading, watering his plants, taking photos and listening to songs on his car stereo.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Director Wim Wenders, left, and Koji Yakusho pose at the photo call for the film ‘Perfect Days’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 26, 2023. (AP)

    The versatile actor’s roles in over four decades of movie-making have ranged from warlords and gangsters to killers and cops — and now an everyman who keeps the public washrooms of Tokyo pristine.

    He has also crossed over to Hollywood for “Memoirs of a Geisha” in 2005 and “Babel” a year later.

    “Wim had given me very little information… There was a lot of mystery. Even today, it’s a character I know almost nothing about,” he said of his role, which involved almost no dialogue.

    Koji Yakusho (AP)

    “It was the first time I shot like that, over a very short period, without rehearsal,” he said about working with one of the giants of European cinema.

    Germany’s Wenders, 77, won the top prize Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984 for “Paris, Texas”.

    Born in 1956 in Isahaya, Nagasaki prefecture, Yakusho first worked as a town hall employee before turning to acting in 1979, after following up on an ad in a newspaper.

    Out of 800 candidates he was one of four selected, “and today I am the only one to be an actor”, he told French media in 2003.

    His first big role that helped propel his career was in the popular hit “Tampopo” (1985) about the hunt for a noodle soup recipe.

    Since then among his notable films have been “The Eel”, winner of the Palme in 1997, and “The Third Murder” in 2017.

    In 2009 he made his first and only feature “Toad’s Oil” in which he also played the lead role.

    Asked what keeps him going in the trade, he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019: “I always think I haven’t got it quite right, but in the next film I’ll finally nail it. I guess that’s the drug of this business for me, which has kept me going for 40 years.”

    ALSO READ | 

    Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins best actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’

    The real winner at Cannes was actress Sandra Hueller

    ‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in shocking way’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet

  • The real winner at Cannes was actress Sandra Hueller

    By AFP

    CANNES: She may not have won an award, but many will agree that the big winner at Cannes this year was German actress Sandra Hueller, who starred in the festival’s top two films.

    Hueller confirmed her reputation as one of Europe’s most versatile and fearless actresses as she gave a gripping performance in courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall”, which won the top prize Palme d’Or for French director Justine Triet on Saturday.

    She also starred in Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” by Britain’s Jonathan Glazer, which won the runner-up Grand Prix.

    “I think about human beings as vessels for all sorts of feelings and emotions… it’s just a question of how to channel that and show that,” Hueller told reporters.

    Triet praised Hueller, telling AFP: “Everything that comes out of her is 100 percent strong. Due to her theatre training, she has a completely different way of working. When she arrives, she has already been working for months on the film so her first takes are very strong,” she said.

    “She is an actress who has a real point of view on her character, there is a real exchange.”

    Sandra Huller, left, and director Justine Triet at the photo call for the film ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 22, 2023. (AP)

    ‘A responsibility’Born on April 30, 1978, in East Germany, Hueller trained in theatre in Berlin after the end of the Cold War.

    She gained international acclaim for “Requiem” (2006), playing a woman with epilepsy in a religious community that believes she is possessed, which won her the best actress award at the Berlin Film Festival.

    Her lead role in black comedy “Toni Erdmann” (2016) confirmed her status as a star of the festival circuit, showing she had comic timing to match her dramatic chops.

    Many felt “Toni Erdmann” was robbed of the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, but that was more that compensated in 2023.

    Her performance in “The Zone of Interest” was particularly disturbing as she took on the role of Hedwig Hoess, wife of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Hoess.

    She told reporters in Cannes that she “felt a responsibility as a German” to play the role.

    “There was no real way to do it right,” she said. “It was never about being good at something or doing something extraordinary. It was so little to do with acting, but with presence, with listening, being respectful for those around us.”

    Sandra Huller poses for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony during the 76th international film festival, Cannes, May 27, 2023. (AP)

    Both films at the festival showcase Hueller’s “flinty intelligence, her emotional ferocity and her utter fearlessness,” wrote the Los Angeles Times, calling her the “queen of Cannes”.

    Hueller said the two directors were “completely different” in their approach.

    “But both are so focused on what they do,” she added. “Some directors are a bit manipulative… don’t give you all the information you need for a character, but with these two everything was on the table — what they wanted to achieve, what they wanted to tell.”

    Also known for her stage work, Hueller has collaborated frequently with renowned theatre director Thomas Ostermeier, trying her hand at everything from Shakespeare to avant-garde experimentalism.

    ALSO READ | 

    Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes for ‘Perfect Days’, an ode to a toilet cleaner

    Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins best actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’

    CANNES: She may not have won an award, but many will agree that the big winner at Cannes this year was German actress Sandra Hueller, who starred in the festival’s top two films.

    Hueller confirmed her reputation as one of Europe’s most versatile and fearless actresses as she gave a gripping performance in courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall”, which won the top prize Palme d’Or for French director Justine Triet on Saturday.

    She also starred in Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” by Britain’s Jonathan Glazer, which won the runner-up Grand Prix.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “I think about human beings as vessels for all sorts of feelings and emotions… it’s just a question of how to channel that and show that,” Hueller told reporters.

    Triet praised Hueller, telling AFP: “Everything that comes out of her is 100 percent strong. Due to her theatre training, she has a completely different way of working. When she arrives, she has already been working for months on the film so her first takes are very strong,” she said.

    “She is an actress who has a real point of view on her character, there is a real exchange.”

    Sandra Huller, left, and director Justine Triet at the photo call for the film ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ at the 76th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, May 22, 2023. (AP)

    ‘A responsibility’
    Born on April 30, 1978, in East Germany, Hueller trained in theatre in Berlin after the end of the Cold War.

    She gained international acclaim for “Requiem” (2006), playing a woman with epilepsy in a religious community that believes she is possessed, which won her the best actress award at the Berlin Film Festival.

    Her lead role in black comedy “Toni Erdmann” (2016) confirmed her status as a star of the festival circuit, showing she had comic timing to match her dramatic chops.

    Many felt “Toni Erdmann” was robbed of the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, but that was more that compensated in 2023.

    Her performance in “The Zone of Interest” was particularly disturbing as she took on the role of Hedwig Hoess, wife of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Hoess.

    She told reporters in Cannes that she “felt a responsibility as a German” to play the role.

    “There was no real way to do it right,” she said. “It was never about being good at something or doing something extraordinary. It was so little to do with acting, but with presence, with listening, being respectful for those around us.”

    Sandra Huller poses for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony during the 76th international film festival, Cannes, May 27, 2023. (AP)

    Both films at the festival showcase Hueller’s “flinty intelligence, her emotional ferocity and her utter fearlessness,” wrote the Los Angeles Times, calling her the “queen of Cannes”.

    Hueller said the two directors were “completely different” in their approach.

    “But both are so focused on what they do,” she added. “Some directors are a bit manipulative… don’t give you all the information you need for a character, but with these two everything was on the table — what they wanted to achieve, what they wanted to tell.”

    Also known for her stage work, Hueller has collaborated frequently with renowned theatre director Thomas Ostermeier, trying her hand at everything from Shakespeare to avant-garde experimentalism.

    ALSO READ | 

    Japan’s Koji Yakusho wins best actor at Cannes for ‘Perfect Days’, an ode to a toilet cleaner

    Turkey’s Merve Dizdar wins best actress at Cannes for ‘About Dry Grasses’

  • ‘Protests over pension reforms in France repressed in shocking way’: ‘Palme’ winner Justine Triet

    The French director's debut “Age of Panic” was set around the presidential elections in France in 2012 and caused a sensation when it premiered at Cannes the following year. CANNES: French director Justine Triet hit a stridently militant note in her acceptance speech for the Palme d’Or on Saturday. Triet became the third woman to win the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday with her gripping and icy “Anatomy of a Fall”.

    “The country suffered from historic protests over the reform of the pension system. These protests were denied… repressed in a shocking way,” she said.

    She also criticised the “commercialisation of culture” by President Emmanuel Macron’s government.

    Her speech provoked a swift response from Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak, who said she was “gobsmacked” by Triet’s “unfair” comments.

    Victory for the tense courtroom drama about a writer accused of her husband’s murder capped a strong year for women directors at the French Riviera festival.

    “I have always made films about women and here, I went even further in the idea of showing a woman character who is not easy to understand in the first instance,” Triet told AFP ahead of Cannes.

    The 44-year-old follows two previous women winners of the prestigious Palme d’Or — Jane Campion for “The Piano” (1993) and Julia Ducournau for “Titane” (2021).

    Born on July 17, 1978, Triet grew up in Paris and studied arts in the French capital.

    “My mother had a fairly complex life, worked and raised three children, two of whom were not her own. My father was very absent”, she told AFP.

    She ditched her studies after a few years to devote herself to film and made her first documentary in 2007 about student protests that were taking place at the time.

    “Anatomy of a Fall” is her fourth feature.

    Le discours engagé de Justine Triet, réalisatrice de “Anatomie d’une chute”, au moment de recevoir la Palme d’Or de ce 76ème @Festival_Cannes.#Cannes2023 pic.twitter.com/yEQXaCIlrX
    — france.tv cinéma (@francetvcinema) May 27, 2023

    Her debut “Age of Panic” was set around the presidential elections in France in 2012 and caused a sensation when it premiered at Cannes the following year.

    Her next movie, the romcom “In Bed With Victoria” (2016) was nominated for multiple Cesars, France’s equivalent of the Oscars.

    Absolutely incredible moment when Jane Fonda, having awarded Justine Triet the Palme d’Or, rushes after her to hand her the traditional scroll that all winners receive, and, when Triet doesn’t hear her, simply… lobs it right at her. Weeping https://t.co/B7BFAP0jpJ
    — Caspar Salmon (@CasparSalmon) May 27, 2023

    Triet co-wrote her Palme-winning film with her partner Arthur Harari, an actor and director.

    “For a very long time when I watched films, I took myself for the boy, I identified with the male role”, she said, referring to the lack of options for women in the industry when she was young.

    “Anatomy of a Fall” features a show-stopping performance from German actress Sandra Hueller.

    Hueller also had a brief and comical role in Triet’s previous movie “Sibyl”, which competed at Cannes in 2019.

    “Everything that comes out of her is 100 percent strong,” Triet said of Hueller, who also starred in the runner-up at this year’s Cannes, Grand Prix-winner “The Zone of Interest”.

    “She is an actress who has a real point of view on her character, there is a real exchange.”

  • Robert Downey Jr was initially in talks to play a different superhero, reveals Jon Favreau

    Express News Service

    Robert Downey Jr, whose name has now become synonymous with Iron Man/Tony Stark, was initially offered a different superhero role at Marvel. In a recent conversation with Marvel boss Kevin Feige, director Jon Favreau said, “I remember you had all met with [Downey] already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project. I think he had come through on maybe Fantastic Four, so everybody sort of knew who he was.”

    The interview, published by Marvel on YouTube, was a retrospective of Iron Man (2008), the film that started the MCU 15 years ago. 

    While Downey was in talks to play Victor Von Doom, Tuck Star-fame Julian McMahon ended up portraying the superhero in the 2005 film. Favreau agrees that choosing Downey for the role of Iron Man was the magical component, that ultimately made the film work. 

    “He was the puzzle piece that made it all work,” Favreau said. “I remember sitting down with the guy, and I was like, ‘He’s got that spark in him in his eye and he’s ready.’ That’s when we were in your office, and we were pointing to his headshot, saying, ‘We got to try to figure this out.’”

    Favreau continued, “Once it was him, that’s when my life got a lot easier because he understood. He understood the voice of the character. And then one by one, people were just signing on board because now it became something interesting.”

    Watch the full conversation between Favreau and Feige in the video below.

    Robert Downey Jr, whose name has now become synonymous with Iron Man/Tony Stark, was initially offered a different superhero role at Marvel. In a recent conversation with Marvel boss Kevin Feige, director Jon Favreau said, “I remember you had all met with [Downey] already for like Doctor Doom or something on another project. I think he had come through on maybe Fantastic Four, so everybody sort of knew who he was.”

    The interview, published by Marvel on YouTube, was a retrospective of Iron Man (2008), the film that started the MCU 15 years ago. 

    While Downey was in talks to play Victor Von Doom, Tuck Star-fame Julian McMahon ended up portraying the superhero in the 2005 film. Favreau agrees that choosing Downey for the role of Iron Man was the magical component, that ultimately made the film work. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “He was the puzzle piece that made it all work,” Favreau said. “I remember sitting down with the guy, and I was like, ‘He’s got that spark in him in his eye and he’s ready.’ That’s when we were in your office, and we were pointing to his headshot, saying, ‘We got to try to figure this out.’”

    Favreau continued, “Once it was him, that’s when my life got a lot easier because he understood. He understood the voice of the character. And then one by one, people were just signing on board because now it became something interesting.”

    Watch the full conversation between Favreau and Feige in the video below.

  • ‘Euphoria’ S3 gets release window

    Express News Service

    Francesca Orsi, the head of drama at HBO, has revealed that the studio is planning to release the third season of Euphoria in 2025. She announced the same during a conversation with Deadline.

    The series is an American teen drama, which fetched actor Zendaya the title of youngest two-time winner of Emmy Awards.

    Created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin, the series follows Rue Bennett played by Zendaya, who is a recovering drug addict, as she struggles to find a place in the world.

    Though the series was a subject of controversy for its content and portrayal, Euphoria became one of the most-watched shows on HBO after Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. 

    From the conclusion of the previous season, we know that Rue owes a lot of money to a drug dealer who doesn’t care about her being a kid. We also know that Jules cheated on Rue with Elliot (Dominik Fike).

    The plot for the upcoming season of Euphoria is currently under wraps.

    Francesca Orsi, the head of drama at HBO, has revealed that the studio is planning to release the third season of Euphoria in 2025. She announced the same during a conversation with Deadline.

    The series is an American teen drama, which fetched actor Zendaya the title of youngest two-time winner of Emmy Awards.

    Created by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin, the series follows Rue Bennett played by Zendaya, who is a recovering drug addict, as she struggles to find a place in the world.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Though the series was a subject of controversy for its content and portrayal, Euphoria became one of the most-watched shows on HBO after Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. 

    From the conclusion of the previous season, we know that Rue owes a lot of money to a drug dealer who doesn’t care about her being a kid. We also know that Jules cheated on Rue with Elliot (Dominik Fike).

    The plot for the upcoming season of Euphoria is currently under wraps.

  • ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ wins Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or; 3rd-time female director wins top honor

    By Associated Press

    Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony Saturday that bestowed the festival’s prestigious top prize on an engrossing, rigorously plotted French courtroom drama that puts a marriage on trial.

    “Anatomy of a Fall,” which stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d’Or. One of the two previous winners, Julia Ducournau, was on this year’s jury.

    Cannes’ Grand Prix, its second prize, went to Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz. Hüller also stars in that film.

    The awards were decided by a jury presided over by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund, the Swedish director who won the prize last year for “Triangle of Sadness.” The ceremony preceded the festival’s closing night film, the Pixar animation “Elemental.”

    Remarkably, the award for “Anatomy of a Fall” gives the indie distributor Neon its fourth straight Palme winners. Neon, which acquired the film after its premiere in Cannes, also backed “Triangle of Sadness,”Ducournau’s “Titane” and Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which it steered to a best picture win at the Academy Awards.

    Triet was presented the Palme by Jane Fonda, who recalled coming to Cannes in 1963 when, she said, there were no female filmmakers competing “and it never even occurred to us that there was something wrong with that.” This year, a record seven out of the 21 films in competition at Cannes were directed by women.

    After a rousing standing ovation, Triet, the 44-year-old French filmmaker, spoke passionately about the protests that have roiled France this year over reforms to pension plans and the retirement age. Several protests were held during Cannes this year, but demonstrations were — as they have been in many high-profile locations throughout France — banned from the area around the Palais des Festivals. Protesters were largely relegated to the outskirts of Cannes.

    “The protests were denied and repressed in a shocking way,” said Triet, who linked that governmental influence to that in cinema. “The merchandizing of culture, defended by a liberal government, is breaking the French cultural exception.”

    “This award is dedicated to all the young women directors and all the young male directors and all those who cannot manage to shoot films today,” she added. “We must give them the space I occupied 15 years ago in a less hostile world where it was still possible to make mistakes and start again.”

    After the ceremony, Triet reflected on being the third female director to win the Palme, following Ducournau and Jane Campion (“The Piano”). “Things are truly changing,” she said.

    Speaking to reporters, Triet was joined by her star, Hüller, whose performance was arguably the most acclaimed of the festival. (The festival encourages juries not to give films more than one award.) But

    “Anatomy of a Fall” did pocket one other sought-after prize: the Palme Dog. The honor given to the best canine in the festival’s films went to the film’s border collie, Snoop.

    The jury prize went to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” a deadpan love story about a romance that blooms in a loveless workaday Helsinki where dispatches from the war in Ukraine regularly play on the radio.

    Best actor went to veteran Japanese star Koji Yakusho, who plays a reflective, middle-aged Tokyo man who cleans toilets in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” a gentle, quotidian character study.

    The Turkish actor Merve Dizdar took best actress for the Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses.” Ceylan’s expansive tale is set in snowy eastern Anatolia about a teacher, Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu), accused of misconduct by a young female student. Dizdar plays a friend both attracted and repelled by Samet.

    “I understand what it’s like to be a woman in this area of the country,” said Dizdar. “I would like to dedicate this prize to all the women who are fighting to exist and overcome difficulties in this world and to retrain hope.”

    Vietnamese-French director Tràn Anh Hùng took best director for “Pot-au-Feu,” a lush, foodie love story starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel and set in a 19th century French gourmet château.

    Best screenplay was won by Yuji Sakamoto for “Monster.” Sakamoto penned Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s nuanced drama, with shifting perspectives, about two boys struggling for acceptance in their school at home. “Monster” also won the Queer Palm, an honor bestowed by journalists for the festival’s strongest LGBTQ-themed film.

    Quentin Tarantino, who won Cannes’ top award for “Pulp Fiction,” attended the ceremony to present a tribute to filmmaker Roger Corman. Tarantino praised Corman for filling him and countless moviegoers with “unadulterated cinema pleasure.”

    “My cinema is uninhibited, full of excess and fun,” said Corman, the independent film maverick. “I feel like this what Cannes is about.”

    The festival’s Un Certain Regard section handed out its awards on Friday, giving the top prize to Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature, “How to Have Sex.”Saturday’s ceremony drew to close a Cannes edition that hasn’t lacked spectacle, stars or controversy.

    The biggest wattage premieres came out of competition. Martin Scorsese debuted his Osage murders epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a sprawling vision of American exploitation with Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Harrison Ford’s Indy farewell, launched with a tribute to Ford. Wes Anderson premiered “Asteroid City.”

    The festival opened on a note of controversy. “Jeanne du Barry,” a period drama co-starring Johnny Depp as Louis XV, played as the opening night film. The premiere marked Depp’s highest profile appearance since the conclusion of his explosive trial last year with ex-wife Amber Heard.

    Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival in a ceremony Saturday that bestowed the festival’s prestigious top prize on an engrossing, rigorously plotted French courtroom drama that puts a marriage on trial.

    “Anatomy of a Fall,” which stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d’Or. One of the two previous winners, Julia Ducournau, was on this year’s jury.

    Cannes’ Grand Prix, its second prize, went to Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz. Hüller also stars in that film.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); });

    The awards were decided by a jury presided over by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund, the Swedish director who won the prize last year for “Triangle of Sadness.” The ceremony preceded the festival’s closing night film, the Pixar animation “Elemental.”

    Remarkably, the award for “Anatomy of a Fall” gives the indie distributor Neon its fourth straight Palme winners. Neon, which acquired the film after its premiere in Cannes, also backed “Triangle of Sadness,”Ducournau’s “Titane” and Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which it steered to a best picture win at the Academy Awards.

    Triet was presented the Palme by Jane Fonda, who recalled coming to Cannes in 1963 when, she said, there were no female filmmakers competing “and it never even occurred to us that there was something wrong with that.” This year, a record seven out of the 21 films in competition at Cannes were directed by women.

    After a rousing standing ovation, Triet, the 44-year-old French filmmaker, spoke passionately about the protests that have roiled France this year over reforms to pension plans and the retirement age. Several protests were held during Cannes this year, but demonstrations were — as they have been in many high-profile locations throughout France — banned from the area around the Palais des Festivals. Protesters were largely relegated to the outskirts of Cannes.

    “The protests were denied and repressed in a shocking way,” said Triet, who linked that governmental influence to that in cinema. “The merchandizing of culture, defended by a liberal government, is breaking the French cultural exception.”

    “This award is dedicated to all the young women directors and all the young male directors and all those who cannot manage to shoot films today,” she added. “We must give them the space I occupied 15 years ago in a less hostile world where it was still possible to make mistakes and start again.”

    After the ceremony, Triet reflected on being the third female director to win the Palme, following Ducournau and Jane Campion (“The Piano”). “Things are truly changing,” she said.

    Speaking to reporters, Triet was joined by her star, Hüller, whose performance was arguably the most acclaimed of the festival. (The festival encourages juries not to give films more than one award.) But

    “Anatomy of a Fall” did pocket one other sought-after prize: the Palme Dog. The honor given to the best canine in the festival’s films went to the film’s border collie, Snoop.

    The jury prize went to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” a deadpan love story about a romance that blooms in a loveless workaday Helsinki where dispatches from the war in Ukraine regularly play on the radio.

    Best actor went to veteran Japanese star Koji Yakusho, who plays a reflective, middle-aged Tokyo man who cleans toilets in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” a gentle, quotidian character study.

    The Turkish actor Merve Dizdar took best actress for the Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses.” Ceylan’s expansive tale is set in snowy eastern Anatolia about a teacher, Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu), accused of misconduct by a young female student. Dizdar plays a friend both attracted and repelled by Samet.

    “I understand what it’s like to be a woman in this area of the country,” said Dizdar. “I would like to dedicate this prize to all the women who are fighting to exist and overcome difficulties in this world and to retrain hope.”

    Vietnamese-French director Tràn Anh Hùng took best director for “Pot-au-Feu,” a lush, foodie love story starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel and set in a 19th century French gourmet château.

    Best screenplay was won by Yuji Sakamoto for “Monster.” Sakamoto penned Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s nuanced drama, with shifting perspectives, about two boys struggling for acceptance in their school at home. “Monster” also won the Queer Palm, an honor bestowed by journalists for the festival’s strongest LGBTQ-themed film.

    Quentin Tarantino, who won Cannes’ top award for “Pulp Fiction,” attended the ceremony to present a tribute to filmmaker Roger Corman. Tarantino praised Corman for filling him and countless moviegoers with “unadulterated cinema pleasure.”

    “My cinema is uninhibited, full of excess and fun,” said Corman, the independent film maverick. “I feel like this what Cannes is about.”

    The festival’s Un Certain Regard section handed out its awards on Friday, giving the top prize to Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature, “How to Have Sex.”
    Saturday’s ceremony drew to close a Cannes edition that hasn’t lacked spectacle, stars or controversy.

    The biggest wattage premieres came out of competition. Martin Scorsese debuted his Osage murders epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a sprawling vision of American exploitation with Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Harrison Ford’s Indy farewell, launched with a tribute to Ford. Wes Anderson premiered “Asteroid City.”

    The festival opened on a note of controversy. “Jeanne du Barry,” a period drama co-starring Johnny Depp as Louis XV, played as the opening night film. The premiere marked Depp’s highest profile appearance since the conclusion of his explosive trial last year with ex-wife Amber Heard.

  • James Cameron: We had to write four movies before I could start on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’

    By Express News Service

    Director James Cameron, whose last directed Avatar: The Way of Water, recently revealed that his team had to write four movies before he could start the work on the former.

    James Cameron’s writers’ team consists of Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno. With more than 1,500 pages of notes and story beats, Cameron and producer Jon Landau realised that there was more than one story to tell.

    They brought on an elite group of top Hollywood screenwriters to work with Cameron in transforming his story notes into the four films that would continue the adventures of Jake, Neytiri, and the new family they created together.

    “We had to write four movies before I could start on the first sequel. I wanted to map out all the stories and then get the economy of scale of capturing the actors across multiple films and then filming the live action. The thinking was we could consolidate the different stages of production together – performance capture, live action, and then post-production,” Cameron said.

    Meanwhile, it may be noted that Avatar: The Way of Water will stream on Disney+ Hotstar on June 7, in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)

    Director James Cameron, whose last directed Avatar: The Way of Water, recently revealed that his team had to write four movies before he could start the work on the former.

    James Cameron’s writers’ team consists of Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno. With more than 1,500 pages of notes and story beats, Cameron and producer Jon Landau realised that there was more than one story to tell.

    They brought on an elite group of top Hollywood screenwriters to work with Cameron in transforming his story notes into the four films that would continue the adventures of Jake, Neytiri, and the new family they created together.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “We had to write four movies before I could start on the first sequel. I wanted to map out all the stories and then get the economy of scale of capturing the actors across multiple films and then filming the live action. The thinking was we could consolidate the different stages of production together – performance capture, live action, and then post-production,” Cameron said.

    Meanwhile, it may be noted that Avatar: The Way of Water will stream on Disney+ Hotstar on June 7, in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.

    (This story originally appeared on Cinema Express)