Tag: Cannes 2021

  • This is the moment for women to enter the film industry, Jodie Foster tells Cannes

    By AFP
    There has never been a better time for women to enter the film industry, American superstar Jodie Foster told the Cannes festival on Wednesday, July 7, 2021, saying movies had too long been starved of female perspectives.

    Addressing a large crowd of mostly young festival-goers in near-fluent French, she encouraged budding women filmmakers to seek their own truth and not try to please others.

    “This is the moment for women to enter the industry,” Foster said.

    Although male domination of the industry had “not changed completely,” she said, “there is now an awareness that it’s been too long that we haven’t heard stories told by women… This is the moment.”

    Foster received a lifetime achievement for her work that has included star turns in “Taxi Driver” and “Bugsy Malone” when she was a child, through to her Oscar-winning role in “Silence of the Lambs”. She has also directed several films, including “Money Monster” with George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

    “I know it’s a bit cliche to say ‘tell your own stories’,” Foster said. “But what I mean is: ask yourself questions about the truthfulness of things and whether they resonate within you, instead of pleasing others, be it the public or producers.”

    #RedSteps Jodie Foster, Honorary Palme d’or, surrounded by Pedro Almodóvar, Bong Joon Ho and the jury #Cannes2021 #Cannes74 pic.twitter.com/vCrRZa9Ljl
    — Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) July 6, 2021

    ‘Worst reason’ 

    Foster said many young actors entered the movie business saying “I want to be looked at in my pretty clothes” which she said was the “worst reason” for taking up the profession.

    “For some people it can take years, unfortunately, to cast off that armour that separates you from authenticity on the screen,” she said.

    Talking about her own experience, Foster said Pedro Almodovar — who presented her with her honorary Palme the day before — was “the first feminist director for me”.

    “It was the first time I’d seen films that talked about women in an authentic way,” she said of the legendary Spanish director, who has made women central to many of his films.

    Foster called Almodovar an exception among male directors who “can’t easily transpose themselves into a woman’s body and ask themselves what the complicated and complex experience of a woman consists of.”

    #RedSteps Pedro ALMODÓVAR and Jodie FOSTER – Opening Ceremony of the 74th Festival de Cannes#Cannes2021 #Cannes74 pic.twitter.com/wcP6XYUAWS
    — Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) July 6, 2021

    Male ‘confusion’ 

    Referring to her experience as a director, she said that there was still “confusion” in the male-dominated movie industry about how women exercise leadership positions.

    “They don’t understand how women lead because they’ve never seen women lead,” she said of male producers. 

    “They don’t know how to talk to women to convince them of something. They’re afraid because they don’t know how to deal with these situations.”

    #RedSteps Jodie FOSTER#Cannes2021 #Cannes74 pic.twitter.com/hgTUc1Jkng
    — Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) July 6, 2021

    The Cannes film festival has raised eyebrows for including just four films by women directors in the list of 24 movies vying for the top Palme d’Or prize in the main competition.

    The gender balance is tilted less towards men in the festival’s other competition categories, and the main jury this year is mostly female, including US star Maggie Gyllenhaal, Canadian-French singer Mylene Farmer and French-Senegalese director Mati Diop.

    Only one woman has won the Palme d’Or in 73 editions of the festival — Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993.

  • Netflix yet to discover a great film director: Cannes Film Festival chief

    By AFP
    CANNES: Netflix and the other streaming giants have yet to discover one great director, the head of the Cannes Film Festival said Monday.

    Thierry Fremaux threw petrol on the simmering feud between the French festival– the world’s biggest — and the US platform when he challenged reporters to “name me a director who has been discovered by a platform” on the eve of Cannes’ opening.

    “Not yet, even after 10 years…”, Fremaux added archly as journalists struggled to come up with a name.Netflix has effectively boycotted Cannes since 2018 after being told it had to show its films on the big screen in France if it wanted them to compete for its Palme d’Or top prize.

    While Fremaux praised Netflix — which began streaming in 2007 — for their”extraordinary work”, he was quick to turn the knife in his defence of the magic of the big screen.

    ALSO READ: Excitement as Cannes Film Festival reopens after pandemic hiatus

    “We just celebrated the 125th anniversary of the invention of cinema. Let us see if in 100 years we will celebrate the birthday of the platforms. “I don’t think Netflix or the others can skip the Cannes film festival,” he warned. “Youwillseethe names of the future in our line-up…,” he added. “That is why the dialogue must be opened.”Relations between Cannes and the Californian tech giant began to turn sour in 2017 after French cinema owners protested over the inclusion of two of the streamer’s movies in the main competition.

    ‘A bigger situation’The following year Cannes changed its rules requiring a French release for films competing for the Palme d’Or, but allowing streaming-only movies out of competition.

    Netflix retaliated by withdrawing three films from Cannes at the last minute in a move that seemed to be timed to cause maximum chaos.

    With the cinema world aghast, and Cannes cast as the defender of the big screen and traditional cinema, Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings later admitted that they had gone too far.

    “Sometimes we make mistakes. We got into a bigger situation with Cannes than we meant to,” he said.

    In public, both sides have seemed keen to kiss and make up. Fremaux said Monday that they were “friends… We talk all the time”.

    Yet three years on, Netflix is still giving Cannes Film Festival the cold shoulder while rival Amazon is happy to play by the rules.

    Amazon has two movies at Cannes this year, including the opening film”Annette” starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard.

    While Netflix insists a French law stopping streamers showing movies there for three years after their release is too restrictive, Fremaux’s patience appears to be wearing thin.

    The French law was already being reviewed, he said, and Cannes’ own rule” is not that tough…”But Netflix does not want to abide by even that, nor does it want to bring films that are not in competition.” 

  • Excitement as Cannes Film Festival reopens after pandemic hiatus

    By AFP
    CANNES: The famed Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday, and despite social distancing subduing some of its signature glamour, excitement is rife for the first fully-fledged film festival since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Last year’s edition was cancelled over the health crisis, and although stars will be allowed to go maskless on the red carpet this year, a health pass is required for entrance and many of the glitzy after-parties that are the festival’s calling card have been postponed because of distancing measures. 

    “Covid is still there, but being here for the return of the festival, in the opening film… it’s a huge sense of relief and excitement,” US actor Adam Driver told AFP. 

    Driver co-stars with French actor Marion Cotillard in the opening night film, “Annette”, a musical directed by cult favourite Leos Carax.  

    Members of the jury — headed for the first time by a black man, US director Spike Lee — arrived Monday night and will give their traditional press conference on Tuesday afternoon, before embarking on their 24-film marathon.

    The festival palace — a squat, concrete construction dubbed “the bunker” — is draped in a poster featuring Lee, in oversize spectacles, peering between two palm trees. 

    His jury this year has a female majority, including US actor Maggie Gyllenhaal, Canadian-French singer Mylene Farmer and French-Senegalese actor Mati Diop. 

    Other members include Tahar Rahim, star of 2009 film “A Prophet”, and South Korean actor Song Kang-ho, who dazzled in the festival’s last winner two years ago, “Parasite”.

    ‘Be transported’ 

    As evening falls, stars will strut down the recycled red carpet, which has been chopped in size as part of a green makeover. 

    American actor and director Jodie Foster is guest of honour at the opening ceremony, and will be awarded an honorary Palme d’Or before the screening of “Annette” gets underway. 

    The film is Carax’s first since “Holy Motors” nine years ago, which also competed at Cannes.

    It tells the story of a celebrity couple and their mysterious child, the titular Annette. 

    Cotillard told AFP that after months of pandemic-induced confinement, the tragic love story “invites the spectators to come and be transported, to be present at a great spectacle”. 

    Her co-star Driver famously hates watching himself on screen, and said this film will be no exception. 

    When the lights go out, he said he will flee to an office until it is finished. 

    “I sit there playing with a stapler or some scotchtape and come back when the lights are back on,” he smiled. 

    “And I act as if I’d been there the whole time!”

    ‘Packs a punch’ 

    This year, 24 films will compete for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.

    Festival director Thierry Fremaux has promised that the line-up “packs a punch”.

    The directors vying for glory include such perennial Cannes favourites as Italy’s Nanni Moretti with his new film “Tre Piani,” France’s Jacques Audiard (“Les Olympiades”) and Thailand’s master of the slow burn, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, with his English-language debut (“Memoria”). 

    Other contenders include Sean Penn, whose Africa-based humanitarian love story “The Last Face” bombed at Cannes in 2016; Iran’s two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi; and Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, who is barred from leaving the country due to an embezzlement conviction widely seen as punishment for his criticism of President Vladimir Putin.

    With just four female directors in the competition, the festival’s tendency to pick the usual (male) suspects of the arthouse elite is once again under scrutiny.

    Only one woman has won the Palme d’Or in 73 editions of the festival: Jane Campion for “The Piano” in 1993.

  • Union Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurates virtual ‘India Pavilion’ at Cannes Film Festival 

    NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday inaugurated the virtual ‘India Pavilion’ at 74th Cannes Film Festival, saying he hopes the novel coronavirus pandemic ends soon and people come back to the theatres.

    The 2021 edition of the Cannes Film Festival kick-started from July 6 and will conclude on July 17.

    The ministry has opened up a facilitation office to give approvals to international filmmakers to release their films in the country, with a single clearance window, Javadekar added.

    Addressing the virtual inauguration, organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India, jointly with FICCI, the minister said this is the second year when the pavilions are virtually organised but the business is real including the creativity, talent, technology and India offers the best of these.

    “The virtual India pavilion can become a meeting place to meet and discuss the future of the world of cinema,” he added.

    The minister also stated that many of the international films are being filmed in India with over 500 sites available.

    In order to attract more international filmmakers to India, the government of India has taken a number of steps, he said.

    “We have now opened up a facilitation office which guarantees that all permissions are given in one go,” he added.

    Javadekar further stated that a lot of Hollywood movies such as “Lion King”, “Jungle Book”, “Life of Pi”, “X-Men”, and “Avatar” have got their VFX animation done in India, and the country’s contribution to world cinema is also increasing.

    Talking about the virtual ‘India Pavilion’, the minister said it can serve as a meeting ground to discuss the future of the world of cinema.

    “Cannes Film Festival is a festival of creativity and talent but simultaneously a place for business as well. The Cannes Film market offers a big opportunity for the filmmakers of the world. Films will do huge business after the pandemic and many of the films are shot for OTT platforms also,” he added.

    According to producer Ekta Kapoor, India weaves a lot of local inbuilt flavours in its storytelling.

    “India is known as a content creating nation. Indian content has always been the soft ambassador of India and it has a lot of appeal in the international market. Collaborations are the way forward for any company and there are a lot of opportunities in India,” Kapoor added.

    Prasoon Joshi, writer, poet and chairman, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), said the Indian film industry is heading in the right direction along with the focus on regional cinema.

    “Indian audiences today are more active seekers and the pandemic has given more acceleration to explore the world of cinema. There is a churn in Indian cinema,” he added.

    Cannes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious movie galas in the world, was initially scheduled to take place from May 11 to May 22 but was pushed by two months due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

    Last year’s edition was cancelled due to the pandemic and replaced by a low-key event in October, showcasing short films but without the A-list movie stars, directors and producers.