News Analysis India

Tag: Cannes

  • Cannes: Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Monster’ with a big heart

    By AFP

    CANNES: Japan’s Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda unveiled his new movie “Monster” (“Kaibutsu”) at Cannes on Wednesday, a heartwarming tale despite its ominous title.

    Treating issues including bullying and domestic abuse, “Monster” bears many hallmarks of Kore-eda’s tender cinema about tough lives and unconventional families that already won him the top prize in Cannes in 2018 for “Shoplifters”.

    “Monster” begins as a disquieting tale of teacher-pupil harassment with a clear baddie, but judgements are swiftly revised as the film switches points of view.

    “I wanted the spectator to be able to search in the same way the characters were doing in the film,” the 60-year-old director told AFP about the movie’s central mystery: who is the monster?

    Shameful systemBut while Kore-eda’s characters emerge with their humanity intact, Japan’s education system does not come off so well.

    “When an institution puts protecting itself at the very top of its priorities… then ‘what really happened is not important’,” said Kore-eda, quoting a line from the film.

    The phrase, he said, “is relevant not only for Japan’s education system but also the majority of collective institutions that have a tendency to want to protect themselves at the cost of many other things”.

    Kore-eda’s film comes just a year after his last one, “Broker”, premiered in competition at Cannes and scooped the best actor prize for Song Kang-ho, the South Korean star best-known for the multi-Oscar winning “Parasite”.

    In a break from his usual working method, Kore-eda did not pen the script for “Monster” himself, but turned to screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto.

    “As it’s not me who wrote it, I can say without a second thought that I think it’s really a very good screenplay!” he joked about the intricate, multiple viewpoints narrative.

    Since his first fiction film in 1995, Kore-eda has made more than a dozen critically acclaimed features.

    He was first in competition for the Palme d’Or in 2001 with “Distance”, about the devastating personal toll of a cult massacre.

    His breakthrough outside Japan came three years later with “Nobody Knows”, inspired, like many of his films, by a real-life event, this one set around four young siblings abandoned in an apartment by their mother.

    The Cannes Film Festival runs until May 27 with 21 films in competition, including other past Palme winners such as Britain’s Ken Loach and Germany’s Wim Wenders.

    CANNES: Japan’s Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda unveiled his new movie “Monster” (“Kaibutsu”) at Cannes on Wednesday, a heartwarming tale despite its ominous title.

    Treating issues including bullying and domestic abuse, “Monster” bears many hallmarks of Kore-eda’s tender cinema about tough lives and unconventional families that already won him the top prize in Cannes in 2018 for “Shoplifters”.

    “Monster” begins as a disquieting tale of teacher-pupil harassment with a clear baddie, but judgements are swiftly revised as the film switches points of view.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “I wanted the spectator to be able to search in the same way the characters were doing in the film,” the 60-year-old director told AFP about the movie’s central mystery: who is the monster?

    Shameful system
    But while Kore-eda’s characters emerge with their humanity intact, Japan’s education system does not come off so well.

    “When an institution puts protecting itself at the very top of its priorities… then ‘what really happened is not important’,” said Kore-eda, quoting a line from the film.

    The phrase, he said, “is relevant not only for Japan’s education system but also the majority of collective institutions that have a tendency to want to protect themselves at the cost of many other things”.

    Kore-eda’s film comes just a year after his last one, “Broker”, premiered in competition at Cannes and scooped the best actor prize for Song Kang-ho, the South Korean star best-known for the multi-Oscar winning “Parasite”.

    In a break from his usual working method, Kore-eda did not pen the script for “Monster” himself, but turned to screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto.

    “As it’s not me who wrote it, I can say without a second thought that I think it’s really a very good screenplay!” he joked about the intricate, multiple viewpoints narrative.

    Since his first fiction film in 1995, Kore-eda has made more than a dozen critically acclaimed features.

    He was first in competition for the Palme d’Or in 2001 with “Distance”, about the devastating personal toll of a cult massacre.

    His breakthrough outside Japan came three years later with “Nobody Knows”, inspired, like many of his films, by a real-life event, this one set around four young siblings abandoned in an apartment by their mother.

    The Cannes Film Festival runs until May 27 with 21 films in competition, including other past Palme winners such as Britain’s Ken Loach and Germany’s Wim Wenders.

  • Steve McQueen’s marathon documentary divides Cannes

    By AFP

    CANNES: Eyelids grew heavy and bums numb on Thursday at a four-and-a-half-hour screening of Steve McQueen’s documentary on Amsterdam during World War II, which Cannes critics either adored or suffered through.

    The director of Oscar-winning ‘Twelve Years a Slave,’ tells the story of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, a city where he now lives without a single shot of archival footage.

    Instead, he films people in their homes and scenes around the city, while a narrator recounts, without emotion, the horrors that took place in that spot when the Netherlands suffered one of the highest rates of Jewish deaths in Europe.

    Much of the documentary, ‘Occupied City’, was filmed during the Covid lockdown, and images of boarded-up stores, an announcement of a curfew, and protests, at times play as a backdrop to the World War II narration.

    The disconnect between the past and the present is purposeful.

    “It’s about living with ghosts and about the past and the present sort of merging,” McQueen told Variety magazine.

    However, the lengthy museum-installation-style documentary had several audience members nodding off. More than two dozen left before the 15-minute intermission, with others not returning for the second half.

    Some critics gushed over the monumental project and its novel approach, with Deadline calling it one of the “great WWII-themed films,” while others slammed it as “numbing.”

    “The film is a trial to sit through, and you feel that from almost the opening moments,” said Variety.

    “It’s more like listening to 150 encyclopedia entries in a row. Who did McQueen think he was making this movie for? If it plays in theatres, it seems all but designed to provoke walk-outs.”

    “Occupied City” is inspired by a book written by McQueen’s historian partner Bianca Stigter:  “Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945).”

    McQueen shot 36 hours of film for the project over three years.

    “It wasn’t a case of wanting to do something long,” McQueen said in an interview with IndieWire. “It was a case of wanting to do something right.”

    “As much as it is about the past, this film is extremely about the present,” McQueen said.

    “Unfortunately, we never seem to learn from the past. Things sort of overtake us,” he said, referring to the rise of the far-right in modern times.

    CANNES: Eyelids grew heavy and bums numb on Thursday at a four-and-a-half-hour screening of Steve McQueen’s documentary on Amsterdam during World War II, which Cannes critics either adored or suffered through.

    The director of Oscar-winning ‘Twelve Years a Slave,’ tells the story of Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, a city where he now lives without a single shot of archival footage.

    Instead, he films people in their homes and scenes around the city, while a narrator recounts, without emotion, the horrors that took place in that spot when the Netherlands suffered one of the highest rates of Jewish deaths in Europe.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Much of the documentary, ‘Occupied City’, was filmed during the Covid lockdown, and images of boarded-up stores, an announcement of a curfew, and protests, at times play as a backdrop to the World War II narration.

    The disconnect between the past and the present is purposeful.

    “It’s about living with ghosts and about the past and the present sort of merging,” McQueen told Variety magazine.

    However, the lengthy museum-installation-style documentary had several audience members nodding off. More than two dozen left before the 15-minute intermission, with others not returning for the second half.

    Some critics gushed over the monumental project and its novel approach, with Deadline calling it one of the “great WWII-themed films,” while others slammed it as “numbing.”

    “The film is a trial to sit through, and you feel that from almost the opening moments,” said Variety.

    “It’s more like listening to 150 encyclopedia entries in a row. Who did McQueen think he was making this movie for? If it plays in theatres, it seems all but designed to provoke walk-outs.”

    “Occupied City” is inspired by a book written by McQueen’s historian partner Bianca Stigter:  “Atlas of an Occupied City (Amsterdam 1940-1945).”

    McQueen shot 36 hours of film for the project over three years.

    “It wasn’t a case of wanting to do something long,” McQueen said in an interview with IndieWire. “It was a case of wanting to do something right.”

    “As much as it is about the past, this film is extremely about the present,” McQueen said.

    “Unfortunately, we never seem to learn from the past. Things sort of overtake us,” he said, referring to the rise of the far-right in modern times.

  • Scandal-mired French film ‘The Homecoming’ warms hearts at Cannes

    By AFP

    CANNES: On-set scandal may have haunted French director Catherine Corsini’s new film, but the movie was well-received by critics in Cannes for its strong acting performances.

    ‘The Homecoming,’ which premiered late Wednesday, lost some funding over an intimate scene featuring a 15-year-old actress that was ultimately cut from the final take.

    It was the second movie, after Johnny Depp’s comeback as French King Louis XV in “Jeanne du Barry”, to cause upset at the world’s leading film industry shindig, held on the French Riviera.

    The coming-of-age story tells of a black mother who returns to Corsica with her two teenage daughters, years after fleeing the French island in a hurry. The trio explore a mysterious past, sexuality and drugs.

    While some critics called out the film for occasional longwindedness and failing to satisfy key questions, it was largely well-received, particularly for the acting.

    “Whatever else happened on-set, Corsini has delivered a wonderful film… that ever so elegantly flutters questions of race, class, guilt and opportunity through a seaside summer breeze,” wrote The Wrap.

    Catherine Corsini, 66, an outspoken gay activist, had a film in the running for the top award, the Palme D’Or, “The Divide,” in 2021, featuring Guinean-born actress Aissatou Diallo Sagna, who also appears in this year’s feature.

    Corsini won the Queer Palme for the film, while Sagna won France’s highest Cesar film award for her role.

    Drama erupted, however, over Corsini’s ‘The Homecoming’ which was initially left out of the official selection at the last minute, only to be added back in.

    The controversy centred on a scene involving actress Esther Gohourou, who was 15 at the time, and a love interest.

    Corsini told Variety magazine the moment “suggested something of a sexual nature” but remained centred on the actors’ faces.

    The controversial scene was eventually cut from the film, leaving in just a quick kiss between the actors.

    In an interview with Le Monde, Corsini — one of a record seven women directors in the main competition at Cannes, slammed the barrage of criticism as “a new form of patriarchy”.

    Responding to accusations of verbal and physical violence on set, Corsini admitted she was “intense” and “eruptive at times” when working under pressure.

    The film depicts moments of intimacy between the older sister, played by 22-year-old Suzy Bemba, and her lesbian love interest.

    “Not remotely out for provocation, the film handles its sexual moments, such as they are, with restraint and discretion – with little to scare the horses,” wrote Screen Daily.

    CANNES: On-set scandal may have haunted French director Catherine Corsini’s new film, but the movie was well-received by critics in Cannes for its strong acting performances.

    ‘The Homecoming,’ which premiered late Wednesday, lost some funding over an intimate scene featuring a 15-year-old actress that was ultimately cut from the final take.

    It was the second movie, after Johnny Depp’s comeback as French King Louis XV in “Jeanne du Barry”, to cause upset at the world’s leading film industry shindig, held on the French Riviera.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The coming-of-age story tells of a black mother who returns to Corsica with her two teenage daughters, years after fleeing the French island in a hurry. The trio explore a mysterious past, sexuality and drugs.

    While some critics called out the film for occasional longwindedness and failing to satisfy key questions, it was largely well-received, particularly for the acting.

    “Whatever else happened on-set, Corsini has delivered a wonderful film… that ever so elegantly flutters questions of race, class, guilt and opportunity through a seaside summer breeze,” wrote The Wrap.

    Catherine Corsini, 66, an outspoken gay activist, had a film in the running for the top award, the Palme D’Or, “The Divide,” in 2021, featuring Guinean-born actress Aissatou Diallo Sagna, who also appears in this year’s feature.

    Corsini won the Queer Palme for the film, while Sagna won France’s highest Cesar film award for her role.

    Drama erupted, however, over Corsini’s ‘The Homecoming’ which was initially left out of the official selection at the last minute, only to be added back in.

    The controversy centred on a scene involving actress Esther Gohourou, who was 15 at the time, and a love interest.

    Corsini told Variety magazine the moment “suggested something of a sexual nature” but remained centred on the actors’ faces.

    The controversial scene was eventually cut from the film, leaving in just a quick kiss between the actors.

    In an interview with Le Monde, Corsini — one of a record seven women directors in the main competition at Cannes, slammed the barrage of criticism as “a new form of patriarchy”.

    Responding to accusations of verbal and physical violence on set, Corsini admitted she was “intense” and “eruptive at times” when working under pressure.

    The film depicts moments of intimacy between the older sister, played by 22-year-old Suzy Bemba, and her lesbian love interest.

    “Not remotely out for provocation, the film handles its sexual moments, such as they are, with restraint and discretion – with little to scare the horses,” wrote Screen Daily.

  • Cannes Film Festival kicks off Tuesday with Johnny Depp’s ‘Jeanne du Barry’

    By Associated Press

    FRANCE: The Cannes red carpet springs to life again on Tuesday as the 76th Cannes Film Festival gets underway with the premiere of the Louis XV period drama “Jeanne du Barry” with Johnny Depp.

    This year’s festival promises a Cote d’Azur buffet of spectacle, scandal and cinema set to be served over the next 12 days.

    It’s unspooling against the backdrop of labour unrest.

    Protests that have roiled France in recent months over changes to its pension system are planned to run during the festival, albeit at a distance from the festival’s main hub.

    Meanwhile, an ongoing strike by screenwriters in Hollywood could have unpredictable effects on the French Riviera festival.

    But with a festival lined with some much-anticipated big-budget films, including James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”, the party is sure to go on, regardless.

    Stars set to hit Cannes’ red carpet in the next week and a half include Natalie Portman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Sean Penn, Alicia Vikander, the Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) and Scarlett Johansson.

    The festivities on Tuesday will include an opening ceremony where Michael Douglas is to receive an honorary Palme d’Or.

    (Later, one will also be dished out to “Indiana Jones” star Harrison Ford).

    The jury that will decide the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, will also be introduced.

    This year, the jury is led by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund, a two-time Palme winner who last year won for the social satire “The Triangle of Sadness”.

    The rest of the jury includes Brie Larson, Paul Dano, French director Julia Ducournau, Argentine filmmaker Damián Szifron, Afghan director Atiq Rahimi, French actor Denis Ménochet, Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Tourzani and Zambian-Welsh director Rungano Nyoni.

    The opening night selection has attracted some controversy.

    “Jeanne du Barry”, directed by and co-starring the French actor-director Maïwenn, co-stars Depp as Louis XV.

    It’s Depp’s first new film since his trial last year with Amber Heard, his ex-wife.

    After both Depp and Heard accused each other of physical and verbal abuse, a civil jury awarded Depp USD 10 million in damages and USD 2 million to Heard.

    In remarks to the press on Monday, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux defended the choice, saying Depp is extraordinary in the film and he paid no attention to the trial.

    “To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, the freedom of speech and the freedom to act within a legal framework,” said Fremaux.

    “If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned we wouldn’t be here talking about it.”

    FRANCE: The Cannes red carpet springs to life again on Tuesday as the 76th Cannes Film Festival gets underway with the premiere of the Louis XV period drama “Jeanne du Barry” with Johnny Depp.

    This year’s festival promises a Cote d’Azur buffet of spectacle, scandal and cinema set to be served over the next 12 days.

    It’s unspooling against the backdrop of labour unrest.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); });

    Protests that have roiled France in recent months over changes to its pension system are planned to run during the festival, albeit at a distance from the festival’s main hub.

    Meanwhile, an ongoing strike by screenwriters in Hollywood could have unpredictable effects on the French Riviera festival.

    But with a festival lined with some much-anticipated big-budget films, including James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”, the party is sure to go on, regardless.

    Stars set to hit Cannes’ red carpet in the next week and a half include Natalie Portman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Sean Penn, Alicia Vikander, the Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) and Scarlett Johansson.

    The festivities on Tuesday will include an opening ceremony where Michael Douglas is to receive an honorary Palme d’Or.

    (Later, one will also be dished out to “Indiana Jones” star Harrison Ford).

    The jury that will decide the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, will also be introduced.

    This year, the jury is led by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund, a two-time Palme winner who last year won for the social satire “The Triangle of Sadness”.

    The rest of the jury includes Brie Larson, Paul Dano, French director Julia Ducournau, Argentine filmmaker Damián Szifron, Afghan director Atiq Rahimi, French actor Denis Ménochet, Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Tourzani and Zambian-Welsh director Rungano Nyoni.

    The opening night selection has attracted some controversy.

    “Jeanne du Barry”, directed by and co-starring the French actor-director Maïwenn, co-stars Depp as Louis XV.

    It’s Depp’s first new film since his trial last year with Amber Heard, his ex-wife.

    After both Depp and Heard accused each other of physical and verbal abuse, a civil jury awarded Depp USD 10 million in damages and USD 2 million to Heard.

    In remarks to the press on Monday, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux defended the choice, saying Depp is extraordinary in the film and he paid no attention to the trial.

    “To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, the freedom of speech and the freedom to act within a legal framework,” said Fremaux.

    “If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned we wouldn’t be here talking about it.”

  • Cannes director defends festival after Adele Haenel slams French film industry’s #MeToo response

    By Associated Press

    FRANCE: After one of France’s top actors, Adele Haenel, announced she was quitting the French film industry that she denounced for “complacency toward sexual aggressors,” Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux rejected her criticisms while addressing members of the media Monday.

    Haenel, star of the 2019 Cannes entry “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” last week published an open letter in the Telerama magazine in which the 34-year-old said Cannes and other pillars of the French film industry are “ready to do anything to defend their rapist chiefs.

    ” Fremaux strongly disagreed while speaking to journalists before the festival kicks off Tuesday with the premiere of Maiwenn’s historical drama “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp.

    “No doubt for somewhat radical reasons, she had to make this comment about Cannes, which was obviously false,” said Fremaux.

    In 2019, Haenel accused French director Christophe Ruggia of sexually harassing her for years beginning at 12.

    Ruggia has denied it. Since then, Haenel has often vocally protested what she’s called an insufficient response to sexual abuse in French filmmaking.

    At the Cesar Awards 2020, she walked out of the ceremony after Roman Polanski won best director.

    ALSO READ: Marion Cotillard lauds Adele Haenel for speaking on sexual harassment

    In his remarks, Fremaux only specifically addressed Haenel’s criticism of Cannes.

    When she came to the festival with Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” he said: “She didn’t think that when she came to Cannes unless she suffered from a crazy dissonance.

    “The proof is that if you believed it, you would not be here, listening to me now, taking your accreditation and complaining about the press screenings for a festival of rapists,” Fremaux said to the gathered reporters.

    How the #MeToo movement has reverberated in Cannes, one of the world’s oldest and most glamorous film festivals, has been a subject of debate.

    Harvey Weinstein was for years a prominent presence at Cannes, and some of the incidents of sexual abuse allegations against the producer took place during the festival.

    Cannes also has traditionally had a low rate of female filmmakers in its prestigious competition line-up, where only two female directors have won the Palme d’Or: Jane Campion in 1993 with “The Piano” and Julia Ducournau in 2021 with “Titane.”

     In 2018, 82 women led a protest on the Cannes red carpet.

    The following year, Fremaux bowing to pressure, signed a pledge promising to strive toward greater gender parity. Fremaux acknowledged that the festival once had a problem with gender inclusivity.

    “Maybe I was clumsy,” he said.

    This year, there are a record seven films directed by women out of the 21 movies in competition, which he said reflects the growing prominence of female filmmakers around the world.

    Now, he added, “When we hesitate between a film made by a man or a woman, we’ll select the film made by the woman. But only when we hesitate. This all denotes progress,” said Fremaux.

    At the same time, Cannes has sometimes been accused of being too welcoming to some of the men who have been accused of misconduct.

    Polanski returned to the festival in 2017.

    This year, some had been expecting Woody Allen’s latest film to premiere in Cannes but it didn’t make it to the line-up.

    Asked about it, Fremaux said he would only address films in the selection.

    Fremaux was, though, questioned about the selection of “Jeanne du Barry” as the opening night film.

    The film, which co-stars Maiwenn, is Depp’s first since his high-profile trial with Amber Heard, his ex-wife.

    After both Depp and Heard accused each other of physical and verbal abuse, a civil jury awarded Depp USD 10 million in damages and $2 million to Heard.

    In December, they reached a settlement.

    “To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, the freedom of speech and the freedom to act within a legal framework,” said Fremaux.

    “If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned we wouldn’t be here talking about it,” he said.

    FRANCE: After one of France’s top actors, Adele Haenel, announced she was quitting the French film industry that she denounced for “complacency toward sexual aggressors,” Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux rejected her criticisms while addressing members of the media Monday.

    Haenel, star of the 2019 Cannes entry “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” last week published an open letter in the Telerama magazine in which the 34-year-old said Cannes and other pillars of the French film industry are “ready to do anything to defend their rapist chiefs.

    ” Fremaux strongly disagreed while speaking to journalists before the festival kicks off Tuesday with the premiere of Maiwenn’s historical drama “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Johnny Depp.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “No doubt for somewhat radical reasons, she had to make this comment about Cannes, which was obviously false,” said Fremaux.

    In 2019, Haenel accused French director Christophe Ruggia of sexually harassing her for years beginning at 12.

    Ruggia has denied it. Since then, Haenel has often vocally protested what she’s called an insufficient response to sexual abuse in French filmmaking.

    At the Cesar Awards 2020, she walked out of the ceremony after Roman Polanski won best director.

    ALSO READ: Marion Cotillard lauds Adele Haenel for speaking on sexual harassment

    In his remarks, Fremaux only specifically addressed Haenel’s criticism of Cannes.

    When she came to the festival with Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” he said: “She didn’t think that when she came to Cannes unless she suffered from a crazy dissonance.

    “The proof is that if you believed it, you would not be here, listening to me now, taking your accreditation and complaining about the press screenings for a festival of rapists,” Fremaux said to the gathered reporters.

    How the #MeToo movement has reverberated in Cannes, one of the world’s oldest and most glamorous film festivals, has been a subject of debate.

    Harvey Weinstein was for years a prominent presence at Cannes, and some of the incidents of sexual abuse allegations against the producer took place during the festival.

    Cannes also has traditionally had a low rate of female filmmakers in its prestigious competition line-up, where only two female directors have won the Palme d’Or: Jane Campion in 1993 with “The Piano” and Julia Ducournau in 2021 with “Titane.”

     In 2018, 82 women led a protest on the Cannes red carpet.

    The following year, Fremaux bowing to pressure, signed a pledge promising to strive toward greater gender parity. Fremaux acknowledged that the festival once had a problem with gender inclusivity.

    “Maybe I was clumsy,” he said.

    This year, there are a record seven films directed by women out of the 21 movies in competition, which he said reflects the growing prominence of female filmmakers around the world.

    Now, he added, “When we hesitate between a film made by a man or a woman, we’ll select the film made by the woman. But only when we hesitate. This all denotes progress,” said Fremaux.

    At the same time, Cannes has sometimes been accused of being too welcoming to some of the men who have been accused of misconduct.

    Polanski returned to the festival in 2017.

    This year, some had been expecting Woody Allen’s latest film to premiere in Cannes but it didn’t make it to the line-up.

    Asked about it, Fremaux said he would only address films in the selection.

    Fremaux was, though, questioned about the selection of “Jeanne du Barry” as the opening night film.

    The film, which co-stars Maiwenn, is Depp’s first since his high-profile trial with Amber Heard, his ex-wife.

    After both Depp and Heard accused each other of physical and verbal abuse, a civil jury awarded Depp USD 10 million in damages and $2 million to Heard.

    In December, they reached a settlement.

    “To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, the freedom of speech and the freedom to act within a legal framework,” said Fremaux.

    “If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned we wouldn’t be here talking about it,” he said.

  • Balloons: Loaded with a message on Gen Z and drug abuse

    Online Desk

    Gen Z doesn’t have time for advice. Even otherwise, a work of art does not preach. Sajan Kalathil knows this well. 

    Sajan’s “Balloons” a short film won the Best Cause-Driven Film Award, at the world’s oldest film festival, Cannes.

    “Balloons” explore the theme of drug abuse and the devastation it causes. The movie has no dialogue. 

    “The key strategy of this film, which I tried, is to remain silent throughout the film. Because I’m fully aware that advising the new generation will only help trigger their skepticism and drive them away from the movie,” the cinematographer-cum-commercial film director says.

    Speaking to The New Indian Express Online, about his project which would be released shortly, Sajan said, “I visualized the film in such a way that Gen Z could conceive the film in their own way. As a trial… to support this thought, I used drawing instead of writing movie headlines “Balloons”.

    “To balance the emotional weight of storytelling… more focus was given to the narrative side in the first step of designing the topic. The structure was kept pretentious to have an international outlook, realizing that the social cause is global.  Everything was implemented including, storytelling, conceiving a character, designing a character, finding and treating the space, conceiving filmic time for its narrative structure was predesigned and executed. I also experimented to get a drama viewing angle for the audience and utilized a filmic way of narration. In Lighting and cinematography, I planned to get fresh air, fresh light, and lovely nature with lots of colors against the white sky adding the positive mood of the character in the past. In the end, nature was made cloudy, crushed, and dense, to depict the depressive nature of the character,” he said.

    “I felt that this matter needs to be addressed from my side, the only way to do so was to make a movie to address the adolescents and children to get them out of this menace”, he said.

    Sajan said that no research has gone into the making of the movie. “Everything came to me out of my experience and observations. I have noticed that evil vibrations tempted children and adolescents to their final Disaster”, he says. 

    Guru Somasundaram

    “Balloons” features Tamil actor Guru Somasundaram in the lead role. When asked about that, the director replied, “I personally didn’t have any experience with guru sir. But when I came to know about his theatre experience, very flexible body language, and understanding his fabulous range of emotional expressions by which he could communicate within a short span of time. I got really impressed and wanted him to do my Film…”

    When asked about the qualities he looks for in his performers, he said, “I always try to compress the duration of the film to the minimum, just necessary to communicate a story or topic with its emotional feelings. Perhaps because I am more into advertising and cinematography of advertising films, when I search for artists, I also put an eye on their mode of expressional skills in communicating within a shorter span of time. I think that as a filmmaker, I have to be very sharp in all the technical and aesthetic aspects to make a story communicable in a short time. In this film Guru sir’s commitment after conceiving the story and coming to the location with a bearded face helped a lot in communicating the needed time graph.”

    Awards & SJCC

    Sajan Kalathil has won several international awards such as Indie Short Fest Los Angeles and Independent Shorts Awards Los Angeles including Best Cause Driven Film at Cannes World Festival.

    He says he was haunted by this social issue for a long time. However, he never thought of making a film about it. The decision came very quickly when Fr. Antony Ethacad, the Managing Director of St Joseph College of Communication (SJCC) offered to make a film on this issue. Fr Ethacad is also the Executive Director of Media Village Group of Institutions, Changanassery in Kerala.

    On the Title

    Life is like a balloon. Inflate it with goodness- it soars high. The moment you traumatize it – all the charm and colour is gone and it whithers off into nothing.

    Gen Z doesn’t have time for advice. Even otherwise, a work of art does not preach. Sajan Kalathil knows this well. 

    Sajan’s “Balloons” a short film won the Best Cause-Driven Film Award, at the world’s oldest film festival, Cannes.

    “Balloons” explore the theme of drug abuse and the devastation it causes. The movie has no dialogue. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “The key strategy of this film, which I tried, is to remain silent throughout the film. Because I’m fully aware that advising the new generation will only help trigger their skepticism and drive them away from the movie,” the cinematographer-cum-commercial film director says.

    Speaking to The New Indian Express Online, about his project which would be released shortly, Sajan said, “I visualized the film in such a way that Gen Z could conceive the film in their own way. As a trial… to support this thought, I used drawing instead of writing movie headlines “Balloons”.

    “To balance the emotional weight of storytelling… more focus was given to the narrative side in the first step of designing the topic. The structure was kept pretentious to have an international outlook, realizing that the social cause is global.  Everything was implemented including, storytelling, conceiving a character, designing a character, finding and treating the space, conceiving filmic time for its narrative structure was predesigned and executed. I also experimented to get a drama viewing angle for the audience and utilized a filmic way of narration. In Lighting and cinematography, I planned to get fresh air, fresh light, and lovely nature with lots of colors against the white sky adding the positive mood of the character in the past. In the end, nature was made cloudy, crushed, and dense, to depict the depressive nature of the character,” he said.

    “I felt that this matter needs to be addressed from my side, the only way to do so was to make a movie to address the adolescents and children to get them out of this menace”, he said.

    Sajan said that no research has gone into the making of the movie. “Everything came to me out of my experience and observations. I have noticed that evil vibrations tempted children and adolescents to their final Disaster”, he says. 

    Guru Somasundaram

    “Balloons” features Tamil actor Guru Somasundaram in the lead role. When asked about that, the director replied, “I personally didn’t have any experience with guru sir. But when I came to know about his theatre experience, very flexible body language, and understanding his fabulous range of emotional expressions by which he could communicate within a short span of time. I got really impressed and wanted him to do my Film…”

    When asked about the qualities he looks for in his performers, he said, “I always try to compress the duration of the film to the minimum, just necessary to communicate a story or topic with its emotional feelings. Perhaps because I am more into advertising and cinematography of advertising films, when I search for artists, I also put an eye on their mode of expressional skills in communicating within a shorter span of time. I think that as a filmmaker, I have to be very sharp in all the technical and aesthetic aspects to make a story communicable in a short time. In this film Guru sir’s commitment after conceiving the story and coming to the location with a bearded face helped a lot in communicating the needed time graph.”

    Awards & SJCC

    Sajan Kalathil has won several international awards such as Indie Short Fest Los Angeles and Independent Shorts Awards Los Angeles including Best Cause Driven Film at Cannes World Festival.

    He says he was haunted by this social issue for a long time. However, he never thought of making a film about it. The decision came very quickly when Fr. Antony Ethacad, the Managing Director of St Joseph College of Communication (SJCC) offered to make a film on this issue. Fr Ethacad is also the Executive Director of Media Village Group of Institutions, Changanassery in Kerala.

    On the Title

    Life is like a balloon. Inflate it with goodness- it soars high. The moment you traumatize it – all the charm and colour is gone and it whithers off into nothing.

  • Park explains how Cannes award-winning film ‘Decision to Leave’ is different

    By IANS

    SEOUL: Director Park Chan-wook has said that he left behind stimulating elements in his previous films, such as ‘Oldboy’ (2003) and ‘The Handmaiden’ (2016), for his latest Cannes-winning film ‘Decision to Leave’ in order to help the audience focus on the complex and subtle emotions of the characters, reports Yonhap News Agency.”I didn’t hesitate to use literally ‘expressions that stimulate the peripheral nerves’ in my previous films. I’m not saying it’s wrong to do so, but I intended them to be so,” Park said during a press conference in Seoul to promote the new film.”I wanted to make a different movie this time. Since it’s a story of people who hide their true emotions, I wanted to make the audience become eager to approach these people, to peek into their mind, curious about what they are thinking,” he added.Park then compared this kind of film to a song where subtle vocal expressions are required.”Think of a situation where drum and guitar sounds are too loud when a singer has to sing finely and wispily. I thought I had to lower the volume of such accompaniment for this film. I think that is what makes it different from my previous works, if any,” he said.Tang Wei, the Chinese actress who stars in the film, added: “I don’t know if I can put it this way, but Park’s previous titles have strong tastes. If I say they had a strong taste of kimchi, this film would taste fresh, plain and sweet.”‘Decision to Leave’ is a genre-combining film about a detective who suspects a mysterious widow in a murder case and later falls in love with her after days of stakeout. It is Park’s first Korean-language film in six years after ‘The Handmaiden’ and his fourth entry for the competition in the Cannes Film Festival.This past Sunday, he won the best director for the new feature at the festival’s 75th edition, making it his third prize at Cannes, following the Grand Prix for his thriller ‘Oldboy’ in 2003 and the Jury Prize for the horror film ‘Thirst’ in 2009.

  • Cannes to wrap with presentation of Palme d’Or on Saturday

    By Associated Press

    CANNES: The 75th Cannes Film Festival wraps Saturday with the presentation of the Palme d’Or and other awards selected by the nine-member jury headed by French actor Vincent Lindon.

    The closing ceremony brings to a close a Cannes that has attempted to fully resuscitate the annual France extravaganza which was canceled in 2020 by the pandemic and saw modest crowds last year. This year’s festival also unspooled against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, which sparked red-carpet protests and dialogue about the purpose of cinema in wartime.

    The closing ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT and concludes roughly an hour later. Outside of France, it will be streamed live by Brut.

    But what’s going to win? The Palme, one of the film’s most prestigious awards, is famously impossible to handicap — through bookies still try their best. It hinges entirely on the deliberations of the jury which take place in private. Last year, the French body horror thriller “Titane” took the prize, making director Julia Decournau only the second female filmmaker ever to win the Palme. In 2019, Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” triumphed in Cannes before doing the same at the Academy Awards.

    This year, the biggest Hollywood films at Cannes — “Elvis,”“Top Gun: Maverick,”“Three Thousand Years of Longing” — played outside Cannes’ competition lineup of 21 films.

    Arguably — and there is always arguing at Cannes — among the best received films that could win the Palme are Lukas Dhont’s Belgian coming-of-age drama “Close,” Park Chan-wook’s twisty Korean neo-noir “Decision to Leave,” Cristian Mungiu’s Romanian drama “R.M.N.,” Ruben Ostlund’s social satire “Triangle of Sadness” and James Gray’s semi-autobiographical ’80s New York tale “Armageddon Time.”

  • Satyajit Ray’s work inspires projects from Big Bazaar, Roadshow at Cannes

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: A restored version of Indian maestro Satyajit Ray’s ‘The Adversary’ is playing at Cannes Classics this year and films inspired by his works are being planned.

    Kolkata-based Indian producer-director Aritra Sen’s Roadshow Films and Los Angeles-based British writer-director Alex Harvey’s Big Bazaar Films are producing two films this year, which take their inspiration from Ray’s life and work, reports ‘Variety’.

    First up is feature documentary ‘Forest of Humans’, which looks at Ray’s creative relationship with Kolkata, the city where he lived and worked all his life.

    Directed by Harvey and produced by Sen, the documentary explores the many ways in which Ray used Kolkata’s diverse humanity to create an entire cinematic world. Filming almost entirely on location in Kolkata, ‘Forest of Humans’ aims to show how Ray’s poetic world is still mysterious and alive in the city today.

    “Kolkata endlessly fed Ray’s imagination,” says Sen.

    “In return Ray gave the city its sense of self.”

    “His films never try to idealise Kolkata but constantly transform how it is perceived,” says Harvey.

    “Look at ‘The Adversary’s’ disaffected anti-hero who is seen apart from his city, unable to find solace in its casual pleasures.”

    ‘The Adversary’ also partly provides the inspiration for ‘Prantik’, a contemporary drama set in Kolkata and London.

    It takes as its starting point a similar premise – the story of a young man who, when his father dies, is forced to make his own way in the city. ‘Prantik’, which will be directed by Sen, with Harvey serving as creative producer is slated to shoot this fall.

    “In addition to ‘Prantik’ and ‘Forest of Humans’ we’re also planning a period film called ‘Niru,’ set in the Calcutta (as the city was called then) of the 1880s, at the height of the Raj, and based on Ibsen’s play, ‘A Doll’s House.’ Ray’s extraordinary film, ‘Charulata’, is proving to be a great creative inspiration for that project,” Harvey and Sen said.

    Both filmmakers said they are committed to exploring the rich legacy offered by Ray.

    “Ray was the reason I wanted to work in film, the reason I feel in love with cinema,” says Sen.

    “Ray is the most complete auteur in the history of cinema. He wrote, designed, directed, edited and even composed the musical score for his films. You can learn everything from Ray.”

    Sen previously produced series ‘Feluda’ based on stories by Ray. Harvey’s last film was mixed martial arts documentary ‘Enter the Jungle’

  • Shaunak Sen on HBO release of ‘All That Breathes’: Thrilled to join the roster

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Director Shaunak Sen, whose documentary “All That Breathes” is set to screen at the Cannes Film Festival, says it is a proud moment for him that the documentary has been acquired by HBO.

    The documentary, which won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and is set to screen in the Special Screening segment at Cannes, will be released in the US later this year by Submarine Deluxe, in association with Sideshow.

    After its theatrical run in the US, the 90-minute-long film will debut on HBO and streaming service HBO Max in 2023, according to Variety.

    “All That Breathes” follows two siblings, Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who have devoted their lives to rescuing and treating injured birds, especially the Black Kites.

    Working out of their derelict basement in Wazirabad, the Delhi brothers are the central focus of the film and their story zooms out to document a larger snapshot of the city, where the air is toxic and the ground is on a slowburn of social turmoil.

    “The astonishing story of Saud and Nadeem, and their relationship with the majestic raptor called the ‘black kite,’ took us three years to shape. Over time, the story became symptomatic of both Delhi’s ecological and social malaise, while also giving glimpses of a rare resilience,” Sen said.

    The filmmaker, who is an alumnus of Jamia Millia Islamia University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said he is thrilled that his film has joined the HBO roster, which is filled with high-quality cinematic programming.

    “Most of us in the crew in India have grown up associating the unmistakable white noise of the HBO logo with high-quality cinematic programming. We’re thrilled to join their roster and to work with Sideshow and Submarine Deluxe to bring this story to a global audience,” he added.

    Dan Braun of Submarine Deluxe hailed “All That Breathes” as “one of the great discoveries of the year”.

    “Filled with humorous and heartbreaking moments in equal measure, ‘All That Breathes’ is a stunning achievement and announces Shaunak Sen as a major voice in cinema today. We are proud to partner with HBO Documentary Films to bring the film to the public,” Braun said.

    The film is produced by Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer with David Guy Elisco and Sean B Carroll serving as executive producers.