The sun is back, accompanied by the fatigue! But the time is not for a nap, and a big program awaits us, these Sunday 21 and Monday, May 22. And a lot of people will be there. To begin with, we have an appointment with Michel Gondry, Pierre Niney, and the whole team of the Book of Solutions, an excellent comedy. Also, the team ofAnatomy of a Fall received a long standing ovation, as well as the one of the very expected Dead Leaves, the new film of Aki Kaurismäki.
But the most awaited events of the last two days were the walk up of the steps of the team of Project Silence, presented in Midnight Screening, and that of The Idol, with the arrival of The Weeknd, Lily-Rose Depp and Sam Levinson, best known for the series Euphoria. We took the opportunity to go to the press conference!
The weather is still gloomy, but the Palais des Festivals is buzzing. This Saturday, May 20, is the long-awaited screening of Killers of the Flower Moon, the new film by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro... and we were there! As you can see in our dedicated article, the red carpet was the richest of the fortnight. Gaspar Noé, Carole Bouquet, Vincent Lacoste, Alfonso Cuaron, Costa Gavras, Rossy de Palma, Nabilla, Claude Lelouch, Cate Blanchett, Isabelle Huppert, Paul Dano, JR, Pierre Lescure, Anaïs Demoustier, Tomer Sisley, Tye Sheridan, Robbie Williams, Salma Hayek, Tobey Maguire... just to name a few! And of course, the film crew.
The new Scorsese is actually a masterpiece that we loved. But that's not all! We were also able to discover many films of great quality: Olfa's daughters, Banel e Adama, May December... This May 20th was one of the best days of the festival... for the moment.
Rain, more rain... Not easy to run around while staying under cover during this fourth day of the festival. Besides, this day of May 19th is quite busy!
Black Flies, How to Have Sex, Vincent doit Mourir, The Zone of Interest, Conann, Omar la Fraise... The films were numerous, and for the moment, it is the best day in terms of quality. And we were finally able to discover all the competitions: Un Certain Regard, the Quinzaine des Cinéastes and the Semaine de la Critique made the event, much more than the Official Competition, where the step up event was Jonathan Glazer's film, The Zone of Interest.
It was also the day of the first midnight screening. And it was Omar the Strawberry that opened the ball. These night screenings are, as every year, those with the best atmosphere, and this one was no exception, the audience was wild and the atmosphere was delicious. The guests were prestigious, in addition to the very large team of the film (Benoît Magimel, Reda Kateb, Meriem Amiar), we could see - among others - Orelsan, Skread, Nawell Madani, Mouloud Achour and many others.
In this third day of festivities, we begin to take our habits. We get up at 6:30 am, we register at the ticket office, which finally leaves us alone! Contrary to the first days, full of bugs and where the sessions were always full as of the opening, we manage finally to see beautiful things. But today, we are going to see few movies, because it is a unique day: Indiana Jones is coming! In the morning, the interviews of the team of the movie took place at the Carlton, and we were there! You can already discover our interview withEthann Isidore, one of the stars of the movie.
We were able to discover several films of the competition and Un Certain Regard, Simple as Sylvain, Youth (Le Printemps) or Black Flies. But there again, Indy did not leave our minds. While Harrison Ford received an honorary Palme d'Or, on our side, we are invited to the evening of the film! Harrison Ford, James Mangold, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen and many guests were present to celebrate the return of the legendary archeologist.
We won't lie to you, there will probably be no more prestigious party than this one by the end of the fortnight, and we were delighted to be there!
No sunbathing, nor swimming, in this second day of festival, we take advantage to have still the energy of the beginnings to chain the sessions! In the morning, the opening of the Directors' Fortnight with The Goldman Trial, the new film by Cédric Khan, as well as the long four hours of the new feature film by Steve McQueen, Occupied City. But above all, the event of the day is the meetings! Pedro Almodovar on one side, Michael Douglas on the other, we had to choose! We decided to listen to the fabulous anecdotes of the Spanish filmmaker, who spoke a lot after the screening of his short film, Strange Way of Life, with his actor Ethan Hawke.
Among the films of the Official Selection presented out of competition, we were able to discover The Sound of Time, Anselm Kiefer or simply Anselm by Wim Wenders, a captivating documentary on the contemporary German artist Anselm Kiefer. This film, which has the distinction of being the only one presented in 3D at this 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, was shown in a Special Screening in the Grand Théâtre Lumière in the presence of the crew.
And the rain invited itself to the party, which caused many delays, which accumulated until the end of the day. Fortunately, this did not disturb the opening of all the parallel competitions: Un Certain Regard with Le Règne Animal, a completely crazy (!) film by Thomas Cailley, the Semaine de la Critique, theAcid and the Quinzaine des Cinéaste with Le Procès Goldman, a well-made trial film by Cédric Kahn.
Finally, the Official Competition was launched in style with the screenings of Monster, a graceful new feature by the award-winning Hirokazu Kore-Eda and Catherine Corsini's latest film, The Return. This was an opportunity to meet the film's crew during the film night at Silencio, the very select club that sets the Croisette on fire every night. The traditional opening night of the Fortnight, on the dedicated beach, was wild and packed as usual!
The 76th Cannes Film Festival begins with the promise of a sunny day. While preparations are being completed on the Croisette, this Tuesday, May 16, festivalgoers are getting impatient! And for fans of heritage films, the fortnight begins at 2pm with the screening of L'Amour Fou, one of Jacques Rivette's masterpieces, screened as part of Cannes Classics.
On our side, we preferred to attend the press conference given by the jury, chaired by Ruben Östlund. All the members were there and answered the journalists' questions. Each of them indicated their pleasure to be part of this edition. The double award-winning filmmaker Ruben Östlund said that no rules have been given for the final list of winners. Each of the members"will follow their instinct, while avoiding being consensual".
7pm is the time! It's time for the opening ceremony, presented by Chiara Mastroianni. This opening, compared to most other years, was particularly successful. With a beautiful sobriety, the mistress of ceremony did wonderfully and moved us when she asked her mother, Catherine Deneuve - the very symbol of this 76th edition since she is on the official poster of the festival - to declare the opening of this edition with Michael Douglas, winner of the Palme d'or d'honneur. "There are many film festivals, but there is only one Cannes", he said in his acceptance speech, and we can only agree with him...
To discover our opinion on Jeanne du Barry, the opening film screened after the ceremony, go to our review article.
Cannes Festival 2024: The latest news and information about the 77th edition
The Cannes Film Festival returns to the Croisette for its 77th edition from May 14 to 25, 2024. Click here for all the latest news and information! [Read more]
Cannes Festival 2024: The latest news and information about the 77th edition
