Holy distribution. The Cannes Film Festival celebrated its 75th anniversary in the company of 121 faces of the 7th art. Claude Lelouch, Wim Wenders, Emir Kusturica, Costa Gavras and even the Dardenne brothers joined a platform on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière. In all, fourteen gold palms combined (some have received several). Thierry Frémaux did not shy away from his pleasure in seeing world cinema smiling for his family photo. Julia Ducournau was a bit of a band apart, David Cronenberg was chatting with Paolo Sorrentino. Del Toro performed a Spanish melody in his stentorian voice.
Who of these guests will be there to blow out the hundred candles of the festival? Will cinema even still exist? Interested parties were discussing it on Wednesday. “No form of art has ever disappeared, things change”, proposes Nicolas Winding Refn. “We pay cash for having made cinema between us, cinema which is aimed at people who are aging”, judges Rebecca Zlotowski. The discussion goes straight to the question of platforms. “If I’m quiet at home watching a film, I don’t want the cinema police to order me to watch it on the big screen!”, Plague Abel Ferrara. “We must not be shy in the face of platforms (…) We are troublemakers, rebels, we want to destroy the machine!”, On the contrary, fulminates Del Toro. Paolo Sorrentino, nostalgic for the big screen, has let it be known that he will no longer return to Netflix.
The future of cinema, perhaps, is being prepared with the 25 winners of the Motor contest!. These young people between the ages of 14 and 22, who came to Cannes to climb the steps, each made short videos on a personality or a subject that inspires them. Augustin dedicated his video to a former school bus driver. Lounès, to his educational assistant. Elvanne, 15, to her emotions. She imagined them in stop motion. “It took a day of work to achieve thirty seconds”. Taika Waititi is part of his pantheon, says the Dunkirk. By coming to Cannes, she opens her “perspectives” and hopes to “gain confidence” in herself. Thierry Frémaux will give each of the young people a reward.
Oh, here’s one. We had not had, so far, any controversy to put in our mouths. The director of Rodeo, the first film on these escapes on two wheels which heat the asphalt and the spirit of the young people of the city, serves up a backfire. “Accidents are often caused by the cops who are chasing and who create a form of precariousness which pushes the riders towards death”, assures this 33-year-old filmmaker during an interview with Konbini. A week after a child was injured in Pantin by one of these wild rodeos, the statement raises eyebrows.
In the first place the mayor of Cannes, who faces these phenomena and says that he was not “convinced by the words of this lady, who resemble a sketch of the Unknowns”. Faced with this surprising stance on the part of David Lisnard, our colleagues from Libé straddled their feelings of indignation: “The interference of the LR town hall in the choice of subjects for the films of the Festival points-t- she on the horizon? (…) The cinema of David Lisnard is a window on a world which stinks like the streets of Cannes in the sun”. Response of the city councilor: “We never intervene in a choice of programming (…). I am proud of this tolerance. But that does not prevent freedom of opinion”.
Bertrand Usclat had been seen on the most popular terraces of the seaside resort. Leisure ? Work ! After gently making fun of film critics who can no longer see films and make complicated sentences to hide their ignorance, the 35-year-old videographer tackled Cannes evenings. Ungrateful…
