Cannes Film Festival 2014
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Xavier Dolan’s Mommy Was Shot In a New Aspect Ratio
As far as I know, this is a first: Québecois auteur Xavier Dolan’s fifth feature Mommy premiered at Cannes today, and word has trickled out from first viewers that it’s shot in a ratio that’s new to the movies. 1.1 is a perfect square: think a CD cover photo. Dolan shot a music video in the aspect ratio last year, which inspired him to do the same for Mommy — a fact he somehow managed to keep under wraps. In the press kit, Dolan explains his thought process: “After having shot a music video in 1:1 last year, it dawned […]
by Vadim Rizov on May 21, 2014 -
Cannes Day 8: Solidarity, “Busting” Anti-Fracking Celebrities and Ukrainian Crisis
Some notes of interest from the Cannes Film Festival as it enters its closing stretch: • Programmed in the less-exhaustively covered “Un Certain Regard” section, Philippe Lacote’s Run is the first film from the Ivory Coast to play at Cannes in 29 years. In an interesting interview with Reuters’ Michael Roddy, Lacote gets into the historical particulars of his genre movie and has some words about his relationship to the festival’s most prominent African film, Abderrahmane Sissako Timbuktu. “The problem with the international festivals and with European and American audiences is this ‘vogue,’” he notes. “People in the Occident want […]
by Vadim Rizov on May 21, 2014 -
Cannes 2014: 5 Questions for Le Meraviglie Director Alice Rohrwacher
Following up on her 2011 debut Corpo Celeste, which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section, Alice Rohrwacher returns to Cannes with Le Meraviglie (The Wonders), this time as part of the main slate competition. It’s an intimate fairytale full of surreal characters and scenery, marvelously shot in Italy’s central-northern landscapes. Eldest daughter Gelsomina is the head of the family. While taking care of her three sisters, she struggles to keep the bee farm running with her stubborn German father, who opposes anything modern. The family has run out of money when the government imposes new regulations that could shut the […]
by Ariston Anderson on May 20, 2014 -
Cannes 2014: Girlhood, It Follows, Red Army, Foxcatcher and Stray Duds
If it weren’t for the inflexible, charmingly antiquated press hierarchies of the Cannes Film Festival, where journalists queue up and get let into screenings by priority of their rainbow badge color (yellow, blue, pink, pink with a yellow dot, and the all-powerful white), it would only be a matter of time before influential Twitter users were accredited. The social media juggernaut of mass brevity — like college, marriage, or colonic irrigation — is not for everyone, but during Cannes, it’s the handiest tool for aggregating kneejerk reactions to what typically shakes down as half of the year’s Most Important Films. […]
by Aaron Hillis on May 20, 2014 -
Cannes News, Weekend Round-Up: Controversy Over Kisses and Dominique Strauss-Kahn
While we took the weekend off from keeping tabs on news in and around Cannes, here are some highlights we missed: • Over at the Montreal Gazette, Liz Ferguson rounds up photos of red carpet activism, ranging from nearly the entire cast of The Expendables 3 holding papers reading “Bring our girls back” (after riding down the streets in two tanks) to Jauja director Lisandro Alonso, star Viggo Mortensen, screenwriter Fabian Casas and other cast members bearing a sign reading “We want the trophy” in Spanish — a message of support for Buenos Aires’ Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, […]
by Vadim Rizov on May 19, 2014 -
Cannes Day Three: Expendables Tanks and Political Turmoil
The outside world’s political problems are intruding more than usual on the Cannes Film Festival. Some relevant items: • A few days ago, Turkish culture minister Omer Celik was excited about coming to Cannes and bullish about the development of his country’s film industry. In an interview with Variety, Celik managed to more or less duck questions about Turkey’s attempted recent bans on YouTube and Twitter (“Turkey is a country with rule of law. Access to certain social-media sites such as Twitter and YouTube has been limited on legal grounds”). But Tuesday’s deadly coal mine collapse in the city of […]
by Vadim Rizov on May 16, 2014 -
“He Could Almost Do It All Alone”: Producer Paula Vaccaro on Working with Emir Kusturica
I guess people expect to see a big bearded man as Emir Kusturica’s producer. Of course the question I get the most is, how did it start? I was a journalist more than 20 years ago in my hometown, Buenos Aires. In the late 1990s I moved into production: management, line producing, etc. In the early 2000s I moved to the UK and Spain and started to produce for others. My encounter with Emir’s work was thanks to Jose Ibañez, Pentagrama Films producer, who was producing Oliver Stone’s The Immortals, a series on world leaders seen from Oliver’s prism. I […]
by Paula Vaccaro on May 16, 2014 -
Cannes Day Two: Travel Chaos, Russian-Ukrainian Cooperation and Surveillance
It’s day two of Cannes and initial reviews are starting to come in. Some items of related interest: • Thanks to an ongoing nationwide government worker strike over a four-year proposed pay freeze, travel to and from the festival is tricky, what with extensive flight delays and cancellations. Among those caught in the turmoil: the band Spandau Ballet, the subjects of a documentary set to premiere tomorrow. • At the Russian Pavilion, events kicked off with a showcase for Ukrainian-Russian co-productions. A tricky proposition given the current political climate, but producers Natalya Mokritskaya and Mila Rozanova were there to show […]
by Vadim Rizov on May 15, 2014 -
Cannes Opening Day News: Steak ‘N Shake, French Cinephilia and Chinese Wolves
Filmmaker Magazine‘s coverage of the Cannes Film Festival will begin soon. Today is day one; here are some contextual items of interest while waiting for the first reviews and interviews to roll in. • Fandor‘s David Hudson rounded up the largely scathing reviews for opening night selection Grace of Monaco, as well advance writing on the festival, including interviews with festival heads Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux, on the defensive against charges that (among other things) Cannes recognizes the same safely-established world cinema directors year after year. • The main jury convened for a press conference, where head juror Jane […]
by Vadim Rizov on May 14, 2014 -
Cannes Adds Six Films to Official Selection, Announces First Ever 35mm-Free Classics Selection
In addition to the previously announced Official Selection lineup, Cannes has now added six films, though none in competition: • André Téchiné’s In The Name Of My Daughter marks the veteran director’s latest appearance at the festival after his last film, 2011’s Unforgivable, premiered in the Director’s Fortnight. Téchiné won Best Director at the festival for 1985’s Rendez-Vous. Like 2009’s The Girl On The Train, Daughter is based on a true story, with sales agent Elle Driver describing the story of the 1977 disappearance of Agnès Le Roux as “the most famous alleged murder case of the French Riviera.” • […]
by Vadim Rizov on Apr 30, 2014
