Cannes Film Festival: Six female directors and film greats compete for the Palme d’Or

A constellation of stars from Hollywood and European cinema, such as Wes Anderson and Ken Loach, as well as a record six female directors, including Italian Alice Rohrwacher, will compete for the Palme d’Or at the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

In total, 19 films will be on the list for the highest award, a selection that “will mix young filmmakers with veterans, to remember that, in terms of art, there is no expiration date,” the general delegate of the contest, Thierry Frémaux.

The American Wes Anderson, the British Ken Loach and the German Wim Wenders, all of them regulars at Cannes, stand out on the list, to which could be added at the last minute the American Martin Scorsese, who at 80 is presenting “Killers of the flower moon”, with Leonardo di Caprio.

This film, which narrates a series of murders of indigenous people in the 1920s, was announced two weeks ago, but it could still be part of the selection, explained Frémaux. Beyond the competition, the festival is announced to be full of stars for a long list of world premieres.

Five weeks after the start of the contest (May 16 to 27), the premiere of the fifth installment of Indiana Jones (with an octogenarian Harrison Ford), a short gay western by Pedro Almodóvar and Johnny Depp wearing a wig in a movie, has been confirmed about Louis XV.

And on the Spanish side, Víctor Erice (82 years old), author of important works of Hispanic cinema such as “El espíritu de la colmena” or “El Sur”, who has not shot a feature film for three decades, returns. Erice will present “Cerrar los ojos” out of competition, with José Coronado and Ana Torrent.

The South Korean Kim Jee-woon, with “Cobweb”, or the Brazilian Kleber Mendonca Filho, with “Ghost Portraits”, will also be the subject of special sessions.

Cannes selected five female filmmakers last year. For this edition, he surpasses that figure with Jessica Hausner, Kaouther Ben Hania, Justine Triet, Alice Rohrwacher, Catherine Breillat and Ramata-Toulaye Sy.

Harrison “Indiana Jones” Ford, 80, will be the subject of a special tribute, and Pedro Almódovar will also lead a debate with the public after the special presentation of his medium-length film, “Strange way of life”, a work set in the Wild West and with a gay background.

He will be accompanied by the two protagonists of the film, Ethan Hawke (“The Seven Mercenaries”) and the Chilean Pedro Pascal (“The last of us”). Cannes pays tribute to veterans, but does not lose sight of the young world film scene.

To find out “what cinema has in store for us in the next ten to twenty years, the appointment is in May” in Cannes, asserted the president of the contest, Iris Knobloch. A Mongolian film, “If only I could hibernate”, by Zoljargal Purevdash, will be screened for the first time in Cannes.

On the Latin American side, there is only one Brazilian author competing for the highest award, Karim Ainouz, with “Firebrand.” Other directors in different categories are the Argentine Rodrigo Moreno, with “Los delinquents”, the Brazilians João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora, with “Crowra”, and the Chilean Felipe Gálvez, with “Los colonos”.

There will also be space for television series, with “The Idol” by Sam Levinson. Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, who star in Todd Haynes’ latest film (“I’m not There”), will pass through the glamorous red carpet of the event.

The premiere of Wes Anderson’s film, “Asteroid City”, promises to be spectacular, with a long list of stars: Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlet Johansson, Steve Carell. On the other hand, Spain is the guest of honor of the film market that is organized in parallel to the festival. It is the second country to receive that invitation, after India.

The Cannes market is the most important in the world, with more than 12,500 accredited visitors and 4,000 projections planned in 33 places in the city.

The president of the festival’s jury is the Swede Ruben Ostlund, who last year won the Palme d’Or with the satirical “El triángulo de la tristeza” (and another Palma in 2017 with “The Square”).

With information from AFP