Everything You Need To Know About Cannes 2016
Dating back to 1939, the Cannes Film Festival is certainly a much anticipated yearly event. As we are right in the middle of its 69th edition, which opened on May 11 and will end on May 22, let's look at what has happened so far.
First, it's fair to say that this year's nine-member jury is quite impressive: French director Arnaud Desplechin, American actress Kirsten Dunst, Italian actress and director Valeria Golino, Danish heartthrob/actor Mads Mikkelsen, Hungarian director Lázló Nemes, French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, Iranian producer Katayoon Shahabi, Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, and finally George Miller, Australian director and President of this year's jury. Quite impressive indeed, mixing talented actors and actresses with international directors; some members of this jury stick out though, like Mads Mikkelsen, who has had nothing short of an impressive career, or Nemes, whose last film Son of Saul chillingly revived the Shoah on screen.
As for the films presented this year, here is the list of the 20 films in the running for the official competition:
Toni Erdmann by Maren Ade
Julieta, by Pedro Almodovar
American Honey, by Andrea Arnold
Personal Shopper, by Olivier Assayas
La Fille inconnue, by the Dardenne brothers
Juste la fin du monde, by Xavier Dolan
Ma loute by Bruno Dumont
Paterson, by Jim Jarmusch
Rester vertical, by Alain Guiraudie
Aquarius by Kleber Mendonça Filho
Mal de pierres, by Nicole Garcia
I, Daniel Blake by Ken Loach
Ma'Rosa, by Brilliante Mendoza
Graduation by Cristian Mungiu
Loving, by Jeff Nichols
Agassi, by Park Chan-Wook
The Last Face by Sean Penn
SieraNevada by Cristi Puiu
Elle, by Paul Verhoeven, and
The Neon Demon, by Nicolas Winding Refn
As for what's happened so far, many movies have already been screened and critiqued: Café Society by Woody Allen opened the ceremony, SieraNevada and Rester Vertical were shown on the second day (the 12th), I, Daniel Blake and Ma Loute on the 13th, while Park Chan-Wook's film was screened on the 14th, and Mal de pierres and American Honey on the fourth day of the Festival (15th). Lastly, Jeff Nichols' Loving and Jim Jarmusch's Paterson were shown on the fifth day (the 16th) and Personal Shopper along with Aquarius are showing today, on the sixth day of the ceremony.
Now, onto the juicy stuff: with all of the world's finest celebs walking the red carpet and coming together at parties, that is what people are talking about until the jury reaches a decision at the end of this majestic event.
Image Credit: Shutterstock/magicinfoto
The first celeb "scandal" took place at the opening ceremony, during which Laurent Lafitte, French actor and comedian, was hosting. As hosts of events like these often do, he had prepared a few jokes, but one of them wasn't received as he had intended. When presenting Woody Allen's new film that was about to be shown for the first time, Lafitte said: "It's really a pleasure that you're in France because these last few years you shot in Europe a lot, when you haven't even been convicted for rape in the States." As Lafitte explained, this joke truly wasn't intended to offend anybody, and was more of a funny critical approach to American film makers spending so much time in Europe. Woody Allen himself said he wasn't offended by the joke at all, as he is a comedian himself and respects others' sense of humor. But, many other celebs have openly stated their shock and disgust at Lafitte, or at Woody Allen, quite equally.
On another note, on May 15, which marked the fourth day of the festivities, paparazzi were pleased to see Kristen Stewart break a dance move on the red carpet along with the cast of American Honey, who wanted to enjoy this moment — as they hadn't experienced it so often, unlike Blake Lively for example. They were also pleased to see that French actor Samy Naceri got into legal trouble again, after being arrested without a driving license (oops).
Image Credit: Shutterstock/BAKOUNINE
In other news, as Buzzfeed stated, Julia Roberts surprised all of us by walking barefoot on the red carpet, which, let's face it, was quite refreshing, and pregnant Blake Lively looked beautiful as ever and had people speculating on her pregnancy, as her baby bump didn't show in all of her wonderful gowns. Kendall Jenner, as per usual, amazed the crowds in her Cavalli naked dress (naked is a right choice of words here), and Kristen Stewart is said to have "ruled" Cannes this year, totally confident in her $47 Vans sneakers at the Chanel party, as well as being openly bisexual at such an event.
Image Credit: Shutterstock/Denis Makarenko
Until next year, dear readers.
