Not coming to a theatre near you
Cannes lineup reflects changing film industry
Virtual reality, Netflix and Amazon productions and TV series were all part of the lineup announced April 13 for the 70th anniversary Cannes festival, reflecting the changing nature of film festivals and indeed of film itself.
Alas, some things never change. Of the 18 films in competition for the Palme d’Or this year, only three are directed by women — Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here and Radiance from Naomi Kawase — the same number as last year. The highest representation of female directors was in 2011, in four of the 20 competition films. (In 2010 and 2012 there were none.)
And for the first time since 2013 there will not be a Canadian film in competition. (That was technically true in 2015, but the U.S. film Sicario was directed by Canadian auteur Denis Villeneuve.) In 2014, Canada had a record three films in competition, with works by David Cronenberg, Xavier Dolan and Atom Egoyan.
Among the higher profile (i.e., U.S.) films at the festival this year are new works from Noah Baumbach (The Meyerowitz Stories, with Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman), Todd Haynes (Wonderstruck, with Julianne Moore), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, with Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, who also star in The Beguiled), and brothers Ben and Josh Safdie (Good Time, with Robert Pattinson, Barkhad Abdi and Jennifer Jason Leigh). Out-of-competition films include How to Talk to Girls at Parties, directed by John Cameron Mitchell and starring Elle Fanning and (again!) Kidman.
Wonderstruck and You Were Never Really Here are Amazon Studios productions, while Netflix will unveil Okja, directed by Joon-ho Bong (Snowpiercer) and starring Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and Paul Dano. The action-adventure movie will come to the streaming service in June, which means Cannes might be the only place to see it on a cinema screen.
International titles at Cannes this year include new films from Michael Haneke (Happy End), Hong Sangsoo (The Day After), François Ozon (L’Amant Double/ The Double Lover) and Fatih Akin (In the Fade). Michel Hazanavicius, whose 2011 film The Artist premièred at Cannes and went on to win the Academy Award for best picture, returns with Redoubtable, about the romance between Jean-Luc Godard and actress Anne Wiazemsky.
The festival will also host a virtual reality installation by Alejandro G. Innarritu, called Carne Y Arena (Flesh and Sand). And listed among “70th anniversary events” are episodes of David Lynch’s new Twin Peaks series, and of the second season of Jane Campion’s TV series Top of the Lake, titled China Girl. It features Kidman, of course.
The 70th Cannes Film Festival runs from May 17 to May 28.