Cannes film festival all set to showcase 61 films
11-day long annual celebration of cinema, will be held in person from July 6 to 17th
Jodie Foster, vaccination certificates, regular RTPCR tests, celebrities in designer dresses negotiating the 24 red-carpet steps and a touch of the supernatural are all set to mark the opening of the 11-day long annual celebration of cinema at the 74th Cannes Film Festival that will be held in person from July 6 to 17th.
Whatever may be the apprehension of cinephiles and the film fraternity around the world about hosting an in-person event at the grand Palais des Festivals theatre on the shore of the Mediterranean, festival president Pierre Lescure and general delegate Thierry Frémaux betrayed none as they unveiled the list of 61 films on Thursday morning that will premiere at Cannes 2021.
The Cannes website claims that 18,000 professionals and journalists have already applied for accreditation and from the looks of it, Pierre and Thierry are all set to welcome them all.
Last year, the 73rd
Cannes festival was cancelled owing to the raging Corona pandemic. But this year, with caution and preparation, it will go ahead.
Of the 61 films announced, 24 are in the festival’s most prestigious Competition section. They will be vying for the Palme d’Or trophy — a delicate, golden sprig of leaf resting on a crystal cushion — that will be picked by a jury headed by American director Spike Lee.
Though opening films at Cannes have rarely ever lived up to the hype and expectation, there is buzz around this year’s opening film — French director Leos Carax’s Annette, starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard.
Handsome in that very French shabby-chic, chain smoking style, Carax is known for his “poetic, enigmatic” films that often tell tales of “tortured love”. Carax’s last film to premiere at Cannes was Holy Motors in 2012. It has been ranked as the 16th greatest film of the 21st century in a BBC critics’ poll. Annette is a musical about “a provocative stand-up comedian and his wife, a world-famous soprano, and the unexpected turn their life takes when their daughter Annette is born, a girl with a unique gift”.
Also in the Competition section this year is Flag Day, a thriller directed by and starring Sean Penn, as well as Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. The comedy-drama’s ensemble cast includes the starlights of American cinema, from Benicio delToro, Tilda Swinton and Frances McDormand to Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson.
Forty-five years after she was part of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver entourage, actress-director Jodie Foster will receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes’ opening ceremony on July 6.
Then just 13 years old, Ms Foster has since starred in more than 50 films, directed four feature films, and received two Oscars (for The Accused in 1989 and The Silence of the Lambs in 1992).
That year, 1976, when Ms Foster climbed the stairs at the Palais Croisette, in Competition alongside Taxi Driver was Shyam Benegal’s Hindi film, Nishant, starring Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad and Amrish Puri.
This year there is no Indian film in Cannes’ official section.5