After a slow return to cinema following the Covid-19 pandemic, the film industry is hoping for a boost on the French Riviera when the 75th edition of the world’s biggest film festival returns from May 17-28.
Tom Cruise is already confirmed for the festival promoting the world premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel to his 1986 blockbuster. Also in attendance is Tom Hanks, who co-stars in “Elvis” as the star’s manager. rock’n’roll, Colonel Tom Parker.
The latter is the latest show from Australian director Baz Luhrmann, who has already lit up Cannes with “Moulin Rouge!” and “Gatsby”.
The rest of the program will be announced on Thursday, including the twenty films in the running for the Palme d’Or.
The selection committee, which has worked on more than 2,000 applications in recent weeks, is struggling to keep up after last year’s vintage edition.
After the festival was canceled by the pandemic in 2020, he launched several films that achieved worldwide success, including “Drive My Car”.
After winning three awards at Cannes, this year it won the Oscar for best international feature film and was the first Japanese film to be nominated in the best picture category.
Big name speculation
Last year’s jury, led by American director Spike Lee, awarded the Palme d’Or to Julia Ducournau’s horror film ‘Titane’, ensuring the festival maintained its reputation for boosting bold, edgy cinema alongside star-studded entertainment.
Organizers were slow to announce who will chair the judging panel this year, but Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard are among the favorites according to industry insiders.
Film pundits also picked from the release schedules for ideas on who might be competing.
Many are hoping to see the return of David Cronenberg, whose upcoming sci-fi/horror crossover stars Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux.
Australian George Miller, the man behind “Mad Max”, which takes a new direction with “Three Thousand Years of Longing” about a djinn (played by Idris Elba) offering three wishes to Tilda Swinton, is also highly anticipated.
Another possibility is Terrence Malick, who previously won for “Tree of Life” with Brad Pitt. His new film follows the life of Jesus Christ and stars Mark Rylance as Satan.
Although women are increasingly present on the festival circuit, they remain poorly represented.
A possible candidate in competition at Cannes could be the American director Kelly Reichardt, with her new film “Showing Up”. His lo-fi hit “First Cow” was on many critics’ year-end lists in 2021.
shadow of war
As with everything in the arts right now, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is weighing on the selection.
Possible names include exiled Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov, 30, whose film “Beanpole” won the Un Certain Regard section’s directorial award in 2019.
Or there may be the return of Kirill Serebrennikov, who was unable to attend Cannes last year for his Palme nominee “Petrov’s Flu” after being banned from travel due to a controversial court case.
A possible Ukrainian entry is a film about the Allied destruction of German cities at the end of World War II by director Sergei Loznitsa.
Meanwhile, festival director Thierry Fremaux has been pushing for a change to the rule that bans streaming platforms from competing at Cannes.
But French film distributors, who sit on the festival’s board, continue to block the move even as big-name directors such as Martin Scorsese and Jane Campion have turned to Netflix and other streamers for financial backing. .
In the short term, that means Marilyn Monroe’s highly anticipated biopic “Blonde,” starring Ana de Armas, a Netflix film, can’t compete for Palme, though fans are still hoping it will get a premiere on the French Riviera.
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