The 2015 Cannes Film Festival will commence on May 13 to May 24th as it is the 68th time the festival will be held. It is the film festival of all film festivals as this year's festival will be huge. Not just in the new films by filmmakers like Todd Haynes, Jacques Audiard, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Gus Van Sant, Maiwenn, Gaspar Noe, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Woody Allen, and many others that will premiere at the festival. The jury for the main competition itself is one to die for as it is led by the Coen Brothers who will lead the jury along with Guillermo del Toro, Xavier Dolan, Sienna Miller, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rossy de Palma, Sophie Marceau, and Rokia Traore along with Isabella Rossellini as the head of the Un Certain Regarde jury section.
This year's marathon will be different last year which focused on the Palme d'Or winners. This year's will be different as it will include three re-watches, 11 first-timers that will feature 3 Palme d'Or winners, and a Blind Spot. Opening the festival will be Thomas Vinterberg's Festen which was the co-winner of the Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. The closing film of the marathon will be Roman Coppola's CQ which made its premiere playing out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. In the middle of the festival will be the Maysles' Brothers' 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter which played at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival out of competition. As for the Blind Spot film, it will be revealed during the middle of the marathon as it did play in the film festival but in a very different category as a list of my 2015 Blind Spots can be seen here.
Then there's the eleven first-timers that will play as part of a fictionalized competition for the marathon's Palme d'Or. Here are the following films:
Miss Julie (1951 Palme d'Or co-winner)
Scarecrow (1973 Palme d'Or co-winner)
I Stand Alone (1998 International Critic's Week Winner)
Climates (2006 FRISPECI Prize Winner)
El Sur (1983 Palme d'Or nominee)
Sweet Charity (1969 Out of Competition)
The Headless Woman (2008 Palme d'Or nominee)
Mommy (2014 Jury Prize co-winner)
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952 Palme d'Or co-winner)
& Parade (1974 Out of Competition)
15 films in 11 days will be a massive undertaking as I will be taking a bit of time off before the marathon begins so I can get ready. Until then, Au Revoir.
I Stand Alone is brutal, though I know you are a fan of daring/provocative cinema, so you can handle it. Have fun with your marathon! I haven't seen all of those, I did really like Mommy, Festen, and Umberto D. I hope you feel the same about them.
ReplyDeleteps I also hope Bonjour Tristesse returns to do his usual Cannes coverage
Well, I am doing an Auteurs piece on Gaspar Noe later this summer as I love the fact that he has the balls to be very out there. I hope Bonjour does coverage as well. He's been gone for nearly a year.
ReplyDeleteI stand Alone is rough, but not as rough as Irreversible. Look forward to reading your reviews for these flicks
ReplyDeleteEEK!!! I've seen a few of these. You know how I feel about Mommy...UGH...MASTERPIECE! I Stand Alone is...hard to take...Festen is great, as is Umberto D. I just DVR'd Miss Julie, so I'll be watching that soon :-D
ReplyDelete@theVern-I know it's going to be rough but I've survived Noe's other films so I think I can take this.
ReplyDelete@Fisti-Festen is a re-watch since it's been really a long time since I've seen it. I'm glad I'm going to do a few Palme d'Or winners soon. Mommy is one of many films I'm excited to see.