The Cannes Film Festival is all set to unfold its 77th edition this May. There is the usual buzz about what may and may not be in the festival. Arguably termed the Queen of Festivals, it takes place every May in the south of France, once the playground of the rich and the famous. Some call it the Mecca of cinema with some of the world’s greatest celebrities stepping on the famous red carpet.
Last year, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, and Scarlett Johansson walked the Red Carpet for the premiere of their latest movies. This time, Hollywood may have a smaller presence – thanks to actors’ and writers’ strikes that caused production delays and a sagging economy that led to tighter purse strings. But there will be stars this year (but of course) apart from Greta Gerwig, whose Barbie created a box-office storm. She will head the main international jury.
And what movies would she and her fellow jurors watch and give away several Palm d’Or prizes? The grape wine has it that films such as Jacques Audiard’s musical melodrama “Emilia Perez” starring Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez; Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Limonov, The Ballad of Eddie” starring Ben Whishaw; Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump movie “The Apprentice” with Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong; Paolo Sorrentino’s untitled work with Gary Oldman; David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds” starring Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger; Audrey Diwan’s “Emmanuelle” starring Noemie Merlant and Noemie Watts; Gilles Lellouche’s “L’Amour Ouf” with Adele Exarchopoulos and Francois Civil; and Nabil Ayouch’s “Everybody Loves Touda” are likely to feature as part of the festival.
The Festival is also said to be looking at hosting Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness”; Andrea Arnold’s “Bird” starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, and Francis Ford Coppola‘s self-produced epic “Megalopolis” with Adam Driver and Forest Whitaker.
For Coppola, this could be a grand comeback. His 1979 masterly creation, Apocalypse Now, premiered at Cannes 45 years ago. And just before the screening, he gleefully declared, ”We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane…My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam” There is still no word from India. We have not had much luck at Cannes.
And what about the streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon, which have become big players in the international film circuit in recent years. Unfortunately, Cannes has a rigid policy of not allowing streaming movies to debut in competition, and this has become a huge gain for Venice, which takes place in August-September.
Cannes will take place from May 14 to 25.
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