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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Cannes 2015: A prelude
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Cannes 2015: A prelude

Sean Penn's 'The Last Face' didn't make it, and selfies are banned on the red carpet, but there's much to look forward to at the festival which begins in two days

The 68th edition has chosen to pay tribute to Ingrid Bergman, with this year’s poster capturing the actress in all her beauty. Premium
The 68th edition has chosen to pay tribute to Ingrid Bergman, with this year’s poster capturing the actress in all her beauty.

The most renowned film festival in the world is about to open in a couple of days. A year ago, I was there, arguing about the awarding of the Palme d’Or to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Winter Sleep and the maximum price that could be charged for a pizza or sandwich at various restaurants on the Croisette.

The 68th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has chosen to pay tribute to Ingrid Bergman with this year’s poster, following on from Marcello Mastroianni’s in 2014. This year’s poster captures the actor—who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, Roberto Rossellini and Ingmar Bergman and starred opposite Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck—in all her beauty, her face lit by a calm serenity that seems to herald a promising future for her and cinema.

Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Bergman and president of the jury of the Un Certain Regard section this year, said of the poster: “My family and I are deeply moved that the Festival de Cannes has chosen to feature our magnificent mother on the official poster to mark the centenary of her birth. Her outstanding career covered so many countries, from the smallest European independent films to the greatest Hollywood productions. Mum adored working as an actress: for her acting was not a profession but a vocation. As she put it, ‘I didn’t choose acting, acting chose me.’" A documentary, Ingrid Bergman, In Her Own Words, by Stig Björkman (author of books and documentaries on Woody Allen and Ingmar Bergman) will also be screened as part of Cannes Classics.

For me, this year’s selection is refreshing and rejuvenating compared to recent editions. This is perhaps because of the newly elected socialist, culturally aware and immensely liked president of the Festival de Cannes, Pierre Lescure. Cannes has always shared the values of liberty, audacity and modernity, year after year, through the artistes and the films it showcases. There is no film from England and Germany this year, but the festival has chosen a record three Italian films (by Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Garonne and Nanni Moretti) and five French films in the final 19 in the Competition section.

I am personally disappointed with the no-shows of Sean Penn’s The Last Face, Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise and Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts Of No Nation, but I guess some other high-profile film festival will certainly pick up these films and buttress its selection. The best thing about Cannes is that the prominent names appear alongside others that under different circumstances might not receive nearly as much exposure.

It’s far too early to pass judgement on the overall merit of the line-up this year. For me, some of the must-sees this year are Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Assassin, Todd Haynes’ Carol, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery Of Splendour, Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan, Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room, Woody Allen’s Irrational Man, Joachim Trier’s Louder Than Bombs, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Gus Van Sant’s Sea Of Trees, Natalie Portman’s Tale Of Love And Darkness, Matteo Garrone’s Tale Of Tales, Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth, and the new Pixar film, Inside Out, amongst other classics and new discoveries.

I was surprised to learn that Cannes has unofficially banned selfies from the red carpet. “We are waging a campaign to slow down the contemporary practice of selfies on the red carpet and the steps," said Thierry Frémaux, the festival director. “Beyond what we think, it’s a practice that’s often extremely ridiculous and grotesque." Lescure adds: “The red carpet goes around the world and we see people looking very good, and honestly you’re never as ugly as on a selfie." I wonder what Sonam Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Richa Chadda and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan think about this proclaimed ban.

American directors Joel and Ethan Coen, who have been feted and awarded at Cannes in the past, will bring their distinctive eye to the task of awarding the Palme d’Or. I think this might be favourable to European film-makers as the Coens think out of the box, although Ethan did say once that festival prize-giving was a ridiculous activity. The other key figures on the jury are Sophie Marceau, Sienna Miller, Guillermo del Toro, Xavier Dolan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rokia Traoré and Rossy de Palma.

The Cannes Film Festival will be held from 13-24 May.

Sunil Doshi is a film producer and a regular at Cannes.

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Published: 11 May 2015, 04:42 PM IST
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