Cannes Diary
Cannes Diary #5: Prizes and Farewells
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Cannes Diary #4: Strong Women On Screen
Of the themes to emerge during this year’s Cannes Film Festival — incest, dogs, neglected children — uncommonly strong women have been the most pervasive. This seems appropriate in a year where the jury is presided over by Jane Campion, the only woman to win a Palme d’Or in the history of the festival. As the festival opened, Campion accused the film industry of “inherent sexism.” Thierry Fremeux, who runs the festival, has by way of a rebuttal pointed out that one-fifth of the films in the official selection are by female directors, including two in competition.
Cannes Diary #3: Cronenberg, Carell and the Infamous Strauss-Kahn
There was a lot of buzz — and not necessarily the good kind of buzz — surrounding bad-boy director Abel Ferrera’s “Welcome to New York,” his fictionalized account of the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal, which was screened on Saturday for press and market ahead of its VOD-only release in France (a theatrical rollout is planned for America later in the year). I was busy seeing the enigmatic and dreamy Italian competition entry “Le Meraviglie” (“The Wonders”) by Alice Rohrwacher during the screening and wild after-party, which reportedly vied with the film for obscenity and grotesquery. In the wake of the film’s release, Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer said that the former International Monetary Fund chief planned to sue Ferrara for defamation. (DSK is reportedly “heartbroken and terrified” and refuses to see the film.)
Cannes Diary #2: ‘Self Made’ and Divorce Drama From Israel
There’s a ‘more is more’ philosophy at Cannes: more glamor, more stars, more wasteful opulence. But my attention has been riveted by a couple…
Cannes Diary #1: ‘Mr. Turner’ and Israeli Incest
Amid clear sunny skies and swaying palm trees, this year’s Cannes Film Festival opened on a strong note with Mike Leigh’s ‘Mr. Turner’ and the world premiere of Keren Yedaya’s ‘That Lovely Girl.’