CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2019
Cannes Film Festival, the annual invite-only preview and celebration of the movie industry, kicked off last week in the glorious and picturesque South of France, notably the Palais des Festivals, to a bevy of Hollywood superstars including the beautiful and age-defying Andie MacDowell and newlyweds Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas...
This year's Jury Members were made up of notable actresses and past winners including Maleficent's Elle Fanning (the youngest and one of only a handful of females to sit on the panel), French actress and LCC alumna Stacy Martin and Greek film and stage director Yorgos Lanthimos who has won many a Cannes accolade including the Un Certain Regard and Prix de la Jeunesse for Dogtooth in 2009, the Jury Prize for The Lobster in 2015 and Best Screenplay for The Killing of the Sacred Deer in 2017. The talented bunch have so far awarded Bong Joon-ho's Parasite with the prestigious Palme D’Or, Atlantique by Mati Diop with the Grand Prix, England's Emily Beecham with Actress for Little Joe and Puss in Boots star Antonio Banderas with Actor for Pain and Glory.
Since its inception in 1946, Festival de Cannes has provided a platform and accolade to some of the greatest cinematography talent the world has ever seen. Amongst them have been a number of Iranian film directors including Jafar Panahi who won Caméra d'Or for White Balloon in 1995 and best Screenplay for 3 Faces in 2018. The latter stars Panahi himself and puts a spotlight on the social and professional problems encountered by women in Iran today. The director has been bravely critical of the regime in a number of his films resulting in his arrest, six-year detention and twenty-year ban on making movies. This has not stopped him making more films however... Other Persian winners include Asghar Farhadi who took home best Screenplay for The Salesman in 2016 (as well as the Oscar for Foreign Language Film in 2017) and Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis which won Jury Prize in 2006 (and a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2008 Oscars) and tells the story of 1979 through the eyes of a punk-loving rebellious Iranian teen...
Talk of the two weeks has been Dutch-Palestinian model Bella Hadid who rocked up in a crimson cut-out Roberto Cavalli number (the star appears to have a penchant for red as she made quite the appearance in 2016 in a scarlet silk Alexandre Vauthier creation...), Dame Helen Mirren sporting a pink pixie crop and Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio twinning in tuxedos for their star studded Once Upon A Time In Hollywood premiere...
