Just a few days away from the most prestigious film event of the year, let’s take a look at the lineup of the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Not overly feminine but still mouth-watering!
Each year, 12 films from international directors compete for the prestigious Palme D’or, won last year by Ken Loach for I, Daniel Blake. Three female directors will compete this year. Sofia Coppola comes back to Cannes, following The Bling Ring in 2013, with The Beguiled, adapted from Thomas Cullinan‘s novel of the same name.
The film follows a civil war wounded union soldier as he is taken in by a girl’s school. Sexual tensions and rivalries are on the menu. The film stares Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and Colin Farrell.
Lynne Ramsay will present her newest film, You Were Never Really Here following a war veteran portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix who attempts to save a young girl from sex trafficking. The film is an adaptation from American author Jonathan Ames‘ novel of the same name.
Ramsay is one of the few female directors whose deeply personal work has been continuously presented at the festival. Her latest feature, We Need to Talk About Kevin, competed for the Palme D’or in 2011 and was praised by critics. She won the jury prizes twice for her short films Small Deaths in 1996 and Gasman in 1998.
Japanese director, Naomi Kawase is also back in Cannes with Hikari, which follows the relationship between Misako, a film writer for the visually impaired and an older cameraman who is slowly losing his sight. 2017 will be Kawase’s 5th Cannes Festival.
In 1997 she won the Camera d’Or for her first feature, Suzaku and won the Grand Prix in 2007 for The Mourning Forest. She was also member of the jury for the 66th edition of the festival chaired by Steven Spielberg.
Three female directors will also compete in the Un Certain Regard category. German filmmaker, Valeska Grisebach will present Western, following a group of German construction workers as they start to work on a new job in the Bulgarian countryside. In a more than appropriate context, the film deals with language barrier and cultural differences.
The selection will feature Ahnnarita Zambrano‘s first feature After the War. In 2002 Bologna, the murder of a judge reopens an old political case between Italy and France in which, a former left-wing activist was sentenced for murder and exiled in France for 20 years.
Argentinian filmmakers Cecilia Atan and Valeria Pivot‘s feature debut, The Desert Bride will also compete. The film follows a 54 years old maid in Buenos Aires, forced to break the routine of her life and leave after her family sells her house. The film stars Berlinale Best Actress winner Paulina Garcia (Gloria).
Out of Competition, Documentary filmmaker Agnes Varda will bring her newest project Visages, Villages in which Varda, 88, journeys with 34 years old photographer, J.R throughout the French countryside and develop an unlikely friendship.
The festival will also host a special screening of Top of the Lake by Jane Campion and Kristen Stewart‘s directorial debut, Come Swim. Cannes regular, Campion is the only female director to have won the Palme d’Or for The Piano in 1993.
She comes back to present the second season of mysterious crime series, Top of the Lake. Detective Griffin is back to investigate a case in Harbour City, Hong Kong. The series will also feature Nicole Kidman.
Yes, like in most past editions, female filmmakers will largely be overshadowed but a women presence will definitely not be unnoticed, and not due to the beautiful gowns likely to fill the red carpets. Pedro Almodovar‘s jury will include Jessica Chastain, French actress, Agnes Jaoui and German producer Maren Ade. The Un Certain Regard Jury will be chaired by Uma Thurman while French actress, Sandrine Kiberlain will preside over the Caméra d’Or Jury.
Nicole Kidman will present no less than 4 films. Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg will open the festival with Arnaud Desplechin‘s Ismael’s Ghosts and Isabelle Huppert will present the festival’s favourite to win, Michael Haneke‘s Happy End. Set in Calais, France, Happy End follows a family as they deal with the European refugee crisis.
On the unusual side, the festival will include a virtual reality art installation from Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Carne y Arena as well as David Lynch‘s most anticipated Twin Peaks revival.
49 films, 29 countries and 12 female filmmakers, the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival is sure to be as glamorous as the past years but may take a political turn. The festival will run May 17th-28.
#Peace.Love.Cannes2017
