The 72 Cannes Film Festival officially began last night with the splashy premiere of Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die.”
The Festival began with big names in attendance, this year’s jury includes its president, Birdman and The Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu, who took aim at Trump and offered support to theatre chains battling the dominance of the streaming service. Other jury member, Happy as lazzaro, Alice Rohrwacher, criticised the film industry for failing to promote female film-makers.
This year festival is trying to navigate a changing media landscape, one in which the festival’s reverence for the primacy of the theatrical experience threatens to seem retrograde.
Once again Netflix has been sided from screening its films in competition. Criticizing Netflix, The Jury president Alejandro González Iñárritu, the Oscar-winning director of “The Revenant” and “Birdman,” praised “the liberating power of cinema,” adding, “stories and ideas can changes lives. This communal experience is beautiful.”
This year’s Cannes also promises to once again shine a spotlight on new works from foreign directors.
The line-up is also notable for featuring a record number of female film-makers, women directors were responsible for 15 movies in Cannes’ official selection and four competition titles. Cannes has been under pressure in recent years to highlight more movies from women.
At a press conference on Monday, festival director Thierry Frémaux said the festival would never promise to achieve gender parity in terms of the movies it picks to exhibit.
“It would show a lack of respect if you picked a film simply because it was by a woman,” he said.
So lets see what we have got further in the upcoming days of Festival as more films and stars are going to appear.
