Cannes is one of the most awaited film festivals with a host of film line-ups and the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm), again one of the most coveted film awards.
This year was just the same, with some piquant themes in place. Here are some highlights we couldn’t miss. Look no further.
1) Best Director award went to a woman after decades
Sofia Coppola won the Best Director award for the 2017 American Civil War drama, The Beguiled. Coppola is only the second woman to win the coveted title after Yulia Solntseva, a Soviet film director who won the award for The Chronicle of Flaming Years at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival. This was 56 years ago.
(Image Courtesy: Screen Daily)
2) The joys of female friendships
Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning explained how much fun they had while shooting for the film directed by Coppola.
The Beguiled spins around the lives of three women at a boarding school, with Kidman as the headmistress, Dunst as the teacher, and Fanning as one of the pupils in Virginia in the 1860s. Enter Colin Farell who plays a Union soldier set to dismantle their lives and the bond the women share through seduction and deception.
(Image Courtesy: Indie Wire)
Based on the eponymous novel published in 1966 by Thomas Cullinan, the themes revolve around female relationships and repression of carnal pleasures in the war-torn period of the American history. This is the second rendition of the novel into a movie, after the 1971 version directed by Don Siegel.
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3) Nicole Kidman – Queen of Cannes
Kidman won a special award on the 70th anniversary of the French film festival. Along with The Beguiled, three of her other performances were also in the limelight – The Killing of a Sacred Deer (which won for the Best Script) and two episodes of Top of the Lake. She was the Queen of Cannes this year, and rightly so.
(Image Courtesy: Hollywood Reporter)
4) Jury’s not impressed
Jessica Chastain as a member du jury (member of the jury) was not impressed with how women were represented in the movies that were shown at the festival and called it “disturbing”.
The minuscule number of women at the center stage does not gel well with the 21st-century values, which Chastain brings out in her speech. Cannes has received flak for not being too inclusive of women and the minorities groups. Actor Will Smith echoed Chastain that the black community was also not presented well.
(Image Courtesy: Life & Times of Hollywood)
5) Bollywood actresses stole the show
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in her Michael Cinco ballroom gown, Sonam Kapoor in a golden Elie Saab gown, and Deepika Padukone, the new girl in Hollywood who’s worked alongside biggies like Vin Diesel, represented India and how!
(Image Courtesy: Shuttershock)
6) Jack of all trades
French screenwriter Yann Gonzalez won the Queer Palm for his short film, Islands. Gonzalez was also the founding member of the hit French electronic band M83.
(Image Courtesy: ARTE)
7) Terror in everybody's hearts
On 22nd May the news of the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, UK, created panic and put the events at a standstill. The celebratory mood of the festival was dampened and the fireworks set to celebrate the 70th anniversary were put off for later. There was a moment of silence held for the victims.
France, especially shaken due to the recent terrorist attacks, was on its toes. A stray bag found in one of the halls left everyone in a frenzy even as police with sniffer dogs came to probe for any explosives.
(Image Courtesy: Getty Images)
There was a wide range of issues; from the refugee crisis to terrorism - which was taken up at the festival through the movies and TV shows that were screened at Cannes Film Festival.
(Featured Image Courtesy: IndieWire)
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