Lights, camera, action!

The runners and riders of the 66th Cannes Film Festival

Get set for some preening on the promenade and camera flashes on La Croisette as Hollywood big hitters and independent filmmakers present their offerings for judgement by jury: the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the annual coming together of glitz and cinematic gifts on the French Riviera, is upon us.

The bar set by Cannes is always high, making it the go-to event in the film calendar. “It is only by constantly analysing the festival, adapting its function and encouraging debate about it that we will continue to make it the very best it can be. Cannes must be open to new ideas, while remaining faithful to its past.” So says the festival’s creative director Thierry Frémaux, and accordingly this year’s selection runs the full gamut of budget, style, country of origin and subject matter.

The integration of Hollywood hype into the schedule is nothing new but Frémaux has pulled off a couple of coups this year, with Steven Spielberg stepping in to head the prestigious jury and Baz Luhrmann invited to open the festival with his take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘unfilmable’ novel, The Great Gatsby. The movie’s leading players Leonardo diCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan are all expected to grace the red carpet with their promotional hats on.

Another highly anticipated work is Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, which kicks off the auteurish Un Certain Regard section. Bold casting sees Harry Potter favourite Emma Watson lead a gang of thieves that targets the trappings of talent-free ‘celebrity’ idols.

Other reputable tinseltowners bringing their wares to the Riviera include The Coen Brothers (Mulligan stars again, in Inside Llewellyn Davis about the folk scene in early 1960s New York); Steven Soderbergh with his highly anticipated Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra (in which Michael Douglas is said to deliver a show-stopping turn); Jim Jarmusch with vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive (Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddlestone) and James Gray’s The Immigrant, featuring his regular lead actor Joaquin Phoenix and Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard.

Among the French directorial big guns flying the flag in competition is Arnaud Desplechin, whose post-war psychoanalysis drama Jimmy P stars Benicio del Toro and Mathieu Amalric, while François Ozon returns with Young and Beautiful, billed as a “contemporary portrait of a teenage girl of 17, in four seasons and four songs”, Claire Denis is also in competition, unveiling her family vengeance drama Les Salauds (The Bastards).

Other key films to look out for this year include Ari Folman’s The Congress, his first film since Waltz with Bashir. This trippy animation/acting hybrid has an out-there plot – we follow a version of Robin Wright who has sold Hollywood the digital rights to a younger version of her entire being – but looks set to cause a major stir as it kicks off Directors’ Fortnight.

As for the juries, alongside Spielberg on the Palme d’Or jury will be actors Daniel Auteuil, Nicole Kidman and Christoph Waltz as well as an A-list of fellow directors: Ang Lee, Cristian Mungiu and Lynne Ramsay.

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg heads up the Un Certain Regard jury, ably assisted by actresses Zhang Ziyi and Ludivine Sagnier. The Caméra d’Or, awarded to the best film from the Official Selection, Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight, will be decided by a jury headed by legendary director Agnès Varda.

Cannes Film Festival runs from 15th to 26th May.

See a full rundown of films in and out of competition at www.festival-cannes.fr/en

 

 

Our correspondent is at the Festival. Look out for a full event roundup from Cannes in the Aug/Sept issue of France Today Magazine