Forget Sundance. Forget Toronto. Forget New York. For the past 63 years, no other film festival in the world has surpassed the venerable grandeur and prestige that is Cannes. For ten days each May, the greatest filmmakers from across the globe gather in the small seaside town in southern France to promote their latest films and to watch them in competition for the celebrated Palme d’Or. Today, May 12, 2010, the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival commences with a glitzy, star-studded red carpet event at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. This year’s President of the Jury is American film director, Tim Burton. It is not uncommon to discover that a number of the films throughout the year to experience the greatest critical or popular successes during their regular theatrical runs also were part of the officially selected films to premier at Cannes.
Toward the end of the 1930’s, the powerful fascist dictatorships of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were both so heavily involved in the enactment of control through the complete utilization of rhetoric and propaganda that the majority of the arts in Germany and Italy, especially film, were being specifically selected for censorship of content. In direct response to this censorship, the French Minister of National Education, Jean Zay, decided to establish an international film festival in France. Vichy, Biarritz, and Algiers were all at some point considered as host towns, but Cannes was eventually named the official home of the proposed festival.
September 1 through September 30, 1939 were declared the dates for the inaugural Festival International de Cannes. And then on September 1, 1939, Hitler’s troops invaded Poland, the world went to war, and the festival went dormant for the next seven years. Eventually making its premier in 1946 following the conclusion of World War II, the Cannes Film Festival has now lived on to become the longest running film festival of all time.
The festival is divided into various parts, the most exciting of which, “The Official Selection,” includes juried competitions. The world’s filmmakers must submit their entries to the festival’s board of directors who then decide which films will be a part of “The Official Selection.” There are then two main competitions: the first known simply as “Competition,” the second known as “Un Certain Regard.” The twenty films selected to compete for the esteemed Palme d’Or are viewed in the Théâtre Lumière as part of “Competition.” The films are judged by an annually selected jury and president, comprised each year of international artists based on their respective bodies of work and respect from their peers.
Notable past winners include Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (1946), Carol Reed’s incredible masterpiece The Third Man (1949), Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H (1970), and Roman Polanski’s The Pianist (2002). One of the most famous Palme d’Or wins was the year Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) took home the prestigious award. Tarantino’s most recent film, the Academy Award-winning Inglourious Basterds (2009), also was selected to premier at Cannes. Last year’s Palme d’Or winner was Michael Haneke’s much praised The White Ribbon.
Here is a list of a few of the films chosen to compete as part of “The Official Selection” this year at Cannes that I think belong on your radar screens. I have only included the English translations of the titles. I encourage you to seek these films out upon their release into theaters. Some of them may be harder to find outside of New York City or Los Angeles, so be sure to add them to your Netflix queues:
Another Year directed by Mike Leigh (England)
Biutiful directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Spain)
Certified Copy directed by Abbas Kiarostami (France)
Fair Game directed by Doug Liman (USA)
There is also a section at Cannes reserved for films selected to premier outside of competition. Three are from the United States this year:
Robin Hood directed by Ridley Scott
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps directed by Oliver Stone
…and the terrifically-titled You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger directed by Woody Allen. That is one that I am anxiously looking forward to seeing. I only hope that it lives up to its great title.
Until next week, here is my hope that we all find our Shangri-La. Good night.
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