The Jury of the 70th edition of the International Cannes Film Festival was presented last Wednesday. The Spanish director Pedro Almodovar will chair, accompanied by Will Smith, Paolo Sorrentino, Park Chan-Wook, Maren Ade, Agnès Jaoui, Jessica Chastain, Fan Bingbing and Gabriel Yared.
They will be called to judge 19 movies competing for the Palme d'Or, which will be announced on May 28th. Between the nominees, "Wonderstruck" by Todd Haynes’s, is the story of two kids - one of which is deaf - of different generations, are connected by a common quest.
Another movie to keep an eye on will be "The Killing of a Sacred Deer," by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos ("The Lobster").
This is the first time in the jury for Almodovar, who competed with many movies at the festival without ever winning the Palme. It is also the first time in history for a Spanish director. The filmmaker of "La Mancha" said, "I am grateful, honored and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.”
Controversies
But, like any other festival, there are still many controversies; starting from the choice of Almodovar as a jury president, which hasn't been welcomed by everyone, to the fact that Nicole Kidman, a close friend of Thierry Frémaux (Festival's Director), appears in at least four productions of the official selection.
"After last year's Sean Penn's catastrophe, does Frémaux still want to risk choosing bad movies just for friendship?" asks Guillaume Guguen on France24. And so do we.
The official poster
In the official poster of the Festival, it appears that the Italian actress Claudia Cardinale is dancing on the rooftops of Rome, back in 1959.
There is nothing wrong with this, unless the fact that the original photo has been photoshopped to slim her body, raising huge controversy all over the web from media, citizens, and associations - not only feminists! And they have promptly denounced it. "I am not aware of any controversy," said Frémaux "the poster pays tribute to an adventurous actress, an independent woman, and an active citizen."
The Netflix issue
For the first time in its history, two of the movies in the competition ("Okja" and "The Meyerowitz Stories") are both Netflix productions.
And its policy is to stream its movies only on the platform, not in cinemas. Can a movie compete (and eventually win) a Film Festival without being screened in theaters? This year, it will be possible. From next year, however, it will no longer be the case. Following the dispute, the Festival's administration decided to introduce a new clause of admission: only those films that will be presented on the big screen will be allowed to participate. This new rule, though, made many independent directors and producers nervous. Many have pointed out that if this restriction was already in place, films like "Oncle Boonmee" would have never won the Palme d'Or.
