Prestigious Cannes Film Festival is officially on. Yesterday movie stars hit the red carpet in Cannes, France for the 66th time and joined the film screening marathon. The event will continue until May 26th and it will include a list of impressive productions, among which are The Great Gatsby, The Bling Ring, Nebraska, Behind The Candelabra and many others.
Meet the Jury
This year’s jury at the festival also shines with some well-known names in the industry. The honour of taking the president seat goes to legendary film director Steven Spielberg. The filmmaker also has a film which will compete for the festival’s prizes called Behind The Candelabra. Actress Nicole Kidman and Life of Pi director Ang Lee will also have the say in Cannes.
When it comes to awards, the Cannes Film Festival is often wrapped around controversy. That is because its winners are compared to those selected at the Oscar Awards and vice versa. Usually, the choices do not match and Cannes jurors then receive a good amount of criticism and negativity. However, we should not forget that the Oscar winners are voted out with ballots and not with a discussion as it is in Cannes. That is why the results tend to differ. For example, back in 2011, the Oscar went for The Artist and the Palme for Tree of Life. Also, this year the Academy gave its award for best movie to Argo, while before that Cannes’ jury chose Amour in the same category. Simply said, expect surprises with the prizes.
As a matter of fact the unexpected has already began to happen. Blockbuster The Great Gatsby received a rain of negative comments by film critics after its yesterday screening at the festival. The movie opened the event but it failed to impresses film experts. The production’s director Baz Luhrmann was not happy with the reception. He even made a bitter comment saying that even though he is behind classic productions like Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom, critics never appreciate his work.
Here are some of the other favourites in Cannes which will be shown over the next 10 days:
Nebraska
The director of this film is Alexander Payne whose film The Descendants got an Oscar nominee two years ago. Nebraska is a black-and-white production with Bruce Dern in the main role. It tells the story of a father and his son while they are on a road trip.
The Bling Ring
Director Sofia Coppola managed to persuade stars like Leslie Mann and Emma Watson to get on board of her production. The film will not compete for an award. Still it is among the most anticipated ones at the festival.
Only God Forgives
Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn returns with yet another Ryan Gosling movie. The film offers a great soundtrack and some boxing which makes it ideal for the position of the next blockbuster. But will it be good enough for Spielberg and Co?
Inside Llweyn Davis
This is a movie by the Coen brothers. That means only one thing – it has a great chance of getting at least one award in Cannes. The festival traditionally rates the productions of Joel and Ethan Coen pretty highly. In addition, Inside Llweyn Davis already enjoys the attention of film critics so we may have an early winner here.
Behind The Candelabra
Directed by Steven Spielberg, the movie tries to capture the real story of Liberace. In Behind The Candelabra, Michael Douglas makes his return on the big screen as… Matt Damon’s boyfriend.
The 2013 Cannes Film Festival will be hosted by French actress Audrey Tautou. The event will close with a screening of Jerome Salle’s film Zulu.
