Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival today unveiled the jury, under the presidency of Cate Blanchett, who will adjudicate the films in competition at the upcoming 71st edition of the Festival taking place May 8 to 19, 2018.The jury includes Australian actress, producer, Cate Blanchett – President, and members: Chinese Actor, Chang Chen; American writer, director, producer, Ava DuVernay; French director, writer, producer, Robert Guédiguian; Burundian songwriter, composer, singer, Khadja Nin; French actress, Léa Seydoux; American actress, Kristen Stewart; Canadian director, writer, Denis Villeneuve; and Russian director, writer, Andrey Zvyagintsev. The Jury will reveal the winners on Saturday, May 19 during the Closing Ceremony.

2018 Cannes Film Festival Jury

Chang Chen – Chinese Actor Chang Chen made his film debut in the late Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day. He rose to fame in the Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000. His film credits include Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together (1997), 2046 (2004), The Grandmaster (2013), Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Three Times (2005) and The Assassin (2015), Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Go Master (2006) John Woo’s Red Cliff (2008-2009), The Last Supper directed by Lu Chuan (2012). In 2017, he returned for Yang Lu’s film Brotherhood of Blades II and recently played in Forever young by Fangfang Li. Ava DuVernay – American Writer, Director, Producer Nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe and winner of the BAFTA and EMMY, Ava DuVernay is a writer, director, producer and film distributor known for the historical drama Selma (2014), the criminal justice documentary 13TH (2016) and the recent Disney’s cinematic adaptation of the classic children’s novel A wrinkle in Time. Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival’s Best Director Prize for her film Middle of Nowhere, DuVernay amplifies the work of people of color and women directors through her film collective ARRAY. Robert Guédiguian – French Director, writer, producer The work of Robert Guédiguian, an activist filmmaker, celebrates the city of Marseille where he grew up. Acclaimed by critics when he first started directing in the 80s, he met public success with Marius and Jeannette, which won the Prix Louis-Delluc in 1997. His film credits include Marie-Jo et ses deux amours (2002) Le Promeneur du Champ de Mars (2004), Le Voyage en Arménie (2007), Lady Jane (2008), L’armée du crime (2009), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011). His latest film in date, The House by the Sea (2017), received enthusiastic response from critics and audience. Khadja Nin – Burundian Songwriter, composer, singer Youngest of a family of eight Khadja Nin studied music at an early age, before leaving Africa to go to Europe. Her albums are a mix of occidental popmusic, African and afro-cuban rhythms. She gained wide recognition and success with « Sambolera Mayi Son ». “Ya…” (“From me to you”) is a wonderful tribute to Mandela and the video of her song “Mama” was directed by Jeanne Moreau. International Artist, she became a Unicef and ACP Observatory on Migration Good Will Ambassador. She was awarded the Prize “Prix de l’Action Feminine” by the African Women’s League in 2016. She has been committed to support ordinary heroes. Léa Seydoux – French Actress Rising to fame with Christophe Honoré’s The Beautiful Person in 2008, Léa Seydoux is an award-winning actress, notably the Palme d’or for Abdelatif Kechiche’s Blue is the Warmest Colour in 2013. She successfully alternates between author and mainstream films. Her film credits include Rebecca Zlotowski’s Dear Prudence and Grand Central, Benoît Jacquot’s Farewell, My Queen and Diary of a Chambermaid, Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent, Sam Mendes’ Spectre, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster and Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World. Kristen Stewart – American Actress Kristen Stewart has been playing roles since an early age and received widespread recognition in 2008 for The Twilight Saga film series (2008–12). Her film credit includes Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Equals by Drake Doremus (2015), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ang Lee (2016), and several Festival de Cannes Selections On the Road by Walter Salles (2012), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) and Personal Shopper (2016) both by Olivier Assayas (2014) as well as Café Society by Woody Allen. She directed her first short film Come Swim in 2017. Denis Villeneuve – Canadian director, writer Internationally renowned and recently two-time Academy Award winner for Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve made his debut at the National Film Board of Canada in the early 90’s. His first feature, Un 32 août sur terre (1998) was invited to Cannes. He returned there with Next Floor (2008), Polytechnique (2009) and the Oscar nominated Sicario (2015). In 2010 Incendies was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. In 2017, Arrival was nominated for 8 Oscars and 9 BAFTAs, including best movie and best director. Andreï Zvyagintsev – Russian Director, writer Multi-award winning filmmaker Andreï Zvyagintsev has already become one of the most respected directors in Russian and international cinema. He directed his first feature film in 2003 The Return which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. He has continued to write and direct award-winning feature films The Banishment (2007), Elena (2011) and Leviathan (2014). His most recent film Loveless won the Jury Prize at the Festival de Cannes 2017, and was among the nominees at the Golden Globe and 90th Academy Awards.

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Following the release of the official poster, Cannes Film Festival announced the Official Selection of the Short Films in Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection 2018. This year, the selection committee received 3,943 short films.The 2018 Short Films Competition comprises eight films (7 works of fictions and 1 animation), from Australia, China, France, Iran, Japan, Philippines, Poland and USA.  These films are all in the running for the 2018 Short Film Palme d’or, to be awarded by Bertrand Bonello, President of the Jury, at the official award ceremony of the 71st Festival de Cannes on May 19th. The Cinéfondation Selection has chosen 17 films this year (14 live-action and 3 animated films), from among the 2,426 submitted by film schools all over the world. Fourteen countries on four continents will be represented. Twelve of the twenty-two directors selected for this program are women. Following their deliberations, the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Bertrand Bonello, will decide on the best films both from the Short Films Competition and the Cinéfondation. The jury will hand over the three Cinéfondation prizes at a ceremony preceding the screening of the awarded films on Thursday 17th May, in the Buñuel Theatre.

THE 2018 SHORT FILMS COMPETITION

GABRIEL Oren Gerner – France 15′ JUDGEMENT Raymund Ribay Gutierrez -Philippines 15’ CAROLINE Celine Held, Logan George -USA 12’ TARIKI (Umbra) Saeed Jafarian – Iran 14’ III animation movie Marta Pajek –  Poland 12’ DUALITY Masahiko Sato, Genki Kawamura, Yutaro Seki, Masayuki Toyota, Kentaro Hirase – Japan 14’ ON THE BORDER Wei Shujun – China 15′ ALL THESE CREATURES Charles William –  Australia 13’

THE CINÉFONDATION SELECTION 2018

DOLFIN MEGUMI (Rubber Dolphin) Ori AHARON Steve Tisch School of Film & Television,Tel Aviv University, Israël 28’ END OF SEASON Zhannat ALSHANOVA The London Film School, UK 23’ SAILOR’S DELIGHT Louise AUBERTIN, Éloïse GIRARD, Marine MENEYROL, Jonas RITTER, Loucas RONGEART, Amandine THOMOUX ESMA, France 6’ INANIMATE Lucia BULGHERONI NFTS, UK 8’ EL VERANO DEL LEÓN ELÉCTRICO (The Summer of the Electric Lion) Diego CÉSPEDES Universidad de Chile – ICEI, Chile 22’ PALM TREES AND POWER LINES Jamie DACK NYU Tisch School of the Arts, USA 15’ DONG WU XIONG MENG (The Storms in Our Blood) DI Shen Shanghai Theater Academy, China 31’ FRAGMENT DE DRAME (A Piece of Tragedy) Laura GARCIA La Fémis, France 24’ CINCO MINUTOS AFUERA (Five Minutes Outside) Constanza GATTI Universidad del Cine (FUC), Argentina 10’ LOS TIEMPOS DE HÉCTOR (Hector’s Nightfall) Ariel GUTIÉRREZ CCC, Mexico 29’ DOTS Eryk LENARTOWICZ AFTRS, Australia 23’ INNY (The Other) Marta MAGNUSKA PWSFTviT, Poland 5’ ALBASTRU SI ROSU, IN PROPORTII EGALE (Equally Red and Blue) Georgiana MOLDOVEANU UNATC I.L. CARAGIALE, Romania 21’ COSÌ IN TERRA (As It Is on Earth) Pier Lorenzo PISANO Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy 13’ KALENDAR (Calendar) Igor POPLAUHIN Moscow School of New Cinema, Russia 28’ MESLE BACHE ADAM (Like a Good Kid) Arian VAZIRDAFTARI Tehran University of Dramatic Arts, Iran 20’ I AM MY OWN MOTHER Andrew ZOX San Francisco State University, USA 23’

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Cannes Film Festival today released the official poster of the 71st Festival – featuring a woman and a man engaged in a passionate kiss –  taken from Pierrot le Fou, a 1965 French film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and inspired by the work of Georges Pierre (1927-2003). This immense still photographer immortalized the shooting of over a hundred films in a 30-year career that began in 1960 with Jacques Rivette, Alain Resnais and Louis Malle. He then worked in partnership with Robert Enrico, Yves Robert, Claude Sautet, Bertrand Tavernier, Andrzej Zulawski, Andrzej Wajda, and of course Jean-Luc Godard. Committed to achieving recognition for stills photographers as artists in their own right, Georges Pierre founded the Association des Photographes de Films, tasked with defending the material and moral interests of cinema photographers. The poster itself is the work of graphic designer Flore Maquin. Inspired by pop culture, this 27-year-old illustrator blends drawing, painting and digital art in a vibrant and colourful world. A passionate film buff, she works with Universal Pictures, Paramount Channel, Europacorp, Wild Side, and Arte, revisiting or creating alternatives for film posters.

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Benicio Del Toro, will preside over the Un Certain Regard Jury at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, eight years after sitting on the jury with other members including with Tim Burton, Benicio del Toro to select Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee (The One Who Can Recall His Past Lives) as the winner of the Palme d’or. Benicio Del Toro takes over from Uma Thurman, who was president in 2017 of a jury that awarded prizes to Mohammad Rasoulof, Jasmine Trinca, Mathieu Amalric, Taylor Sheridan and Michel Franco. Born in Puerto Rico, raised in Pennsylvania, he is an artist who knows no boundaries. He is a great admirer of Jean Vigo and Charlie Chaplin and would have loved to have met Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Toshiro Mifune or Humphrey Bogart. When he was 20 years old, he discovered The 400 Blows and the infinite universe of Fellini, Eisenstein, Bergman, Eustache, Kurosawa… The Naked Island of Kaneto Shindô became his go-to film. At 6 feet 2, Benicio Del Toro always dreamt of becoming a basketball player but became an actor instead. His intense and magnetic presence on the screen makes him sleek and attractive. A chameleon with a thousand faces: a mild-mannered gangster (Usual Suspects, 1995), an eccentric moustachioed lawyer (Las Vegas Parano, 1998), a four-fingered robber (Snatch, 2000), an agent in a Mexican drug squad in cartel areas (Traffic, 2001, Ocar for Best Supporting Actor), an ex-convict turned fundamentalist Christian (21 Grams, 2003), a troubled American Indian (Jimmy P.: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, 2013), a famous drug dealer both charming and terrifying (Paradise Lost, 2014). The charismatic Benicio Del Toro transforms each of his performances into impressive but subtle displays. Despite his apparent insouciance, he throws himself like no other into his roles – his teacher was Stella Adler of the Actors Studio. He is a loyal supporter of independent cinema and has worked with Abel Ferrara (The Funeral, 1996), Julian Schnabel (Basquiat, 1997) and Oliver Stone (Savages, 2012) – he also appears in the 8th episode of the saga Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). In 2008, he received the award for best actor in Cannes for his role as Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh’s two-part film – a part he carried for no fewer than seven years. Del Toro and the Festival have a long shared history. He was there for the special screening of Usual Suspects, then The Pledge (2001), Sin City (2005) and more recently, Sicario (2015) which was selected to compete for the Palme d’or. He was even there for his directorial debut, El Yuma, one of the segments of 7 Days in Havana, a collective work selected at Un Certain Regard in 2012. The following year, Benicio Del Toro said: “I’ve come here many times and it’s always amazing. I am totally thrilled and excited to be here.” As the second competition within the Official Selection, Un Certain Regard will once again feature some twenty original and unique works in terms of themes and aesthetics. This year’s Festival de Cannes will take place from Tuesday May 8 to Saturday May 19, 2018.

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Swiss filmmaker Ursula Meier will head this year’s Caméra d’or Jury of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, and along with six fellow-professionals, will select the best first film presented in the Official Selection, the Semaine de la Critique and the Directors’ Fortnight. Ursula Meier is a filmmaker who questions the very need to film. This undoubtedly explains her compact and exciting filmography, which includes 5 short films, 2 works for television, 2 documentaries and 2 feature films for cinema. Inventive strokes of brilliance, each of them has been upsetting the apple cart with a fresh take and establishing her definitively on the European scene. Since 1994, Ursula Meier has compiled a bold cinematography that emphasises the complexity of the world. An unconditional admirer of Wanda (Barbara Loden) and Sweetie (Jane Campion), Meier decided to take up directing after discovering Money (Robert Bresson). She then became assistant director to a major figure in Swiss cinema, Alain Tanner, with Fourbi (1996). She who claims to be fascinated by the notion of no man’s land has built her imagination there, and manages to reach out to buried areas of human nature, filming with tenderness, without pathos or judgment, characters who are guided by a powerful survival instinct. In 2014, she participated in the film Bridges of Sarajevo, a collective work by 13 European filmmakers, presented at Cannes in the Official Selection. Her films for cinema – Home (2008) and Sister (2012, winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlinale) – are internationally acclaimed for their original angle and writing. Radical and poetic, the first is a fable shot with pale light and warm photography. The second is a modern tale in the form of a sober and poignant family chronicle. “A first film,” says the newly appointed President, “is the place of all possibilities, of all audacity, of all risk-taking, of all madness. It is often said that you should not put everything into a first film but the opposite is true, you should put in exactly that – everything – just as you should put everything into every film while always preserving deep within yourself that original, vital, brutal, wild desire of the first time. What immense excitement and joy to discover all these films!”

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