
Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu has been named President of the Jury of the 72nd Festival de Cannes, taking place place from Tuesday May 14 to Saturday May 25, 2019.
The international Festival de Cannes is one of the world’s most widely publicized events and certainly the most important film festival in terms of worldwide impact. “In order to achieve this level of longevity, the Festival de Cannes has remained faithful to its founding purpose: to draw attention to and raise the profile of films, with the aim of contributing towards the development of cinema, boosting the film industry worldwide and celebrating cinema at an international level. And to this day, this profession of faith constitutes the first article of the Festival regulations.
” -Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate
Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes) started in 1946 and takes place in Cannes, France, Europe

Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu has been named President of the Jury of the 72nd Festival de Cannes, taking place place from Tuesday May 14 to Saturday May 25, 2019.
Happy as Lazzaro[/caption]
Netflix has acquired Cannes Film Festival 2018 award winners “Happy As Lazzaro” and “Girl.” “Happy as Lazzaro” premiered in competition and was awarded Best Screenplay for Alice Rohrwacher, and the Camera d’Or for best first film was awarded to Lukas Dhont for “Girl.” “Girl” premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded Best Actor for Victor Polster
Girl by Lukas Dhont[/caption]
BlacKkKlansman[/caption]
The 71st Cannes Film Festival came to a close today, with the announcement of the 2018 winners, decided by the Feature Film Jury presided over by Cate Blanchett. Shoplifters (Manbiki Kazoku directed by Kore-Eda Hirokazu was awarded the Palme d’or and BlacKkKlansman by Spike Lee won the Grand Prix.
MANBIKI KAZOKU(Shoplifters) by KORE-EDA Hirokazu[/caption]
GRÄNS (BORDER) by Ali Abbasi[/caption]
Un Certain Regard 2018 at Cannes Film Festival presented 18 films in competition. 6 of them were first films. The Opening film was DONBASS by Sergei Loznitsa which went on to win the prize for Best Director.
Under the presidency of Benicio Del Toro (Puerto Rican-American actor), the Jury was comprised of Annemarie Jacir (Palestinian director and writer), Kantemir Balagov (Russian director), Virginie Ledoyen (French actress) and Julie Huntsinger (American executive director, Telluride Film Festival).
“We feel that out of 2000 films considered by the Festival, the 18 we saw in UN CERTAIN REGARD – from Argentina to China – were all in their own way winners. Over the past 10 days, we were extremely impressed by the high quality of the work presented, but in the end we were the most moved by the following 5 films.
On Wednesday May 9, 2018, the French court dismissed the request by Paulo Branco and his production company Alfama Films Production to ban Terry Gilliam’s film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote from being screened during the Closing night of the Cannes Film Festival, on Saturday May 19, 2018.
In its press release hailing the ruling, the Cannes Film Festival stated, As such, Paulo Branco and his production company Alfama Films Production have, naturally, seen their claim for compensation from the Festival de Cannes thrown out, having openly denigrated the event in the press and on social media, asserting that its organizers had no right to select The Man Who Killed Don Quixote to be presented in Cannes.
The campaign of attempted intimidation orchestrated by Paulo Branco and his lawyer son have therefore proved fruitless. The urgent applications judge has, through this decision, confirmed that contrary to what the Brancos have continued to claim (among other slanderous attacks and lies), the Festival de Cannes has never placed itself above the law nor has it attempted to force through a decision.
The Festival de Cannes, which throughout the case has repeatedly expressed its loyalty and support for the creators, is pleased to see that justice will allow the presentation of this work, whose director surely deserves to see it finally presented to the public.
We are very pleased that this unique – and in some ways agonizing – work in the career of the great director Terry Gilliam will be unveiled for the first time to journalists, festival-goers and professionals from around the world, gathered together in the Grand Amphithéâtre Lumière.
Since Tuesday, cinema has regained its rights. The Festival is a unique forum for freedom of expression. It will remain so.
Immediately following the World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard, NEON acquired Border, a troll love story directed by Ali Abbasi and based on a novel by the writer of Let the Right One In, for release in the US.
Border is the second feature from Iranian-born Danish director Abbasi. He co-scripted the film with Isabella Eklöf, in collaboration with novelist John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In).
The film tells the story of a border guard (Eva Melander) who has the ability to smell human emotions and catch smugglers. When she comes across a mysterious man with a smell that confounds her detection, she is forced to confront hugely disturbing insights about herself and humankind.
Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum which is set to premiere next Thursday at Cannes Film Festival in competition, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for release in North America and Latin America. Capernaum marks a return to Cannes for the Lebanese filmmaker, whose two previous films, CARAMEL and Where Do We Go Now? (winner of the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival) premiered at the festival, and reunites Labaki with Sony Pictures Classics, which distributed Where Do We Go Now?.
Written by Labaki (Where Do We Go Now?), who also appears in the film, Capernaum tells the story of a child who rebels against the life imposed on him and launches a lawsuit against his parents.
“It is wonderful to have the opportunity to collaborate once again with Sony Pictures Classics. Capernaum is very special to me, and with the passion Tom and Michael have for this film, I know this is the ideal partnership,” said Labaki.
Said Sony Pictures Classics, “Nadine Labaki is one of the world’s great filmmakers. Capernaum is an emotionally profound experience about the world we live in and promises to be a triumph in Cannes. Nadine Labaki’s moment as writer-director is here and now. It is thrilling to be working with her, as well as her producer Khaled Mouzanar, Vincent Maraval and Eva Diederix at Wild Bunch, and Roeg Sutherland and CAA.”
Sony Pictures Classics plans to open the film in December qualifying the movie for year-end awards consideration.
The first trailer was released today for the documentary WHITNEY which will have its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2018. The film directed by Kevin Macdonald, is probably one of the rare ones featuring her family in front of and behind the scenes, with sister-in-law, Pat Houston, as one of the Executive Producers. Miramax and Roadside Attractions will release WHITNEY in theaters July 6, 2018.
Whitney Houston broke more music industry records than any other female singer in history. With over 200 million album sales worldwide, she was the only artist to chart seven consecutive U.S. No. 1 singles. She also starred in several blockbuster movies before her brilliant career gave way to erratic behavior, scandals and death at age 48. The documentary feature Whitney is an intimate, unflinching portrait of Houston and her family that probes beyond familiar tabloid headlines and sheds new light on the spellbinding trajectory of Houston’s life. Using never-before-seen archival footage, exclusive demo recordings, rare performances, audio archives and original interviews with the people who knew her best, Oscar®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald unravels the mystery behind “The Voice,” who thrilled millions even as she struggled to make peace with her own troubled past.

2001: A Space Odyssey turning 50 as seen by Christopher Nolan, an essay by Mark Cousins about Orson Welles, Margarethe von Trotta’s tribute to Bergman, Fernando Solanas and The Hour of the Furnaces, Five and the Skin by Pierre Rissient are among the lineup for the Cannes Classics 2018
The House That Jack Built by Lars von Trier[/caption]
The Cannes Film Festival has added more films to the Official Selection 2018, and will welcome back the Danish director Lars von Trier, winner of the 2000 Palme d’or, to the Official Selection. His new film The House That Jack Built by Lars von Trier starring Matt Dillon and Uma Thurman will be screened Out of Competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAaLDuEPglI
Mr. von Trier, who won the Palme d’Or in 2000 for “Dancer in the Dark,” has been absent from the Cannes festival for seven years, after comments he made during the news conference for his 2011 competition title “Melancholia.”
Mr. von Trier began by referring to his discovery, as an adult, that he had a German family. “What can I say? I understand Hitler,” he said. “I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end.”
As the actress Kirsten Dunst squirmed and shook her head in the seat beside him, Mr. von Trier added, “He’s not what you would call a good guy, but yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on! I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews.”
The festival board voted to declare Mr. von Trier persona non grata. He was barred from that year’s prize ceremony or from entering the festival headquarters, although “Melancholia” stayed in the competition. via NY Times
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.
The Cannes Film Festival yesterday announced the Official Selections of the 71st edition of the festival. The titles include the feature films in Competition, at Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, in Midnight Screenings and in Special Screenings.
The 71st Cannes Film Festival will take place May 8 to 19, 2018.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0swRBkl11rI