Four Days to #Cannes2017

Believe it or not, next week the most prestigious film festival in the world will (finally) start and yes, the biggest cinema party will start as well.  Great!!!

There have been many incidents, events and situations happening this year because of all the first-time-ever's that festival organizers decided to do this year; but, trying to be forward-positive will share what have learned about the collateral events happening in the 70th anniversary of the festival as well as some events that will generate buzz.

Cannes fait le mur 2017

Organized by the City of Cannes along with Paris Match and Nesspreso the traditional event will decorate Cannes streets with large posters of photographs from the Paris Match archives that will celebrate cinema and yes, the 70th festival anniversary.  To check the event suggest go to Paris Match site and check the slide show here as there are some samples of the photographs and posters to be use this year.

Nevertheless the event will have 8 posters in walls and 10 banners across streets; to check info at the City of Cannes official site go here, available only in French.

8 Wall Posters
Michèle Morgan - Hôtel de Ville (côté gare routière)
Benoît Magimel and Rod Paradot - Lycée Jules Ferry, 81 bd de la République
Jeanne Moreau and Jean-Claude Brialy - Hôtel Renoir, 7 rue Edith Cavell - voie rapide
Grace Kelly - Hôtel Cannes Riviera, 16 bd d'Alsace, vue depuis la voie rapide
Henri Verneuil, Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Reginald Kernan, Françoise Verneuil, Odette Ventura, Élodie Belmondo, Andrea Parisy and Michel Audiard - Espace Ranguin
Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren - Cinéma les Arcades, 77 rue Félix Faure
Bourvil, Louis de Funès and Terry Thomas - Voile entrée de ville à La Bocca, avenue Francis Tonner
Mireille Darc and Michel Audiard - Gare SNCF de Cannes



10 Street Banners along d'Antibes street
Monica Vitti
Mike Todd and Elisabeth Taylor
Brigitte Bardot
Gina Lollobrigida and Martine Carol
Romy Schneider and Alain Delon
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jeanne Moreau and Raoul Lévy
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Sofia Loren
Buydens, Kirk Douglas and Éric Douglas
Monica Bellucci



Passion Cinéma

There is another event organized by Paris Match, an exposition at Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc d’Antibes that will run from May 18 up to October 2017.  Monica Bellucci will open the expo on May 18 and there will be a private vernissage.  But there are good news as the opening event will have a facebook Live that you could watch here if you wish. Expo includes 25 tirages d’art and yes, they are for sale.



24 Images
The Festival de Cannes through the eyes of Pierre Lescure, Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux

For the Festival's 70th anniversary, the Palais is hosting an exhibition of INA photos and videos: "24 images, the Festival de Cannes through the eyes of Pierre Lescure, Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux", retracing Cannes' finest moments.

The French National Audiovisual Institute (INA), is celebrating the Festival de Cannes' 70th anniversary with an exhibition entitled "24 images". Using short filmed interviews, Pierre Lescure, Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux portray the atmosphere, secrets, anecdotes and memories that were rekindled by images they selected from the INA's photography archive.

These exclusive videos can be explored in a dedicated "24 images" app, created by the INA. These photographs, at once emotional, amusing and unusual, depict an era that shaped the festival.  Expo will run from May 17 to 28 at Palais des festival, 4th floor and access requires badge.

amfAR Gala Cannes

No outside-cinema event generates more buzz than the annual gala that benefits the support of AIDS research as it's a star-studded event held at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes.  This glamorous and unpredictable gala will include several musical performances and a parade of prominent appearances, as many of the celebrity guests help with the event’s exciting live auction of exclusive items and experiences. Longtime amfAR supporter Carine Roitfeld will once again curate a fashion show of one-of-a-kind looks from a who’s who of the world’s most celebrated fashion designers. Forty of the world’s top models will participate in the spectacular Golden Age of Hollywood Collection runway presentation, accessorized with jewelry by Harry Winston.

Just for fun let me share how much tickets cost, they go from Supporter Ticket at £13,000 per person to Grand Philanthropist Package at £500,000 per person. So if you wish to attend the gala now have an idea of how much you or your company will have to spare.

But perhaps what calls everybody's attention are the cinema related celebrities that this year include Event Chairs like Pedro Almodovar, David Lynch, Nicole Kidman Jessica Chastain, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Kruger, and many more that you can see at official site here.  There is always a few ways to see the carpet arrivals plus always videos appear from the event with candid celebrities doing their thing.  Gala will be on Thursday, May 25.

Cannes Classics

The program of Cannes Classics 2017 will be dedicated for its most part to the history of the Festival.

Almost fifteen years ago, when the relationship between contemporary cinema and its own memory was about to be shaken by the emergent arrival of digital technology, the Festival de Cannes created Cannes Classics, a selection that displays the work of valorization of heritage cinema carried out by the production companies, the right-holders, the cinematheques or the national archives around the world.

Being now an essential component of the Official Selection and a presence of the history of cinema which inspired several international festivals, Cannes Classics showcases vintage films and masterpieces of the history of cinema in restored prints.  Because Cannes is also devoted with the mission of enchanting the audience of today's relationship with the memory of cinema, Cannes Classics puts the prestige of the biggest festival of the world at the service of the cinema rediscovered, accompanying all the new exhibitions: releasing in movie theaters, on VOD or on DVD/Blu-ray editions of the great works of the past.

The program of the 2017 edition of Cannes Classics consists of twenty-four screenings, one short film and five documentaries. The films are screened as wanted by the right-holders, in DCP 2K or DCP 4K, and L'Atalante by Jean Vigo that Gaumont wished to screen in 35mm.

The films selected for this 2017 edition will focus mostly on the history of Cannes. They come from nations that have allowed the Festival de Cannes to become a land of cinematographic discoveries: Hungary, Lebanon, Serbia, United Kingdom, Italy, United States, Israel, Mauritania, Niger, Poland, Switzerland, Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Australia. Many countries which also consider that safeguarding heritage cinema is essential.

The films will be screened in the Palais des Festivals, Salle Buñuel or Salle du Soixantième, in attendance of those who have restored them and, if they are still among us, of those who have directed them. Every film will be introduced by Thierry Frémaux or Gérald Duchaussoy with personalities linked to the films in attendance.

On the occasion of the celebration of its 70th edition, a brief history of the Festival of Cannes

From 1946 to 1992, from René Clément to Victor Erice, sixteen history-making films of the Festival de Cannes

•1946: La Bataille du Rail (Battle of the Rails) by René Clément (1h25, France): Grand Prix International de la mise en scène and Prix du Jury International.
Presented by Ina. Film digitized and restored by Ina with the support of the CNC. 2K restoration made from an acetate interpositive and an answer print. Technical means: Jean-Pierre Peltier. Coordination: Bénilde Da Ponte, Brice Amouroux.

•1953: Le Salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear) by Henri-Georges Clouzot (1952, 2h33, France, Italy): Grand Prix.
Presented by TF1 Studio in collaboration with la Cinémathèque française and the support of the CNC, of the Archives audiovisuelles de Monaco, of Kodak and the CGR cinémas. 4K Restoration from nitrate image negative and a sound duplicate made by Hiventy. Please note that this presentation is the preview of a major Clouzot event scheduled in France in the fall of 2017.

•1956: Körhinta (Merry-Go-Round) by Zoltán Fábri (1955, 1h30, Hungary): in Competition.
Presented by the Hungarian National Film Fund - Hungarian National Film Archive. A 4K Scan and Digital Restoration from the original 35mm image & sound negatives plus additional materials: the original dupe positive and another film positive. Restoration made by the Hungarian National Film Fund – Hungarian Filmlab.

•1957: Ila Ayn? (Vers l'inconnu ?) by Georges Nasser (1h30, Lebanon): in Competition.
Presented by Abbout Productions and Fondation Liban Cinema. With the generous support of Bankmed – Lebanon. The original 35mm Fine Grain Master Positive was scanned in 4k, retouched and color-corrected in a resolution of 2K. All works were carried out by Neyrac Films - France. Sound restoration by db Studios - Lebanon. In collaboration with The Talkies. World Sales: Nadi Lekol Nas.

•1967: Skupljači Perja (I Even Met Happy Gypsies) by Aleksandar Petrović (1h22, Serbia): in Competition, Grand Prix Spécial du Jury ex-æquo, Prix de la Critique Internationale - FIPRESCI ex-aequo
Presented by Jugoslovenska Kinoteka/The Yugoslav Film Archive and Malavida.
New 35mm print from the original negative in perfect shape then scanned in 2K and cleaned up.

•1967: Blow-up by Michelangelo Antonioni (1966, 1h51, United Kingdom, Italy, United States of America): Grand Prix International du Festival.
Presented by Criterion, Cineteca di Bologna and Istituto Luce - Cinecittà, in collaboration with Warner Bros and Park Circus. Restoration work carried out at Criterion, New York and L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna under the supervision of Director of Photography Luca Bigazzi.

•1969: Matzor (Siege) by Gilberto Tofano (1h29, Israel): in Competition.
A presentation of the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israel Film Archive, in partnership with United King Films and the support of the Rabinovich Foundation. The original 35mm black and white negatives were scanned in 4K by Cinelab Romania. It was digitally restored and finalized in 2K by Opus Digital Lab in Tel Aviv. Restoration and color grading lead by Ido Karilla, supervised by DOP David Gurfinkel.

•1970: Soleil O (Oh, Sun) by Med Hondo (1h38, Mauritania-France): Semaine de la critique.
Presented by The Film Foundation. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with Med Hondo. Restoration funded by the George Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation's World Cinema Project.

•1976: Babatu, les trois conseils by Jean Rouch (1h33, Nigeria-France): in Competition.
Pressented by the CNC, Inoussa Ousseini, the Comité du film ethnographique and the Fondation Jean Rouch. Digital restoration made from the 2K digitization of the 16mm negatives. Restoration carried out by L21.

•1976: Ai no korîda (In the Realm of the Senses/L’Empire des sens) de Nagisa Oshima (1h43, France-Japan): Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
Presented by Argos Films and TAMASA. Digization and 4K resoration from the original negative by Eclair. Sound restoration from the original magnetic sound by L.E. Diapason. The film will be released in French theaters.

•1980: All that Jazz by Bob Fosse (1979, 2h03, United States of America): Palme d’or ex-æquo.
Presented by Park Circus. 4K restoration by Twentieth Century Fox and the Academy Film Archive in collaboration with The Film Foundation. The restoration was produced from the original camera negative at Sony Colorworks in Culver City California.

•1981: Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron) by Andrzej Wajda (2h33, Poland): Palme d’or.
A presentation of the ZEBRA Film Studio (Studio Filmowe ZEBRA) with the collaboration of the Polish Film Institute. 2K film restoration from original colour 35 mm negative. Restored sound from original magnetic tape. Restoration lead by Daniel Pietrzyk, colour grading lead by Aleksandra Kraus, at Yakumama Film, Warsaw. Sound restoration lead by Tomasz Dukszta.
Artistic supervision by: Andrzej Wajda (director), Jerzy Łukaszewicz (DOP), Piotr Zawadzki (sound).

•1982: Yol – The Full Version (The Way) by Yilmaz Güney, directed by Serif Gören (1h53, Switzerland): Palme d'or ex-æquo, Prix de la Critique Internationale - FIPRESCI
Presented by DFK FILMS LTD. Zürich. Restoration from the original 35mm negative, from the interpositive and the positive print. Restoration and new sound mix from the original digitized tapes. International Sales: The Match Factory.

•1983: Narayama Bushikō (Ballad of Narayama) by Shôhei Imamura (2h13, Japan): Palme d’or.
Presented by Toei. 4K Scan, image restoration ARRISCAN and sound Golden Eye in 2K from the 35mm original negative, a duplicate and video tapes.

•1992: El Sol del Membrillo (The Quince Tree) by Victor Erice (2h20, Spain): Prix du Jury ex-æquo, Prix de la Critique Internationale - FIPRESCI
Presented by the Filmoteca de Catalunya and Camm Cinco SL. 6K scan, restoration and color-grading from the 35mm negatives and other original video tapes. Digitazing and sound restoration from 35mm magnetic tapes. Technical support made by the Filmoteca de Catalunya, supervised by Victor Erice. Variations on the initial editing brought by the director.

•1951-1999: A short history of short films presented by the Festival de Cannes. A program curated by Christian Jeune and Jacques Kermabon.
Spiegel van Holland (Miroirs de Hollande) by Bert Haanstra (1951, 10mn, The Netherlands)
La Seine a rencontré Paris by Joris Ivens (1958, 32mn, France)
Pas de deux by Norman McLaren (1968, 13mn, Canada)
Harpya by Raoul Servais (1979, 9mn, Belgium)
Peel by Jane Campion (1986, 9mn, Australia)
L’Interview by Xavier Giannoli (1998, 15mn, France)
When the Day Breaks by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby (1999, 10mn, Canada)

Other events, other restored prints, other guests

•Madame de… by Max Ophüls (1953, 1h45, France)
A Gaumont restoration. A show to pay a tribute to Danielle Darrieux for her birthday and presented by Dominique Besnehard, Pierre Murat and Henri-Jean Servat who will screen the latest filmed interview of Danielle Darrieux.

• L’Atalante by Jean Vigo (1934, 1h28, France), restored 35mm print
Presented by Gaumont, la Cinémathèque française and The Film Foundation of Martin Scorsese. First digital restoration in 4k and conversion to a 35mm print. A new discovery of the closest version of the director’s work thanks to Gaumont, Luce Vigo and historian Bernard Eisenschitz. Restoration carried out at L’Image Retrouvée laboratory in Bologna and Paris.

• Native Son (Sang noir) by Pierre Chenal (1951, 1h47, Argentina)
A presentation by Argentina Sono Film. Restoration with the collaboration of the Library of Congress.

• Paparazzi by Jacques Rozier (1963, 18mn, France)
Presented by Jacques Rozier and la Cinémathèque française. 4K Digitization and 2K restoration works made from image and sound negatives at Hiventy laboratory, with the support of the CNC and in collaboration with Les Archives Audiovisuelles de Monaco, la Cinémathèque Suisse and Extérieur nuit.  The film will be introduced by Jacques Rozier.

• Belle de jour (Beauty of the Day) by Luis Buñuel (1967, 1h40, France)
Presented by STUDIOCANAL. Digitization from the original negative and 4K restoration carried out by Hiventy laboratory for STUDIOCANAL with the support of the CNC, of la Cinémathèque française, of the Fonds Culturel Franco-Américain and the Maison YVES SAINT LAURENT. French theater distribution: Carlotta.

• A River Runs Through It by Robert Redford (1992, 2h04, United States of America)
Presented by Pathé. 4K Scan and 4K restoration from original image and sound 35mm negatives. Restoration carried out by Pathé at Technicolor France laboratory for the image in collaboration with Philippe Rousselot, cinematographer of the film, and L.E. Diapason for the sound restoration.

•Lucía by Humberto Solas (1968, 2h40, Cuba)
A presentation of the Film Foundation. Restored by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in association with Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). Restoration funded by Turner Classic Movies and The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project.

Documentaries about Cinema
The history of cinema by cinema itself, a presentation of five documentaries

• La belge histoire du festival de Cannes (The Belgian's Road to Cannes) by Henri de Gerlache (2017, 1h02, Belgium)
Presented by Alizé Production. Produced by Alizé Production, co-produced by RTBF (Belgian television) & Proximus.
A joyful road movie to discover the Belgian cinema which has been at Cannes for 70 years. The filmmakers of yesterday are talking with those of today to paint a picture of a free and heterogeneous cinema. A "Belgian story" of the biggest festival in the world.

• David Stratton - A Cinematic Life by Sally Aitken (2017, 1h37, Australia)
Presented by Stranger Than Fiction Films. Produced by Stranger Than Fiction Films, with Screen Australia, ABC TV Arts, Screen NSW and Adelaide Film Festival.
An love adventure of film critic David Stratton with his adopted country, Australia, which led him to understand himself. It is also the glorious history of Australian cinema and its creators told by this Cannes-regular film-lover interested in the world.

• Filmworker by Tony Zierra (2017, 1h29, United States of America)
Presented and produced by True Studio Cinema.
Young actor Leon Vitali abandoned his prosperous career after Barry Lyndon to become the faithful right hand of director Stanley Kubrick. For more than two decades, Leon has played a crucial role behind the scenes by helping Kubrick. A complex and interdependent relationship between Leon and Kubrick based on devotion, sacrifice and the harsh and joyful reality of creative process.

• Becoming Cary Grant  by Mark Kidel (2017, 1h25, France)
Presented by ARTE France and Showtime Documentary Films. Produced by YUZU Productions, coproduced by ARTE France, in association with ro*co films productions.
Cary Grant is one of the biggest Hollywood actors. In his fifties, he started a cure of LSD to free himself from his demons. For the first time, with his words, he retraces his journey. The story of a man in search of himself and the love he did not find in his life. The words of Cary Grant are interpreted by Jonathan Pryce.

• Jean Douchet, l'enfant agité by Fabien Hagège, Guillaume Namur, Vincent Haasser (2017, 1h30, France)
Presented and produced by Carlotta and Kidam.
Three young cinephiles follow Jean Douchet, question his friends and former students. This documentary reveals the man and his critical philosophy, a part of the history of the Cahiers du Cinéma and this Art of loving to which he has devoted his existence.

On the day-by-day analysis perhaps will not talk about each movie in this section but definitively will express may adoration to several of the films included this year in the anniversary celebration as there are some films that are my-life milestones, films that changed me, that made me think beyond, that allowed me to view my little world different and made me wish to see the outside-world and yes, I did saw the world thanks to the spark films lit inside me.

Cinéma de la Plage

The screenings that take place each night under the stars and are open to the public have this year some very interesting movies that I'm sure will look better under the stars.

Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 1999
Bugsy Malone, Alan Parker, UK, 1976
Saturday Night Fever, John Badham, USA 1977
Bad Boys, Michael Bay, USA, 1995
Missing, Costa Gavras, USA, 1982
Chariots of Fire, Hugh Hudson, UK, 1981
Djam, Tony Gatlif, France, 2017
Week-end à Zuydcoote (Week-end at Dunkirk), Henri Verneuil, France and Italy, 1964
Un 32 août sur terre  (August 32nd on Earth), Denis Villeneuve, Canada, 1998

There will also be two concerts one on Sunday, May 21st, M en Concert and another on Thursday, May 25 along the screening of Djam.

Ces années-là

To mark its 70th anniversary, the Festival has published Ces années-là, the story of the festival in the words of film critics from all four corners of the globe.  Under the direction of Thierry Frémaux.  Preface by Pierre Lescure.  Available from May 10, 2017; published by Stock.

70 festivals, 70 Palmes d’or, 70 selections, 70 presidents and... 70 stories rewinding the film of all those ceremonies and glorious years, written by some of the most enlightened and meticulous critics, not only from France but also America, Italy, Russia, India, Mexico and Turkey, superbly capturing the abundant diversity of Cannes, a town that opens its arms for a short time each year to a dream that begins afresh with each new season.

"Ces années-là" tells the story of an adventure that began in 1939 against a backdrop of world war and was rehabilitated in 1946 as a way of consigning the horrors to oblivion. The melancholic and captivating story of an institution which, despite its occasional wayward moves and biases, has never failed in its primary mission: to reveal. A story of masters (Rossellini, Truffaut, Loach, Coppola, Wajda, Wenders, Lynch and Tarantino) and masterpieces (The Leopard, La Dolce Vita, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Blow up, Taxi Driver, Paris Texas, Underground, The Tree of Life). But also an idea, a vision of film that's constantly renewed, that pushes back the limits, and marches ever onwards.

The journalists selected by Thierry Frémaux, General Director of the Festival, testify to the permanence of this obsession: Georges Simenon as president of the Jury, the upheaval of May 1969, the Nazi salute by Maurice Pialat; the uncertain consecration of Oncle Boonmee, the committed stance of The Class or Fahrenheit 9/11, but above all, all those shared secrets and moments of happiness.

Masterclasses

There will be a Masterclass by Clint Eastwood and as a tribute a screening of his film Unforgiving.  Alfonso Cuarón will also have a Masterclass on May 24th.  There is not much more info as we all learned about the masterclasses in the screenings schedule, there is no press release yet.

Talking about what organizers have not done yet, perhaps the most notable is the lack of the jury members announcement for the three relevant official selection competitions Un Certain Regard, the shorts competitions and la Camera d'Or.  As of today we only know the president.

Radio Festival

The 70th year of the festival sees the launch of Radio Festival, the event's first webradio!  My first reactions is WHY? as I don't listen to radio anymore!

But to be honest while doing this long post been listening to great music!  To listen to the radio go here, there is a banner that says Listen Radio Festival just below the slide show.

Imagine there will be people that would like to listen to what happens every day and podcasts are available live via festival website and apps.

Post got too-long and will stop here but maybe will do another with more info as there are too-many things happening in this anniversary edition.  Enjoy!!!