Forty years ago, Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo ) wrote a book that became an instant best-seller and is still read and more or less remembered—by some as a frothy and irrelevant intellectual joke, by others as a life-changing and profound work of literature. What Gambardella himself is reminded of when people mention the book is that he hasn’t written another one since, not for lack of ... more >
FESTIVALS | CANNES
LA GRANDE BELLEZZA
When Rome burns, where will you be?
Toni Servillo and Carlo Verdone
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino
TEAM KECHICHE GRABS CANNES GOLD
"La Vie D'Adele" feted
Abdelatif Kechiche’s "Blue Is the Warmest Colour," a graphic but incredibly haunting and beautiful lesbian love story, has won the Palme d’Or, as was just announced during today's closing ceremony. The jury, presided over by Steven Spielberg (the other members: Daniel Auteuil, Vidya Balan, Naomi Kawase, Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee, Cristian Mungiu, Lynne Ramsay, and Christoph Waltz), presented the ... more >
GOLD – IT’S WHAT’S ON THE MENU
It's Closing Day in Cannes
Social media, the movies, the favorites
This 66th Cannes Festival was a genuinely social affair. No, I don’t mean the bacchanalian soirees and the private parties which happened relentlessly during the eleven days or so of the festival. I’m referring to social media. Cannes’ Twitter ecosystem really came into its own this year, with people (“les tweetos” as the French like to call them) taking to the bandwidths to comment on ... more >
KHMER ROUGE DISASTER HIGHLIGHTED IN WIN
"The Missing Image" gets top nod during ceremony
The Cannes Festival is also at its best when it serves our interests through the rewarding of serious works that have a strong historical and social component. During a brief ceremony in the Theatre Claude Debussy tonight Thomas Vinterberg and the rest of the Un Certain Regard jury handed out prizes to films presented in that section. Of note, Rithy Panh’s “The Missing Picture,” an ... more >
Bloodsuckers in Cannes
"Only lovers left alive"
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
A Jim Jarmusch movie is rare and mysterious. Today in Cannes his latest film “Only Lovers Left Alive” starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska and Anton Yelchin was shown as a part of the competition program. “Lovers” is your average love story between centuries-old people (Swinton and Hiddleston). One lives in Detroit and the other, Tangier. Adam is depressed because ... more >
CHICAGO FILM STUDENT GETS CINEFONDATION PRIZE
Anahita Ghazvinizadeh lands top prize
The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Jane Campion and including Maji-da Abdi, Nicoletta Braschi, Nandita Das and Semih Kaplanoglu awarded the Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held today, followed by the screening of the winning films. The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 18 student films, chosen out of nearly 1, 500 entries submitted by 277 film schools around the ... more >
MOHAMMAD RASOULOF IN CANNES – FINALLY
"Manuscripts Don't Burn" harshest indictment yet
With his new film “Manuscripts don’t Burn” (the title seems to have been taken from Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita") currently being shown in the non-competition program Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who came to Cannes to show the film today along with the cast, is raising the bar for Iranian filmmakers: rather than bypassing political content he's confronting ... more >
