PARIS - Finally, the suspense is over. Thierry Frémaux, programmer of the Cannes Festival, and Pierre Lescure, President, released today the names of the films that would've been screened at Cannes this year, had the event taken place. As we all know, the world went tits up in March, everything got canceled because of a wayward virus, including the Festival, and Donald Trump recently held a Bible ... more >
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#cannes2020 is dead. Long live #cannes2020
The films from this year's selection were announced today
PREVIEW: “Blood Rider”
We haven't seen this yet, but it caught our eye (and we will talk about it on Screen Comment very soon). From director Jon Kasbe (he previously directed "When lambs become lions") comes this new drama about a motorcycle rider who transports that rarest of packages: blood. Amidst a blood shortage crisis and terrible traffic jams all day every day in Nigeria, it can take over twenty-four hours to ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL – The sun sets on 73*
Some parting words on an edition that sadly wasn't
It's Sunday, May 24th. Normally I would've been be at the Cannes Festival for the 73* edition, the first of this new decade, hunkered down in the press room, gulping my umpteenth cup of coffee, with friends and colleagues, typing out the final reviews of this 2020 edition, running communication with others working from their hotel rooms, getting confirmations, or denials, about the latest rumor ... more >
PREVIEW: “The Vast of the Night”
Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, Bruce Davis and Gail Cronauer
Directed by Andrew Patterson
In the twilight of the fifties, on one fateful night in New Mexico, a young winsome switchboard operator Fay (played by Sierra McCormick) and a charismatic radio DJ Everett (Jake Horowitz) discover a strange audio frequency that could change their small town and the future forever. Dropped phone calls, AM radio signals, secret reels of tape forgotten in a library, switchboards, crossed patchlines ... more >
NEWS: Celine’s artistic director Hedi Slimane curates selection of films on Mubi
A panel that shows diversity and versatility
Besides being passionate about music, Hedi Slimane (featured image) is also fascinated with cinema. The artistic director of Celine has teamed up with Mubi to offer up his own selection of cult films and Hollywood gold, a welcome respite from the daily grind from the couch to the fridge and then to the washer-dryer. Slimane's personal festival includes, "Pierrot Le Fou," "Night Tide," "Paris, ... more >
OPINION: #cannesfestival2020, an enigma wrapped in mystery with a cliffhanger that’s … never coming?
The festival's latest press release about when and how it will take place this year is a strange bird
And now, for the Cannes Festival press release that announces little, leaves much to speculation and wraps up with a note of mystery while flirting with contradiction--and causes much collective eye-rolling in people, one would assume? It did in me, at least. I am rolling my eyes right now, at this strange bird of a message received in my inbox at 6 p.m. Paris time this Tuesday. It began ... more >
PREVIEW: Boring down on US-China relations with “Better Angels”
Beyond misperceptions, a mutual understanding?
On January 29th, 1979, President Jimmy Carter and Chinese Deputy Premier Deng Xiaoping signed historic accords, reversing years of U.S. opposition to China. But now, on the forty-year anniversary of this normalization, the U.S. and China are at the threshold of what many fear is a new cold war. “Better Angels,” a documentary directed by two-time Academy Award winner Malcolm Clarke, explores the ... more >