If you just focused on
the main competition films at Cannes, you'd see plenty of great movies, but you'd miss out on the many smaller treasures on offer in sidebar slates like Directors» Fortnight and Critics» Week.
On Sunday they replayed all of
the main competition films for standard badge - holders so I managed to cram in another 5 of the «big» films.
Not exact matches
Searchlight's
main competition has been Focus Features, the prestige
film division of Universal, which this year racked up an impressive 14 nominations for «Phantom Thread» and «Darkest Hour.»
As always, some of the strongest
films in Cannes could be found outside the
main competition, and a few of them duly won prizes from their respective juries.
His
main competition comes from SAG winner Denzel Washington, who directs himself in the
film version of August Wilson's Tony - winning play «Fences,» as a Pittsburgh ex-baseball slugger turned garbage man who is angry at the world.
The two
main -
competition films from Netflix, Bong Joon Ho's «Okja» and Noah Baumbach's «The Meyerowitz Stories,» also went unrewarded amidst controversy over the streaming service's presence at the festival.
Of the French
films in
competition, the best was unfairly squeezed out of the
main competition slate and ended up in Directors» Fortnight.
After her third appearance in the Un Certain Regarde, Amour Fou really showcases Hausner's talent and is one of those
films which felt misplaced in its sidebar, fitting in
main competition.
At this year's Locarno Festival, (recently renewed) artistic director Carlos Chatrian similarly declared that he foresaw increasing numbers of women filmmakers in the
competitions of major festivals and that he was especially proud to tout, in Locarno's
main competition section (with 17 world premieres), eight women directors.1 And Locarno's outcome, amid an impressively deep
competition pool, was unexpectedly different: although I, Daniel Blake did win the audience award of the Festival's mainstream Piazza Grande section, a female writer / director, Ralitza Petrova, took the festival's top prize for her brooding and bleak Bulgarian
film Godless.
There followed a host of quality
films, though our favourite two choices both played outside of the
main competition, meaning there was no chance of snaffling the Palme d'Or for them.
«Cold War» Pawel Pawlikowski (
Main Competition) Pawlikowski's last
film, «Ida,» won the foreign - language Oscar, and stills from this
film have the same gorgeous black - and - white look and disconcerting, nearly square aspect ratio.
In all there are 21
films in the
main competition all vying for the coveted Palme d'Or.
The
film played in the Un Certain Regard section (but should have been in the
main competition) and is eligible for the festival's Camera d'Or prize (for best first
film) and the Queer Palm (for
films by or about LGBTQ stories), the only
film playing with that distinction.
Based on an illustrated young - adult novel by Brian Selznick, the
film premiered in May in the
main competition at the 2017 Cannes
Film Festival, where it received mixed but generally positive reviews.
The jury, of course, is too busy watching the 17
films in the
main competition to follow some of the other sections such as «New Directors,» a complete retrospective of that whimsical purveyor of modern fairy tales, Jacques Demy, and «The American Way of Death,» a vast program of 40 crime movies from 1990 to 2011.
Under the jury president, Jane Campion, the best
films so far in
main competition here have revolved around female characters — complex, imperfect, beautifully drawn these leading roles offer up a counter to the majority of
films that get paid attention to here in the US, on the festival and awards circuit leading up to the Oscars.
The
film was previously announced as part of the
main competition at the upcoming Venice International
Film Festival.
Based on the life of dramatist Heinrich von Kleist, that ended in a double suicide with his lover, the
film shot back in February of last year, so no doubt it's ready and Hausner is must be hoping to return with it to Cannes for the fourth time — though this may represent her best chance yet to crack into the
main competition line - up.
As usual, many of the predicted auteur
films which didn't make Fremaux's final cut for the
main competition or Un Certain Regard could be fair game to turn up here, although many a notable name has been known to hold off for a higher berth premiere out of Venice.
Still, what The Avengers: Age of Ultron offers is a charming look at the
main team as they work together and compete against one another (a
competition amongst them to lift Thor's hammer offers a few chuckles during the
film's more dialogue - driven moments.
But given that it won the Special Jury Prize, and that most onlookers called it a better
film than many in
Competition, expect the Russian helmer to be back in the
main lineup this time around.
Cannes has announced that one of the
main films playing at the 68th Festival de Cannes this May will be George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road - playing out of
competition of course.
One of three female directors (versus 17 men) in the
main competition, Andrea Arnold makes grimy, tough movies; her first
film set in the United States deals with a runaway teenage girl and features Shia LaBeouf.
Xavier Dolan's sixth
film is his fifth to go to Cannes, and his second in the
main competition after last year's daring «Mommy.»
Directed by Ben and Josh Safdie, the
film was a highlight of the festival, with our own A.A. Dowd declaring Pattinson's performance as a twitchy bank robber attempting to engineer his brother's release from police custody the most deserving for the
Main Competition's best actor prize.
In 1993 Leigh entered the
main competition for the first time and walked away with the Best Director, helping David Thewlis earn Best Actor for the same
film, the irreproachable Naked.
It premiered in
main competition at Berlinale 2017, where it won the Silver Bear for best screenplay and the Teddy Award for best
film with LGBT subject matter.
Babai, a debut
film written and directed by Visar Morina has had an immense success, having its international premier in Karlovy Vary the
film won best directing in
main competition in Karlovy Vary.
Meanwhile, Terence Stamp, who is starring in Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, has criticised the festival for not including the
film in the
main competition.
Speaking on the process of movie selection and shortlisting, Emirati writer and filmmaker Manal Bin Amro, said: «The
main challenge was the large number of entries received from many countries and filmmakers, and also the multitude of excellent
films in terms of production, content and cinematic creativity, which created a deep discussion to sincerely try to come up with unbiased and fair results based on a comprehensive cinematic vision that takes into consideration the general approach and categories of the
competition.»