Film festival season is in full swing with artists from all over the world taking their movies to audiences in France, Italy, the US, and everywhere else. The recently concluded Cannes Film Festival in France brought all the regular glory with it, along with many fantastic movies. If you happen to be interested in movies, festival news is something you have to keep up with. Obviously with so much going on, it takes a lot of time to find the news that matters to you. To help you with that we have compiled the five most important news items that need to be in your knowledge.
Japanese Film Concerning Poverty Woos Cannes
Japanese drama Shoplifters (万引き家族) took the 2018 Palme D’Or home. Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Shoplifters is a family drama that involves a Japanese family living in near poverty and how they shoplift to make ends meet. It’s a fantastic drama that showcases a family facing adversity and economic difficulties, and highlights just how the hidden poor in Japan cope with their situation. The film earned rave reviews and a very long standing applause from those attending the screening. In competition Jury president, Cate Blanchett, hailed the movie and commented at how well the director’s vision and the performances were intermeshed. According to her, the Jury were “completely bowled” by the movie. Shoplifters is Japan’s first Palme D’Or since 1997.
Netflix Gets the Snub from Cannes
This year at Cannes was supposed to be historic, with the legendary film festival allowing streaming service Netflix to premiere its exclusive movies in competition. However, the festival’s management decided to not allow Netflix’s films in the in competition category but allow them to compete in other categories. All of this led to Netflix boycotting Cannes entirely and not having their films premiere in any category whatsoever. Movies such as Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, Paul Greengrass’ Norway, and Orson Welles’ final posthumous release weren’t available for Cannes attendees. Quite a loss.
Newcomer Pavel Slanina Nabs Indiefest Nod
Pavel Slanina shocked many by taking Indiefest Film Award for Best Leading Actor – Male, for his role in short film The Truth. Written by Slanina as well, The Truth happens to be the story of a young man reminiscing in a therapy session about a family murder he once witnessed. Slanina’s performance has vowed many, earning him the prestigious award. This brings him in the company of people like Liam Neeson and George Clooney, both winners at IndieFest. A lot is expected from Slanina in the coming future, with the Indiefest award the first in a very long list.
Cannes Launches Sexual Harassment Hotline
Taking inspiration from #MeToo and Time’s Up movements spreading all over the world from Hollywood, Cannes this year launched a sexual harassment hotline. The festival, called the “hunting ground” for notoriously disgraced film executive Harvey Weinstein, announced its support for the movements and for gender parity. The hotline was launched to make sure that any person who feels that they are being sexually harassed can complain straight away, with action being taken against the person harassing them. On the first day of the festival, 82 women from all over Hollywood staged a protest and let their voices be heard.
Star Wars Makes its Way to Cannes
Perhaps the biggest film franchise of all time, Star Wars finally came to Cannes this year. Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story officially premiered worldwide in the Out of Competition category at Cannes. An origin story about a young Han Solo, the movie has had its fair share of production woes, but it still caused quite a stir among the festival’s attendees. The makers of the movie are highly optimistic about it and it has also been receiving positive views from critics. After its premiere at Cannes, Solo debuted at the top of the US and worldwide box office. The people behind Solo expressed their honor at being able to take their film to Cannes.
