Come July 6, the Cannes Film Festival’s 74th edition will begin physical screenings. At least, this is what we are being told today, although France is still under a lockdown and most parts of the world are still reeling under the Coronavirus pandemic. India is particularly bad, although there are faint rays of hope now in some parts.
Despite all this, the Festival that happens in ones of the most scenic spots of the world, French Riviera, will not even think about having a digital format, because the administration, headed by Thierry Fremaux, feels that movies must be watched on the big screen. This hard stand, as some will argue, cost him his Festival last year; it could not be held.
Nobody seems to have a clue how the Festival will hold the 12-day event, given that there are 4500 journalists alone plus thousands of other professionals, including those who attend the Market, probably the biggest in the world. Venice, at best, comes close, but its numbers are way below Cannes’ with just about 1500 media persons.
Be that as it may, there is, as usual, enormous enthusiasm among filmmakers to showcase their creations. And here is a list of some probables.
The French Dispatch: Wes Anderson’s star-studded drama narrates the story of a fictitious American publication in France, and what happens to the staff there. Oscar-winner Frances McDormand (Nomadland), Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson play in this.
Pig: Nicolas Cage is a solitary truffle hunter who goes looking for his beloved pig after she is kidnapped in a work helmed by Michael Sanrosksi, his first feature.
Red Rocket: Sean Baker may return to the Croisette (Cannes’ beach front, where the main screening venue, Palace de Festival is located) after his The Florida Project screened in the 2017 Directors’ Fortnight (a sidebar which runs along the main Festival). The movie focusses on a spent porn star, who goes back home in Texas, but nobody there is happy to welcome him.
Flag Day: This thriller comes from Sean Penn’s stable, and centres on a man who leads a secret life as a bank robber and con artist in order to take care of his daughter. Penn himself portrays the father, while his daughter, Dylan Penn, essays his screen child.
The Lost Daughter: Again a directorial debut. Maggie Gyllenhaal gets behind the camera in an adaptation of an Elena Ferrante work (she has always been hugely popular). Olivia Coleman (The Father) plays a woman traumatised by memories of early motherhood. This film also has Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris and Peter Sarsgaard.
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon: This Ana Lily Amirpoor’s fantasy thriller was to have been at Venice last year, but may now make a Cannes bow. A plot about a girl with special powers who runs away to New Orleans, the movie has among its cast Kate Hudson and South Korean actor Jeon Jong-seo.
More titles may emerge as we get closer to May 27, the day when Cannes will announce its official list.
But some say that enquiries for possible inclusion have been fewer this time; there are more coming for Venice, which is slated for a September 2 opening.
These are unpredictable times. And this reminds me of a famous song – Que Sera Sera (What Will Be Will Be. The Future Is Not Ours To Say…) from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much, sung by Doris Day!
(Author, movie critic Gautaman Bhaskaran has covered the Cannes Film Festival for almost three decades)
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