Even before having started, it is a certainty.
This 2021 Cannes Film Festival will be historic and will be unlike any other.
After the cataclysm of the coronavirus which had prevented the holding of the meeting of the cinephiles on the Croisette - never seen since the scuttling of the vintage 1968 -, this 74th edition even has a scent of revenge, of victory over adversity.
A reunion in "small committee"
A Cannes Film Festival in July is unheard of. Cautious organizers Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux had planned for the fall of 2020 three scenarios depending on the resumption of the pandemic: a festival in May as usual, a demonstration in July or, at worst, in September. This last solution would have put the Croisette in direct competition with the eternal competitor the Venice Film Festival, which did not have to endure a blank year. Finally, it is the decline in the number of covid contaminations that allowed the festival to be held from July 6 to 17.
Directors, producers and actors will live together and compete for the beaches with vacationers and swimmers who each year seek oblivion and relaxation on the Riviera.
It may be difficult to find accommodation but for the local economy stricken by the pandemic, the return of festival-goers to Cannes on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea sounds like a resurrection, even if there will not be 40,000 as in 2019, but probably half as much.
Travel restrictions linked to the coronavirus have discouraged many Hollywood, Latin American, Asian and Russian regulars.
Spike Lee at the rendezvous
Spike Lee and his AFP jurors
Invited by the delegate general Thierry Frémaux to chair the 2020 edition which never could take place, the African-American director wanted to come back a year later. He will be surrounded by an eclectic jury, mostly female and French-speaking, already awarded at Cannes. Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2019 jury prize for his sci-fi thriller
Bacurau
, his Senegalese counterparts Mati Diop (Grand Prix in 2019 for
Atlantic
) and Austrian Jessica Hausner
(
his
Little Joe
left with the prize female interpretation
)
. The actress, but also American producer, screenwriter and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, who had lit
World Trade Center,
The Dark Knight
or
Crazy Heart,
will rub shoulders with Song Kang-ho, memorable in
Bong Joon-ho's
Parasite
.
Joining this team of international talents are three French figures who will surprise more than one.
Actress Mélanie Laurent, actor Tahar Rahim and singer Mylène Farmer, figure of French pop culture.
A combat edition, the omnipresent French
Among the 24 films competing for the Palme d'Or, many
"have a fever, a fighting force and, added to each other, will allow us (...) perhaps even more this year, to make a nice trip. Our directors are whistleblowers and evoke the mystery of the couple, the idea of losing everything linked to our global crisis, the idea of leaving, the weapons, the tribulations of the youth of southern countries
, ”summarizes Thierry Frémaux. These themes in touch with current events should pique the curiosity of Spike Lee to the militant filmography rich in shock works to raise awareness in the face of racism.
The competition counts prestigious filmmakers, some already crowned in Cannes such as the Italian Nanni Moretti (
Tre Piani
), Jacques Audiard (Les Olympiades), or Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his first film in English outside Thailand (
Memoria
), with Tilda Swinton and Jeanne Balibar.
It also honors artists like the Moroccan Nabil Ayouch, whose film
Haut et Fort takes
the pulse of Moroccan youth, or Kirill Serebrennikov (
The Petrovs, the flu, etc.).
His chair should remain empty because it is forbidden to leave Russian territory.
Sophie Marceau, André Dussollier, Géraldine Pailhas will defend in competition Everything went well for François Ozon at the end of his life.
Diaphana
French filmmakers take the lion's share with more than a third of the films in competition: eight.
A record.
The pandemic has encouraged Americans to keep their most prominent titles like
Dune
for Venice, in the hope that the coronavirus will continue to decline on the Old Continent.
The date of the Mostra in September also makes it a perfect launching pad for the Oscar race.
Only Red Rocket by Sean Baker,
The French Dispatch
with Timothée Chalamet and Flag Day with Sean Penn will represent Hollywood.
As for the directors, they are always in the minority to claim the palm.
The counter remains blocked at four, including three happy elected tricolors: Mia Hansen-Love, Catherine Corsini and Julia Ducournau.
Music in the spotlight
La Croisette will also catch your ears: the Festival de Cannes is playing a very musical score this year, which honors rock and rap legends. An extraordinary filmmaker meets a legendary group: from the opening of the festival on July 6, the film
Annette
sets the
scene
. Behind the camera, the unclassifiable Leos Carax (
Les Amants du Pont-Neuf
). In front, the stars Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver, and in the scenario as in the music, the unclassifiable Californian duo Sparks, figure of the alternative scene since the 1970s.
The Larrieu brothers also embark on musical comedy with Tralala, with Mélanie Thierry, Maïwenn, Josiane Balasko and Mathieu Amalric playing the ukulele. The Velvet Underground is at the heart of the documentary by Todd Haynes, author of
Velvet Goldmine
, inspired by David Bowie, and
I'm not There
, on Bob Dylan. The film promises to mix interviews and exclusive images of the time. Charlotte Gainsbourg moves on to directing with
Jane par Charlotte
, an intimate multi-year documentary about her mother, Jane Birkin. NTM Co-Founder JoeyStarr Could Climb the Steps for
This Music Doesn't Play For Anyone
, by Samuel Benchetrit, where he meets another musician from the cinema: Vanessa Paradis.
He could also pass a head to the projection, in midnight session, of a biopic on the beginnings of his legendary formation of the French rap, Suprêmes.
An abundance of dizzying films
More than 150 feature films from all sections (official competition, Cannes Premieres, Cinema for the Climate, Un Certain Regard, Midnight Sessions, Directors 'Fortnight, Critics' Week, Cannes Classics, Cinéfondation) which will be offered to looks from festival-goers.
The latter will have to make painful trade-offs.
It is much more than usual, as if to alleviate the shortage of last year.
Un Certain Regard and La Quinzaine refocus on the first or second films of little-known and emerging filmmakers.
A handful of stars despite everything
No Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio this year.
But Jodie Foster, Sean Penn, Matt Damon are expected on the red carpet.
Just like the pillars of the 7th French art: Catherine Deneuve (whose first appearance since her stroke), Marion Cotillard, Camille Cottin, Valérie Lemercier, Jean Dujardin who will present in closing the latest adventures of her OSS 117. The cast of
The French Dispatch
should offer beautiful moments to photographers: Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Léa Seydoux, Mathieu Amalric or the Franco-American Timothée Chalamet.
However pandemic requires, the small troop of Wes Anderson will not stay in Cannes but a few kilometers away to avoid the crowds.
A green festival
Ecology and the fight against global warming are at the heart of this edition.
In addition to the dedicated Cinema for the Climate section - one fiction and six documentaries -, the organizers are asking for a contribution from festival-goers for the first time.
Twenty-four euros per person credited for environmental protection and offsetting carbon emissions.
The sums collected will be entirely donated to carbon offset programs, within the framework of the new environmental policy of the Cannes Film Festival.
The shadow of the coronavirus still hangs
Health crisis requires, each festival-goer must either have received their two doses of vaccines or be tested every 48 hours to access the Palais des Festivals. The masks may only and briefly fall on the red carpet when the stars pose for the photographers. The pandemic has also had the skin of the great festivals and sleepless nights in Cannes. The evenings promise to be more exclusive, with very limited gauges: sit-down dinners for around a hundred people, cocktail dinners, select interludes on the Martinez terrace. The outbreak of the delta variant may lead to the enactment of new rules during the festival.
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