Thursday, May 22, 2014

Cannes Days


Goodbye to Language was one of the films I haven’t mentioned yesterday which unlike Michel Hazanavicius’ underwhelming reception, is being well received. But is there another way to receive Jean Luc Godard? I don’t think there’s another way but the way of exploration and personal meaning, there’s no good or too bad in his films, there shouldn’t be a sort classification. I mean what am I talking about; the classification in general is already a pretty weird thing. So that’s probably one of the ways to go. It’s about exploring and finding meaningful lines in the mix of a personal, intellectual and artistic experimental process that Jean Luc Godard is known for. His Goodbye to Language is only 69 minutes long but I’m sure there are plenty of details to contemplate. Sometimes underneath it all, things can be quite direct and on the open…but what do I know?


The Salt of the Earth is another film I haven’t mentioned yet but I’m so very interested in. There’s only so much going on with this festival. It’s the new documentary by Wim Wenders about one of the most famous and accomplished traveling photographers in the world, Sebastião Salgado. When one thinks of Wim Wenders and documentaries one can only be anxious for something purely sophisticated, beautiful and thoughtful. The film is co-directed with Sebastião Salgado’s son Juliano Ribeiro Salgado.
The Salt of the Earth is in Un Certain Regard.


Misunderstood, Un Certain Regard.
Asia Argento is back at Cannes! But this time she has a film actually competing. And I need to take a look at her new film, sounds both weird and fun. Misunderstood also sounds personal. Just by the title.
Charlotte Gainsbourg stars in Misunderstood. Asia Argento has been a huge admirer of Charlotte. She had previously worked in a film with her but didn’t had any scenes together, Asia even said she stole Charlotte’s Polaroids that were in the trailer; and she later was member of the jury when they gave Charlotte the award for Best Actress. Of course everyone would like to work with a talented artist as Charlotte Gainsbourg.


“The quest for innovation has to take place in short films and in a director’s first films.” 
Abbas Kiarostami.

The Cinéfondation Selection winners were announced today. It consisted of 16 student films, chosen out of 1,631 entries coming from 457 film schools around the world. The head of the jury was Abbas Kiarostami, and the rest of the members were Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Noémie Lvovsky, Daniela Thomas and Joachim Trier.

Here are the prizes:
First Prize:
"Skunk,"directed by Annie Silverstein from the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Second Prize:
"Oh Lucy!" directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi from NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia, Singapore.
Joint Third Prize:
"Lievito Madre,"  directed by Fulvio Risuleo from Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy.
Joint Third Prize:
"The Bigger PIcture," directed by Daisy Jacobs National Film and Television School, United Kingdom.

These winners will receive €15,000 for the First Prize, €11,250 for the Second and €7,500 for the Third. 
The First Prize winner is also guaranteed that his first feature film will be presented at the Festival de Cannes.


Semaine de la Critique
The winner:
The film is called The Tribe. It’s a first feature from a Ukrainian director called Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy.
Here’s a resume of the film – it is a story about young students, in their boarding school for deaf, where a new student is just starting to fit in this place. There’s desire and conflicts between the youngsters. They’re all deaf. The curious aspect of this film is that it has no subtitles, no voice over no dialogue. But besides this superb and pretty rare challenge, it seems The Tribe, as a whole, is a brilliant film.
There must be so much to contemplate. I’m here and I’m thinking about a lot of details about this film. There’s only so much to be look for. The challenge of following this story, these young people when you can’t understand what they’re saying; just here there’s such a great space for exploration and a unique way to look at a story, the different way we need to position ourselves, for example. What an interesting idea. I can’t wait to look at it.


Still in competition:
Mommy

I think Xavier Dolan's new film just became everyone's dearest film at this year's selection, I mean, along with the opener Mr. Turner. Even Jessica Chastain tweeted about it.

Completely blown away by @XDolan. His film, MOMMY was so impressive

Xavier Dolan and his women:
Suzanne Clement and Anne Dorval. 


Jury of the Un Certain Regard.

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