Cannes Film Festival 2021 Lineup To Feature Wes Anderson, Sean Penn, Leox Carax And Others
The Cannes Film Festival on Thursday unveiled a lineup of films from big-name auteurs — including Wes Anderson, Asghar Farhadi, Mia Hansen-Love and Sean Penn
The
Cannes
Film
Festival
on
Thursday
unveiled
a
lineup
of
films
from
big-name
auteurs
—
including
Wes
Anderson,
Asghar
Farhadi,
Mia
Hansen-Love
and
Sean
Penn
—
for
its
74th
edition,
an
in-person,
summertime
event
that
aims
to
make
a
stirring
return
in
July
after
being
cancelled
last
year
because
of
the
pandemic.
Among
the
films
that
will
be
competing
for
Cannes'
Palme
d'Or
are
the
festival
opener,
Annette,
by
Leox
Carax
and
starring
Adam
Driver
and
Marion
Cotillard;
Anderson's
The
French
Dispatch,
a
film
originally
set
to
premiere
in
Cannes
last
year
with
an
ensemble
cast
including
Timothee
Chalamet;
Red
Rocket,
Sean
Baker's
follow-up
to
his
acclaimed
The
Florida
Project;
Paul
Verhoeven's
Benedetta;
and
Sean
Penn's
Flag
Day,
in
which
he
stars
alongside
his
daughter,
Dylan
Penn,
as
a
conman.
Pierre
Lescure,
president
of
the
festival,
and
Thierry
Fremaux,
artistic
director,
announced
the
Cannes'
lineup
at
the
UGC
Normandie
theatre
in
Paris
in
a
live-streamed
event
that
was
part
press
conference
and
part
pep
rally
for
world
cinema.
"Cinema
is
not
dead.
The
extraordinary
and
triumphant
return
of
the
audience
to
movie
theatres
in
France
and
around
the
world
was
the
first
good
news," said
Fremaux.
"I
hope
the
film
festival
will
be
the
second
very
good
news.”
As
cinema's
preeminent
global
stage,
the
annual
French
Riviera
extravaganza
is
hoping
to
make
a
triumphant
comeback
when
it
runs
July
6
to
17
—
two
months
later
than
its
usual
May
perch.
But
many
things
will
be
different
at
this
year's
festival.
Attendees
will
be
masked
inside
theatres
and
required
to
show
proof
of
full
vaccination
or
a
recent
negative
COVID-19
test.
Cannes'
famed
red
carpet
leading
up
to
the
stairs
of
the
Palais
des
Festivals
will
resume
in
full,
but
with
tweaks
to
the
traditional
pageantry.
"We're
used
to
kissing
one
another
at
the
top
of
the
stairs.
We
will
not
kiss
one
another," said
Fremaux.
Still,
there
are
many
questions
leading
up
to
a
Cannes
that
will
unfold
just
as
France
is
reopening
and
loosening
restrictions.
Audience
capacity
limitations
will
be
removed
just
five
days
before
the
festival
opens.
Concern
over
a
new
virus
strain
led
France
last
week
to
institute
a
seven-day
quarantine
for
travellers
arriving
from
the
United
Kingdom
—
a
potential
blow
to
the
British
film
industry
that
regularly
decamps
to
Cannes.
For
such
an
international
festival
as
Cannes,
many
other
travel
regulations
could
pose
complications.
Fremaux
acknowledged
some
filmmakers
may
not
be
able
to
attend.
The
movie
market
that
typical
runs
in
tandem
with
the
festival
and
draws
much
of
the
film
industry
for
a
week
of
frenzied
deal-making,
will
be
held
virtually
in
late
June.
But
the
Cannes
program,
while
perhaps
lacking
a
Hollywood
title
as
anticipated
as
Quentin
Tarantino's
Once
Upon
a
Time
in
Hollywood
(an
entry
in
2019,
when
Bong
Joon
Ho's
Parasite
won
the
Palme),
was
praised
as
top-class.
It
includes
former
Palme
d'Or
winners
Jacques
Audiard
(Paris
13th
District)
and
Apichatpong
Weerasethakul
(Memoria,
starring
Tilda
Swinton).
Four
of
the
24
films
in
competition
are
directed
by
women,
a
low
percentage
but
one
that
ties
the
festival's
previous
top
mark.
That
includes
new
films
from
Mia
Hansen-Love
("Bergman
Island" with
Mia
Wasikowska,
Tim
Roth
and
Vicky
Krieps)
and
Hungarian
filmmaker
Ildiko
Enyedi.
Cannes
has
previously
refused
to
play
in
competition
any
film
that
doesn't
have
a
theatrical
release
in
France,
leading
to
an
impasse
with
Netflix.
Though
other
movie
institutions
like
the
Academy
Awards
have
bended
theatrical
rules
during
the
pandemic,
Cannes
has
not.
Among
the
standouts
playing
out
of
competition,
or
in
Cannes'
new
Cannes
Premiere
are:
Andrea
Arnold's
Cow;
Todd
Haynes'
documentary
The
Velvet
Underground;
Tom
McCarthy's
Stillwater;
and
the
Oliver
Stone
documentary
JFK:
Through
the
Looking
Glass.
Spike
Lee,
who
debuted
Do
the
Right
Thing
at
Cannes
in
1989,
will
preside
over
the
jury
selecting
the
Palme
d'Or
winner.
He's
the
first
Black
person
to
ever
head
the
Cannes
jury.
At
the
opening
ceremony,
an
honorary
Palme
will
be
given
to
Jodie
Foster,
who
first
came
to
Cannes
as
a
13-year-old
for
the
premiere
of
Martin
Scorsese's
Taxi
Driver.
Speaking
to
The
Associated
Press
after
the
press
conference,
Fremaux
said
it
will
be
"the
ultimate
Cannes."
"It
will
be
something
special.
In
five
years
people
will
be
asking,
'Were
you
in
Cannes
in
2021?'
and
people
would
say,
'No
I
wasn't.'
'Oh
you
weren't?
That's
a
pity.
It
was
really
great,'"
said
Fremaux.
"It's
going
to
be
a
special
Cannes."