May 14 will be the grand opening of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival. For the first time in the history of film screenings, a jury was headed by a cinematographer from Latin America - Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro González Inarritu (“The Survivor”, “Birdman”).

The jury consisted of four men and four women - such a balance of power can be considered a tribute to the current topic of gender equality. The judges represent seven countries: Italy, France, Mexico, Poland, USA, Senegal and Greece.

The youngest member of the jury was the 21-year-old Hollywood actress El Fanning ("The Disappearance of Sydney Hall"). Evaluate the picture with her will be one of the winners of the film festival in 2018 - Polish director Pavel Pavlikovsky, who received the prize for the tape "Cold War".

The official poster of the festival in 2019 is dedicated to the director Agnès Ward, who died in March at the age of 90. On the poster, she is captured young - during the filming of her first movie "Pointe-Kurt."

One of the main intrigues of film screenings was the possible participation in it of Cannes' favorite, director Quentin Tarantino. The media wrote that the eminent director did not have time to complete the installation of his new tape "Once in Hollywood" in time. But in the end, to everyone's pleasure, the picture with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead roles will not only be shown at the festival, but will compete for the main award.

The film tells about actor Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and stuntman Cliff Bute (Pitt), who dream of breaking into the world of big cinema. The tape takes place in the late 1960s - after the sunset of the era, called the golden age of Hollywood.

Veterans of the festival are back in service


In addition to the Tarantino film, another 20 tapes entered the main competition of the festival. Among them are the works of such famous directors as Ken Loach (“Kes”), Terrence Malick (“The Thin Red Line”), Jim Jarmusch (“Broken Flowers”), brothers Luke and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (“Silence of Lorna”) and Pedro Almodovar ("Talk to her"). All of them in different years became laureates of the Cannes Film Festival, and some of them - more than once.

Jarmusch will present the zombie comedy The Dead Do Not Die, with a rather impressive cast: Bill Murray and Steve Bushemi and even Iggy Pop took part in the film. In the story of a small town capturing crowds of zombies. Three policemen and the undertaker resist the undead. The picture is not only entered into the main competition, but will be shown at the opening of the festival.

The protagonist of Pedro Almodovar’s film “Pain and Glory” is the director of a creative crisis, Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas). Memories take him away in the 1960s - the days of his childhood, which he spent in the small town of Paterna in Valencia. Mallo recalls his mother (Penelope Cruz), childhood dreams, first hobbies and great love that came to him already in Madrid 1980s.

As noted by Almodovar, his personal memories also went to the script, so the film can be considered partially autobiographical. Music for the tape was written by a long-time friend and colleague of the director Alberto Iglesias.

The painting The Secret Life by Terrence Malik is based on real events and tells the story of Austrian Franz Egerstetter (August Diel), whom the Roman Catholic Church canonized. Jägerstätter opposed the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany and refused any cooperation with the new authorities. In December 1940, he joined the Franciscan Order and subsequently served at the local church.

In 1943, in the course of the regular mobilization, Egerstet called for the army to fight in the ranks of the Wehrmacht. He refused, saying that the war is contrary to his faith, and offered to send him to work as an orderly at a military hospital. The authorities accused him of sabotage, arrested him and sentenced him to death by guillotine.

Filming took place from July to August 2016, but the installation lasted for two years.

  • Frame from the film "The Secret Life"
  • © Frame from the film "The Secret Life" (2019)

Stylistically, “The Secret Life” will be different from the previous films of Malik. If earlier the script was only an indication of the general direction, and not a guide to action, then this time, the director promises, the picture will have a clearer structure.

The Dardenne brothers in their eleventh film “Young Ahmed” took up a very painful topic for modern Europe - the problem of migration and Islamic fundamentalism. The main character is a Belgian schoolboy Ahmed, who fell under the influence of the preachers of the radical form of Islam. Guided by extremist ideas, he plans to kill his teacher.

British cinema master Ken Loach brought the painting “Sorry, we missed you” to Cannes. The main characters are a married couple Ricky (Chris Hitchen) and Abby (Debbie Honeywood) Turner. They have two children. He works as a laborer, she cares for the sick. Spouses are hardworking, but they understand that they will never make money on their own home and pay off the debts that have been hanging on them since the 2008 financial crisis. Ricky decides to start his own business and do the transportation of goods, for which the family buys a minivan. The new work of the husband moves the spouses away from each other, and this becomes a test for their family.

Russian films


This year, Russian paintings did not make it to the main competition of the festival, however, some domestic tapes were selected in other programs.

So, the tape of Kantemir Balagov "Dilda" got into the contest "Special Look". The painting is based on the book of the Belarusian writer Svetlana Alekseevich “The war has a non-female face”. The tape takes place in post-war Leningrad. In the center of the narration are two women, in whose souls the war left deep wounds.

Balagov studied directing from Alexander Sokurov and is not the first time participating in the Cannes Film Festival. In 2017, his film "Tightness" was also selected in "Special Look." The director did not take the main award in his section, but he did not leave empty-handed, having received the prize of the International Film Press Federation (FIPRESCI).

  • Shot from the movie "Dilda"
  • © Frame from the film “Dilda” (2019)

The second Russian film in the section "Special Look" - a picture of the director Larisa Sadilova "Once in Trubchevsk." As the name implies, the tape takes place in Trubchevsk, a small town in the Bryansk region. The script is based on a love story that the director found in real life. A lot of non-professional actors from among the residents of Trubchevsk were filmed in the tape. This is Sadilova’s seventh film, but she’s invited to the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. The Russian premiere of “Once in Trubchevsk” will take place at the Kinotavr festival in Sochi.

Another Russian film in Cannes is the short film "Complicated" directed by Olesya Yakovleva. The tape hit the Cinefondation section, where films made by film school students are selected - it was created to support young filmmakers.

According to Yakovleva, it’s not easy to describe the plot of the tape, as the name of the film should testify to. The lead role in the film was performed by the vocalist of the group from Novokuznetsk Shortparis Nikolay Komyagin.

The film “Give Me Freedom” (directed by Kirill Mikhanovsky) to Russia is indirect. She was completely filmed in the United States and tells of several generations of immigrants from Russia living in the state of Wisconsin. The film was included in the program “Directors' Double Week”.

The results of the festival and the names of the winners will be announced on May 25 at the closing ceremony. However, the name of one laureate is already known: for his contribution to the cinema "Golden Palm" will receive the French actor Alain Delon.