The session will be as long as a winter in Winterfell ... For its 45th edition, the festival of American cinema Deauville will screen on the big screen of the Morny the 70 hours that make up the entirety of the famous series "Game of Thrones". Rest assured: the broadcast of the 72 episodes of the medieval epic will not be done in a single stroke but will be spread over the duration of the festival, one season per day (there are eight) . Make no mistake: no new scene or exclusive bonus will be shown. Clearly, those who have already seen the show on television (or on a streaming platform) will discover nothing more than the pleasure of seeing the "Purple Wedding" or the "Battle of the Bastards" in XXL format (which , in itself, constitutes a spectator experience). In fact, the event is aimed less at moviegoers already acquired in cinemas than younger generations more attracted to the small screen than the big one. "Game of Thrones" as a product of appeal ...
The operation will also benefit from a luxury patronage in the person of Sophie Turner, aka Sansa Stark, one of the flagship protagonists of the series. The young British actress will be present in Deauville not to present one by one each episode of the series but to receive the prize "New Hollywood" which, each year, distinguishes a rising star of cinema made in USA (Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain, for example, are both laureates).
Sexism in Hollywood
Sophie Turner will not be the only Hollywood darling present in Deauville. Kristen Stewart will also travel to Normandy to present "Seberg", the biopic of actress Jean Seberg, of which she holds the title role, and "JT LeRoy", based on the true story of a literary sham. In passing, the former star of the saga "Twilight" will also receive a reward, the "Deauville Talent Award" which, since last year, honors the career of several actresses or actors. Will also be distinguished this year: Pierce Brosnan, Sienna Miller and Geena Davis. Leading figure in the fight against sex in Hollywood, the heroine of the cult "Thelma and Louise" will also present as producer "This Changes Everything" documentary Tom Donahue in which Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman or Sharon Stone evokes the under-representation of women in the decision-making bodies of the film industry.
The film is already announced as one of the highlights of this 2019 edition where women will be at the forefront, like its two juries, that of the competition and that of the revelations, which will be chaired respectively by the actresses Catherine Deneuve and Anna Mouglalis. Because, like the festivals of Cannes or Venice, the French showcase of the American cinema, it is also a selection of films of author arguing a supreme title (in this case the Grand Prix of the festival of Deauville) . Although we can not talk about absolute parity, note that of the 14 feature films in the running, six are the work of a director. In case of a coronation of one of them this year, it would be the sixth time that Deauville has distinguished a woman since the creation of the Grand Prix in 1995 (remember that, in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, only a director is seen awarding a Palme d'Or ...).
An American teenage
However, the selected works do not display a marked feminist tropism. On paper, a good number of films seem to share more of a penchant for teenage initiation stories. Thus in "Bull", Annie Silverstein stages a young delinquent who is passionate about the rodeo. With "Mickey and the Bear", Annabelle Attanasio probes the questions of a girl forced to look after her sick father alone. Among the sensations of the last Cannes Film Festival, Danielle Lessovitz's "Port Authority" follows the love-learning between a boy and a trans, while "Share" by Pippa Bianco, "Skin" by Guy Nattiv and "Ham on Rye" "from Tyler Taormina evoke, in different registers, the burden of his social environment.
It will also be a matter of madness in Robert Eggers' "The Lighthouse" with Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, dysfunctional friendship in "The Climb", Michael Angelo Covino's bicycle comedy, or puppeteers in "Judy and Punch" by Mirrah Foulkes.
Woody Allen and Terrence Malick previewed
Outside of the competition, the Deauville Festival is also an opportunity to preview some particularly anticipated American films. The opening of the festival will be devoted to "A day of rain in New York", the latest film by Woody Allen. The closing of the festival will return to "Wasp Network" of French Olivier Assayas with Penelope Cruz and Gael Garcia Bernal headliners. Meanwhile, Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life" and "Waiting for The Barbarians", with Johnny Depp as a torturer colonel, have tried to seduce festival-goers.
In the documentary selection, this 2019 edition will focus on the great human adventures of US history. Discovered in Cannes, "5B" by Paul Haggis and Dan Kraus returns to the first hospital service entirely dedicated to AIDS patients. Thanks to unpublished images and sound recordings, "Apollo 11" brings to life the famous NASA mission that saw the first man walk on the moon.
Finally, let's point out a lurch from American land. After winning the Jury Prize at the last Cannes Film Festival, "Les Misérables", a shocking film about police violence in the Paris suburbs, will also be presented to the public in Deauville. The feature film by Ladj Ly will indeed receive the Ornano-Valenti prize, awarded by a jury of Anglo-Saxon critics to a first French film in order to promote its export abroad, especially in the United States. United. Perhaps the beginning of a beautiful adventure across the Atlantic ...