Cannes Film Festival 2021: an opening without returning to "normal"
The Palais des Festivals, the day before the 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which will take place from July 6 to 18, 2021. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow
5 mins
This Tuesday July 6 opens the largest film festival in the world.
With 135 feature films screened, 24 films in the running for the Palme d'Or and a host of stars announced, the 74th Cannes Film Festival even aims to surpass its tradition of superlatives.
But, after a 2020 edition canceled due to a pandemic, the reality for the moment looks more nuanced, like the sharp drop in accreditations.
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Léos Carax, Marion Cotillard, Adam Driver will climb the steps this evening for
Annette
, the highly anticipated opening musical film of the Festival. Then, many other stars will parade on the famous red carpet: Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Steve McQueen, Sean Penn or Jodie Foster who will receive an honorary Palme d'Or, forty-five years after
Taxi Driver
… A few days after the end of the last confinement restrictions in France, this whirlwind of celebrities impresses and almost makes believe in a return to normal.
"
We are the fighters of the future
", declared Thierry Frémaux during the press conference.
At the same time, the Festival's general delegate admitted that Cannes must “
transform itself to remain the biggest festival in the world
”.
A Festival of Superlatives
To regain its place as world leader, the Festival seems to want to play on all registers at the same time.
The increase in
films presented in competition
and the creation of a new “Cannes Premiere” section suggest the rage and determination of those in charge not to give up any centimeter of the historic rank of Cannes.
The stars sent to the red carpet seem to have the mission of giving the Festival back for two weeks its primacy as the most publicized cultural event on the planet.
And this, despite a drop in the number of accredited members (28,000 instead of the usual 40,000) and despite the multitude of major events taking place on the same dates, such as the Avignon and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, the Rencontres d'Arles or even the European Football Championship.
Diversity, parity and ecology
The question of diversity is not neglected either. Cannes can be proud of being the first major festival in the world to have chosen, with Spike Lee, a black as president of the jury. As for the debate on gender parity, with four women out of 24 directors vying for the Palme d'Or, the count is not there, even if the jury composed mainly by women allows not to lose face .
And even ecology is on the official charter of this 74th edition.
For the first time in its history, Cannes, the emblem of the cinematographic jet set, is officially dressed as an environmental defender, with a series of measures to reduce carbon emissions and the waste produced, and especially with the first “
ephemeral section of films on the environment
”, because “
the awareness and defense of the planet are also played out in the cinema
”.
Netflix, omnipresent and absent at the same time
In the meantime, despite the fireworks display of new initiatives and solemn commitments, the journalists present at Cannes always return to the most sensitive subject: the omnipresence of Netflix in homes and the absence of Netflix at the Cannes Film Festival.
Has the Cannes rendezvous become the last bastion of pure and hard cinema, exclusively intended to bring films out first in theaters?
Response from Thierry Frémaux: “
The Cannes Film Festival is not the last bastion.
I would say that some festivals are the first to open their doors a little too freely to people who are not sure they want the cinema to survive.
"
The good Amazon student
During the pandemic, when the cinemas were closed, “
the triumph of the platforms came when the cinema could not defend itself.
(…) You still think of Netflix.
Why ?
Why don't you say Amazon?
Amazon co-produced the Leos Carax film.
Amazon is this Tuesday evening in Cannes.
Work with platforms is done naturally, as with televisions.
The only thing is that we have a rule: the films of the competition must be released in French theaters.
This rule, Netflix does not want to observe it and they do not want to come out of competition.
I invite them.
And I hope to convince them one day.
"
The Cannes Film Festival persists and signs
So, after an edition canceled in 2020, the most catastrophic year for world cinema, the Cannes Film Festival persists and signs.
Postponed to July, the month of vacationers and filming, he wants to continue playing his traditional role to "
find the conditions in which we separated in 2019
".
In other words: despite the obligatory masks in theaters and a strict health protocol, bringing the cinema to life and enhancing its value, celebrating its directors and actors, and discovering new talents to ensure the future of the seventh art.
The Palme d'Or 2021 will be awarded on Saturday July 17.
► To read also:
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Thai artist to conquer Cannes and our imaginations
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