Paris (AFP)

A reunion, almost as before: from Catherine Deneuve to Spike Lee via Sean Penn and Marion Cotillard, the world cinema has an appointment on Tuesday on the Croisette for the kickoff of the first Cannes Film Festival since the start of the pandemic of Covid-19.

The most important festival in the world, which is usually held in May but had to be postponed because of the health crisis, is due to award its prizes on July 17, including the prestigious Palme d'Or, won in 2019 by the South- Korean Bong Joon-ho for "Parasite".

On the Croisette no more curfews or gauges in the rooms, but the mask remains in force indoors: "The epidemic is not conquered, caution must be exercised. We are used to taking care of ourselves. kiss at the top of the stairs, we will no longer kiss ... But the heart will be there just as much ", declared the general delegate of the festival Thierry Frémaux.

In total, 24 films in official competition will be screened to thousands of festival-goers and a jury chaired by New York filmmaker Spike Lee, already appointed in 2020 and who has agreed to re-enter, after last year's cancellation.

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Five women and three men will accompany him, including the star of Korean cinema Song Kang-ho (who played the father in "Parasite") or the singer Mylène Farmer, figure of French pop culture.

As for films, the unclassifiable Leos Carax will open the competition with "Annette", a musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, whose screenplay and music were written by the Sparks, an American group as discreet as it is influential.

The competition counts prestigious filmmakers, some already crowned in Cannes like the Italian Nanni Moretti ("Tre Piani"), Jacques Audiard for "The Olympiades" shot in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, or Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his first film in English except from Thailand ("Memoria"), with Tilda Swinton and Jeanne Balibar.

But it also honors artists like the Moroccan Nabil Ayouch, the author of "Much Loved", whose film "Haut et Fort" takes the pulse of Moroccan youth and their aspirations, or the Russian Kirill Serebrennikov ("Petrov's Flu"), whose chair should remain empty because it is forbidden to leave Russian territory.

"A beautiful trip"

From identity questions to the mysteries of the couple, with also a strong presence of music - from the rap of the French of NTM to the Velvet Underground - Cannes promises a vast panorama of creation.

Many of the films selected "have a fever, a fighting force and, added to each other, will allow us (...) perhaps even more this year, to have a nice trip", according to Mr. Frémaux.

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In total, more than 80 films (or even more than 120 with the parallel sections) will be screened until the closing night, which should end in laughter with the screening of the new opus of the spy parody comedy "OSS 117: Red alert in black Africa ".

If the jury and the selection committee are predominantly female, only four directors, including three French women, are in the running for the Palme d'Or, won only once by a woman, Jane Campion, in 1993 ("La leçon de piano" ).

But they are much more present outside the official Competition, as in the "Un certain regard" selection, devoted to new talents.

The Festival, which has announced a series of commitments to reduce its impact on the environment, a subject that the climate crisis also makes essential in the cinema world, has programmed a short-lived selection of films on the environment, including one " climatic comedy "by Louis Garrel.

After the strict confinements, the closings of cinemas, the festivals like Berlin or Sundance which were held online - which Cannes has always refused - then a half-hearted Oscars ceremony, the Festival must also be the occasion to renew with glamor and stars.

Among the most anticipated moments of this edition, which Thierry Frémaux wants "collector", the great return of Catherine Deneuve on the Croisette, 57 years after the Palme d'Or received by "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" or the delivery of a Palme d'Or honorary to Jodie Foster, who walked the red carpet as a child.

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On the red carpet, the Festival will have its essentials, such as Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton or the Luxembourgish Vicky Krieps ...

For everyone, the health pass will be required and for those who are not vaccinated, tests will be carried out every 48 hours free of charge on site.

© 2021 AFP