74th Cannes. Spike Lee's Jury

by Nathaniel R

We've known for well over a year that Spike Lee would be presiding over the competition jury. And last week he became the first Jury President (that we know of) to ever be the poster star of the festival in the year he was jurying. How about that? People will also be excited to hear that the competition jury is majority women but that's not a first. It's actually the third time. Isabelle Huppert led a majority female jury in 2009 (White Ribbon won the Palme that year) and Jane Campion led a majority female jury in 2014 (Winter Sleep won).

LET'S MEET THE JURY...

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Shelley Duvall in "3 Women"

by Cláudio Alves

The Almost There series' temporary fixation on Cannes-winning performances continues with the incomparable Shelley Duvall. In 1977, when her sixth collaboration with director Robert Altman premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Duvall took home the much-coveted Best Actress prize from a jury presided by Roberto Rossellini. The picture that earned such golden plaudits was 3 Women, a Bergman-esque exploration of juxtaposed and deconstructed identity that's also one of the best American films of its decade…

Click to read more ...

74th Cannes. Official Poster and Index.

by Nathaniel R

Spike Lee is the cover subject of the new Cannes poster. Is this the first time a Jury President has also been the poster's star? It's a pity we aren't going to Cannes this year -- we've never been able to afford it *weeps* -- because we've been on the ball for coverage thus far. So here's an index to track. We've been updating the posts as new stills and information have emerged. 

• OFFICIAL COMPETITION LINEUP 

Jury: Writer/Director Spike Lee (US) and ???

• UN CERTAIN REGARD 

Jury: Writer Director Andrea Arnold (UK), Writer/Director Mounia Meddour (Algeria), Actress Elsa Zylberstein (France), Writer/Director Daniel Burman (Argentina), Director/Actor Michael Covino (US)

• CRITICS WEEK 

Jury: Writer/Director Cristian Mungiu (Romania) and ???

• DIRECTOR'S FORTNIGHT

Almost There: Joanne Woodward in "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds"

by Cláudio Alves

In anticipation of the upcoming 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, the next few weeks of the Almost There series will be dedicated to performances that won big at the Croisette and went on to some Oscar buzz. That being said, the first entry in this quasi-miniseries didn't convert Cannes plaudits into industry awards attention. The opposite happened. After opening commercially in the USA at the end of 1972, Paul Newman's third directorial effort, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, got slotted into the main competition of the following year's Cannes Film Festival. By the time Joanne Woodward won the festivities' Best Actress prize, her new Oscar dreams were already busted…

Click to read more ...

74th Cannes. Directors' Fortnight Selection

The Cannes festival runs July 6th through July 17th this year (departing from the usual May) due to taking a year off given COVID-19. After the Main Competition, Un Certain Regard, and Critics Week we have the announcement of the final section: Directors Fortnight. Let's investigate that new group of films though this is the list we have the least information about.

DIRECTORS FORTNIGHT
If a film has an asterisk it's a debut and thus eligible for the Camera d'Or.

Click to read more ...