74th Cannes: Red Carpet Opening Night

by Nathaniel R

Who gets your vote as Best Dressed at Cannes today? More photos are after the jump...

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Cannes at Home: Day 1

by Cláudio Alves

Every year, we cinephiles not lucky enough to be in Cannes at the time of the festival, mope around for two weeks, checking on critics' coverage, drowning in FOMO. Well, at least that's what I do. Not so this year. From now until the Closing Ceremony, let's check out past works from the cineastes presenting features at this year's festival. We might also take a look at some of the older flicks getting a new day in the sun thanks to such sections as Cannes Classics and Cinema à la Plage. Only films available to watch from home will be considered, of course. 

With all that out of the way, let's dive in and explore the cinematic gems on this first day of our housebound international film festival…

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Almost There: Tim Robbins in "The Player"

by Cláudio Alves

For the past few weeks, the Almost There series has been focused on performances that won at Cannes. Tomorrow, the latest edition of Europe's most prestigious film festival begins, so it's time to end our journey through the Croisette's past. After Woodward, Duvall, and Whitaker, it's time to take a look at Tim Robbins' work in Robert Altman's The Player. The flick marked its director's splashy comeback after a decade of minor works. Playing a venal big shot producer in a skewering of the movie business, Robbins won the Best Actor prize at Cannes, got terrific reviews, but failed to secure an Oscar nomination…

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Almost There: Forest Whitaker in "Bird"

by Cláudio Alves

After two Cannes Best Actress winners who failed to nab an Oscar nomination, the Almost There series arrives at one of the French festival's male acting champions. In 1988, Forest Whitaker starred as legendary bebop innovator and jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker in a Clint Eastwood-helmed. At Cannes, he won the big prize, and, on paper, the movie does seem like an obvious awards contender. It's from an acclaimed auteur, a traditional epically long biopic, and it came just two years after critics and the Academy had embraced the similarly-themed 'Round Midnight. However, Bird was only nominated for -and ended up winning- the Best Sound Oscar, leaving its leading man unheralded…

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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...

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