Cannes Days 2-4: "Wonderstruck" and More

by Nathaniel R

One of our all time favorite movie couples reunited: Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes

After the fiasco of that opening press conference and the typical "underwhelmed" response to the opening night film, happier news. The first full day of screenings brought us news of Todd Haynes Wonderstruck which reunites one of the world's greatest auteurs with his earliest muse Julianne Moore, and other reportedly fine films. Read on for more!

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Cannes Day 1: The Netflix Battle and "Ishmael's Ghost"

by Nathaniel R

Maren Ade, Will Smith, Agnes Jaoui, and Pedro Almodóvar at the Jury Press Conference today

Though we aren't in the South of France we'll try to keep an eye on the proceedings across the pond there these next two weeks. If you're relatively new to movie obsessing (We keep hoping more young people will tune in to TFE. We used to attract baby cinephiles... not sure where they congregate now!) Vox has a terrific heavily expository overview of why Cannes is so important, how to pronounce it ("can" not "cans" or "cahn"), why so many famous people go, why everyone is so dressed up, and some other myths and mysteries that surround the festival.

Jury Press Conference & the Netflix Divide
Because juicy click-bait headlines drive traffic most websites are framing the Jury Press Conference as a bloody war between the president Pedro Almodóvar and his most famous juror Will Smith. They may well eventually come to artistic blows in jury deliberations (who knows) but this is already grossly overstated. They merely have different feelings about Netflix, a famous "disruptor" as a company. Will Smith is very pro Netflix (basically because he has kids who like it). Almodóvar is very pro theatrical exhibition, because you know, he's a filmmaker who cares about movies. That's about the extent of the "war"...

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Cannes Best Actress: Awarding the Best Since 1946

Bonjour! Robert Balkovich here. As the 70th Cannes film festival kicks off let's take a stroll down memory lane and revisit some of the most bold, daring, and 100% correct Best Actress awards the festival has given out. 

When you look at the list of names all together it's hard to argue that it isn't one of the best collection of actors ever grouped. The festival's penchant for awarding the best-of-the-best, started early...

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Cannes Sales: Actress Titles in Development

by Seán McGovern

As Le Festival de Cannes begins and films in and out of competition are set to sparkle or explode, some are generating heat without even being made yet, as Variety reports. Scattered among some the hottest titles for sale are actresses who are always deserving of a big hit or Oscar buzz.

Tomei and Gershon having a wonderful time in 2004

Shotgun
Directors: Hannah Marks and Joey Power
Cast: Maika Monroe, Jeremy Allen White, Marisa Tomei, Gina Gershon

A cancer dramedy starring Maika Monroe (It Follows). The names that stand out are Gina Gershon and Marisa Tomei, no doubt somehow aunts or mothers to the youngsters in the lead...

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Here it comes...

The 70th annual Cannes Film Festival begins in just one day -- the official website even has a countdown clock which says 1: 3:56:0 as I publish this-- with Pedro Almodóvar presiding over the jury and Nicole Kidman starring in not one, not two, not three, but four debuting projects. One a scale of 1-100 how much do you wish your were flying to the south of France right about now?