Drive My Cannes: The New Competition Lineup!

Direct from France, please welcome longtime reader / first time contributor Arnaud Trouvé to talk about the Cannes festival and share the new lineup... uPDATE 04/23: new additions indicated below under red headlines

Ruben Östlund's "Triangle of Sadness" © SF Studios

by Arnaud Trouvé

My first encounter with the Cannes Film Festival was in 1998, when Roberto Benigni kissed Martin Scorsese’s feet after winning the Grand Prix for Life is Beautiful (which he mistakenly took for the Palme d’Or). Cannes ceremonies are always broadcast live on French TV and my interest grew rapidly over the years. Flash-forward to 2009: the Paris visual effects company I’m working for had to deliver over a hundred shots for an upcoming production destined for the Croisette. "It has to be ready for Cannes," was the motto as we worked on a very tight schedule. This production happened to be Gaspar Noé’s Enter The Void and we managed to screen it in Competition at the last minute, with no opening or closing credits!

A decade later, the announcement of the Cannes lineup is still an annual event for cinephiles around the world. And after a bonkers ceremony in the summer of 2021 that saw the victory of Titane, the festival is ready to get back to its usual May slot. Let’s have a look at its anticipated official selection unveiled today by artistic director Thierry Frémaux...

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César Winners: Cate Blanchett, 'Annette', and 'Lost Illusions'

by Nathaniel R

Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert backstage at the Césars (that's Ronald Chammah, Isabelle's man, between them)

France's top awards, the Césars, were held last night. The historical costume drama Lost Illusions which had led the nominations took home the most prizes including Best Film. But all was not lost for its competition since all but one of them won at least one César. The thorny musical tragedy Annette was the runner up in terms of wins even repeating the Best Director win at Cannes for Leos Carax. And of course Cate Blanchett took the Honorary César and was introduced by Isabelle Huppert herself.

The winners and comments and a few videos from the show are after the jump. (If we've written about the film, it's linked up)...

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César Nominations: 'Lost Illusions' and 'Annette' score but 'Titane' struggles

by Nathaniel R

France's own Oscar-like ceremony the Césars will take place this year on February 25th and they've just released their list of nominations. In a mild surprise this past summer's Palme d'Or winner Titane did not do well in the nominations scoring in only 4 categories (Director, Female Newcomer, Cinematography, and Visual Effects). Instead the nominations were led by the costume drama Lost Illusions (15 nominations) which premiered at Venice. Other quick items of note: Canadian writer/director/actor Xavier Dolan, a perennial favourite at Cannes, picked up his first César nomination (Best Supporting Actor). Adam Driver also received an acting nomination for the musical Annette (it's very rare for US stars to be nominated there). Cate Blanchett will be receiving the Honorary César this year. 

The nominations and a few comments are after the jump. If we've written about the film, it's linked up, and since we love French cinema we've covered quite a few of these...

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Gaspard Ulliel (1984-2022)

by Eric Blume

My heart broke this morning, waking up to news that the great French actor Gaspard Ulliel passed away today as a result of a skiing accident. He was just 37. This is a true tragedy, and a huge loss to the cinema.Despite his youth, he'd been in the film business for over twenty years...

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"Happening" and "Annette" win at the Lumières

by Nathaniel R

Some of you may recall that we were thrilled when Happening (also known as L'Evenement) won the Golden Lion at Venice this past September. Audrey Diwan's abortion drama, set in the 1960s when the procedure was still illegal in France, is a riveting film with a superb lead performance. It's also apparently popular in France since it's just won the top prize at the 27th annual Lumière Awards, France's other big movie award beyond their top industry prize (the César). César nominations hit on January 26th so we'll see how films like Titane and Happening and Annette do there, but we already know what the Lumières thought of those three films. The complete list of nominations and wins are after the jump. If we've written about the films there's a link...

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