In Cannes there are zombies, influencers, a donkey, but not a clear favorite for the Palme d’Or

It’s all there: zombies, “influencers”, genies in a bottle and even a traveling donkey. These are the stars of the first week of the 75th Cannes Film Festival, which comes in half this Monday. there is no clear favorite for the Palme d’Or.

The cinephile contest once again showed that it was compatible with the auteur cinema show and, at the same time, the surrender of great Hollywood stars, such as Tom Cruise, who was received with applause and became an aerial exhibition of the air force, or Julia Roberts, who attended as the godmother of the awards for the young promise.

In return the stars learned the slogan of a festival that defends tooth and nail theaters. Cruise himself – rewarded with a surprise Palm of Honor on Wednesday – made sure of that he would never make a film for a platform and the iconic Tilda Swinton flagged the big screen.

Anne HathawayMarion Cotillard, Carla Bruni, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Connelly or Sharon Stone became some of the most acclaimed on the red carpet, also paraded by Ethan Hawke, along with his documentary on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodwardor Woody Harrelson, in the Swedish competition Triangle of Sadness.

Political claims and controversies

The unexpected appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyat the opening ceremony quoting Charles Chaplin to ask the cinema not to remain silent in the face of the war in Ukraine, clarified that Cannes is also a festival dedicated to the problems of the world.

The red carpet is the scene of less planned claims like the protester bare -chested and painted the colors of the Ukrainian flag and a legend with the words “stop raping us”.

Or the feminist protest this Sunday, May 22, when a group of women unfurled a banner with the names of 129 women murdered in France since the last Cannes festival, in conjunction with the presentation of a documentary about femicide.

The controversy served him, albeit briefly, the proud alliance with TikTokwhen Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh denounced the corporate pressure to influence the jury vote of the contest on the short film sponsored by that social network and which he led.

Panh actually tendered his resignation and it had an impact since a few hours later achieved guarantees of freedom and returned to office.

The battle for the Palme d’Or

As for the competition for the Palme d’Or, no clear favoritebut the one that has achieved the highest marks from critics so far is Time of Armageddonthe autobiographical film by James Gray with his bitter message critical to the success of neoliberalism in the United States.

nips on your heels Yesby Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, who proposes to see the world through the eyes of a donkey in an apocalyptic “movie on the road” against cruelty to animals and it captured a large portion of the critics for its high visual and sound commitment.

He also liked a lot, even if it didn’t reach the level of his previous films, Triangle of Sadnessa light comedy satirical Swedish Ruben Östlund mocking the rich, be it Russian oligarchs or “influencers”, and criticizing the cult of money and beauty.

There is one more week and more than half of the 21 films to be released. On Monday, 23, Danish Iranian Ali Abassi defended his, competing thriller Holy Spider and Frenchwoman Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi who recalled her days as an apprentice actress in the lovers.

The 75th edition of Cannes is underway one returning to normalcy, without a covid test or chinstraps, although its use in projections is recommended. Winners will be announced next Saturday at the closing gala.

Source: EFE/Magdalena Tsanis

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