Cannes Film Festival 2004
Michael Moore scoops the ultimate coup at Cannes
Whether it was the hype or the film itself that won the Palm D'Or remains to be seen by UK audiences, but last night Fahrenheit 911, Moore 's controversial exposé of the events surrounding the September 11 attacks, triumphed at the 57th Cannes Film Festival.
Accepting the award from Charlize Theron, and to a standing ovation, Moore said: "I have a sneaking suspicion that what you have done here and the response from everyone at the festival, you will assure that the American people will see this film. I can't thank you enough for that. You've put a huge light on this and many people want the truth and many want to put it in the closet, just walk away. There was a great Republican president who once said, if you just give the people the truth, the republicans, the Americans will be saved." His film draws links between the Bush family and the Bin Ladens, savagely attacking the US president's foreign policy both before and after the attacks, and continues Moore 's ability to tap into the global zeitgeist, especially with its images of abused Iraqi prisoners.
As the first documentary in over fifty years to win the top prize at Cannes, it heralds both the power of publicity and politics in the selling of a film, and the increasing popularity of documentary in the cinema. Hotly tipped films such as The Motorcycles Diaries and the much anticipated 2046 from Wong Kar Wai went largely unnoticed, apart from an award for cinematography for the former.
Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd presented the Grand Prix to Korean director Park Chan-Wook for Old Boy. Kline and Judd were present at the festival for the closing film De-Lovely in which Kline plays Cole Porter and Judd his wife, and were whisked away to the big post-awards bash of the evening, celebrating 80 years of MGM, the studio behind the biopic. Performing at the event were Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow, lending their talents to snazzy Cole Porter numbers.
Other awards for the evening went to Maggie Cheung for her performance as a junkie in Clean, always a popular role for actresses when it comes to awards, and to fourteen year-old Yuura Yagira for his role in Daremo Shiranai (Nobody Knows), which by all accounts seems to have been a popular choice. Tony Gatlif won the award for Best Director for Exils and Agnés Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri won best screenplay for Comme Une Image, which Jaoui also starred in and directed. It remains testament to the true winner of the evening, however, that Bacri, in accepting his award, expressed his delight at the choice of recipient for the Palm D'Or.
Moore leaves Cannes still without a US distribution deal but with possibly the most talked about film in the world at present. Even if Disney won't release it in election year, it looks like it could still make a dent in Bush's campaign, from which the tireless Moore must glean no small satisfaction.
News continues to roll in, on acquisitions at Cannes. ICA Projects has announced that it's acquired Nobody Knows, the film from Korean director Kore-Eda Hirokazu for which fourteen year-old Yuuya Yagira won the Best Actor award in last Saturday's ceremony. Also on its slate is Sud Pralad (Tropical Malady), the Jury Prize-winning film from Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The Thai director was particularly effusive on collecting his prize - another first for this year's Cannes : "It's a great honour for me to be here because it's the first Thai film to be shown in [competition at] the Cannes Festival. And we have a prize, which represents a great privilege. I'd like to thank the jury and the Festival for having invited me." Also acquired by the ICA are Critics Week In Casablanca Angels Don't Fly from Morocco and Hungary's Krontoll from the Un Certain Regard section.
News from 21st May
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 continues to dominate news coverage of the festival as the will-he won't-he saga of his attempts to secure a US distribution deal eclipses even the film's screening. Thankfully, it's been given the critical thumbs up, which means that the hype could end up being worthwhile. In fact, Moore 's isn't the only documentary to show at the festival to success. Following his appearance (along with Moore) on the panel of the American Directors in Cannes discussion at the weekend, Jonathan Caouette's film Tarnation was screened in the Director's Fortnight and drew a standing ovation from the audience.
Elsewhere, the other headline-grabber (though more in the trade news) has been the delayed screening of Kar-Wong Wai's 2046. The much-anticipated film from the director of In the Mood for Love is reportedly in the process of last-minute subtitling work ahead of its screening in competition. Walter Salles' Motorcycle Diaries has gone down well by most accounts, and its star Gael García Bernal (also in town for Bad Education) is cementing his growing star status following Y tu Mama Tambien and Amores Perros. On the slightly cooler side is the reception for the Coen Brothers' latest Ladykillers, which has received guarded reviews to say the least.
In the Un Certain Regard category, British spirits are kept up by the first feature from Shona Auerbach, Dear Frankie , while Sean Penn's performance in The Assassination of Richard Nixon , directed by Niels Mueller has been hailed as his greatest yet.
Looking forward to the final week, the festival is due to close with Irwin Winkler's De-Lovely biopic of Cole Porter though it looks as though 2046 might sneak in after it with a late screening. As for the Palm D'Or, however, lips seem to be firmly closed though both 2046 and The Motorcycle Diaries appear to be frontrunners, and it seems nothing can rule out Fahrenheit 911 .
News from 14th May
The Cannes Film Festival is now well under way, and this year contains many firsts: the first time a Spanish film has opened the festival (Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education) for one; the first appearance of Brad Pitt on the famous croisette for a much larger other. He, his wife and their entourage arrived in time for Thursday's gala screening, amidst the usual whispers and tongue-wagging, none of which having anything to do with the film of course. Is Jennifer Aniston pregnant? Why has she brought her personal trainer, famous for having written a book on keeping fit while expecting??
The film in question is Wolfgang Petersen's much-hyped Troy, opening in the UK this week. Showing out of competition at Cannes, its magnitude has effectively eclipsed most of the other films at this year's festival, including yet more exciting developments for this year's larger-than-life gathering of cinema's finest. There's an animated film being shown in competition, in the form of Shrek 2 and following it's predecessors unprecedented entry in 2001; Michael Moore's latest offering on the altar of American politics, Fahrenheit 911 , which has already garnered plenty of publicity ahead of its screening in France, thanks to Disney, the Weinsteins and a certain US distribution deal, and a much more comprehensive slate of short films and events for emerging filmmakers. On top of all that is the manic figure of Quentin Tarantino, the Head of the Jury, in the unusual position of also having one of his own films screened at the festival, albeit out of competition.
Other highlights include Life is a Miracle, the latest film from Emir Kusturica (director of Black Cat, White Cat); The Motorcycle Diaries, Walter Salles' film about the early antics of Ernesto 'Ché' Guevara; plus a sprinkling of American independent treats in the form of the latest Coen Brothers' film - a remake of classic Ealing comedy The Ladykillers - and two biopics. The Life and Death of Peter Sellers stars Geoffrey Rush as the eponymous Peter Sellers, ably supported by a whole raft of respected actors including Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, Stephen Fry and Emily Watson in a TV-movie (apparently) with no pending theatrical release date (at present), while the closing night festival is devoted to De-Lovely, Irwin Winkler's Cole Porter quasi-musical starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd.
Some things remain reassuringly the same, however, as the news reports continue to fly from the golden promenade. The excesses, the plots, the intrigues, the Playboy lovelies in Cannes' parallel incarnation as a porn film festival - all the magic ingredients of the films that flock to its cinemas. Surely it can't be long before Cannes gets another first - a starring role in its own film?
Shizana Arshad
www.festival-cannes.fr
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