Environmental film 'Ice and the Sky' to close Cannes fest

Los Angeles: "March of the Penguins" director Luc Jacquet's documentary "Ice and the Sky", which deals with the topic of global warming and its repercussions, will close the 68th Festival de Cannes on May 24.

In his fourth film, Jacquet focuses on scientific discoveries of Claude Lorius who left in 1957 to study the Antarctic ice and was the first one to raise concerns about global warming and its consequences for the planet.

"Cannes is a huge opportunity for this film and for what it says. I am pleased and impressed, much like The Fifer from the tales that is welcomed at the palace. Showing this film in the world's largest film festival is contributing to this huge challenge facing humanity as quickly as possible to secure its future and the future of the planet.

"My language is cinema. In different times, I would have made other films. But I make fierce cinema, political cinema, cinema that has no choice," Jacquet said in a statement.

The director has been quite active about environmental and nature issues, which often form the subject of his stories be it his Oscar-winning film "March of the Penguins", "Le Renard et l'enfant", etc.

The Festival de Cannes will run May 13-24, 2015. The Jury is chaired by Joel and Ethan Coen whom will hand out the prizes to the winners of the Competition before the screening of Luc Jacquet's film.

The festival has also unveiled its classics section with Costa-Gavras being the guest of honour and his famous 1968 political drama "Z" will be shown.

Other attractions in this section include a screening of Orson Welles 1941 film "Citizen Kane" and "The Lady From Shanghai", two documentaries on Welles, Carol Reed's "The Third Man" and a tribute documentary on Ingrid Bergman (Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words) among many other titles.