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The 60TH Cannes Film Festival

For twelve days in the month of May, the city of Cannes is transformed from a quiet seaside resort into the hub of the international film industry and it is precisely this glamour and wide ranged popularity, which makes Cannes ‘the’ name among other film conglomerations.

By: Priya Goswami

For twelve days in the month of May, the city of Cannes is transformed from a quiet seaside resort into the hub of the international film industry and it is precisely this glamour and wide ranged popularity, which makes Cannes ‘the’ name among other film conglomerations. Considered the world’s most important film festival, the 60th Annual Cannes Film Festival will be held from the 16th to the 27th of May. Best known as the festival of celebrity hedonism, the festival this year will witness, what is customary to the Cannes- glittering repertoire of stars and a wide canvas of films from all across the world.

The festival also known as ‘le Festival de Cannes’ is held annually in the town of Cannes in south of France, especially known for its ‘sunshine and enchanting setting’. In fact, the picturesque town noted for its gorgeous sandy beaches has come up in the world map for it nestling the prestigious festival. It was in 1939 that the French Minister, Jean Zay proposed the creation of an international film event at Cannes. The first festival was scheduled for September 1939, but World War II caused its postponement to September 1946. Although planned as an annual event, it was not held in 1948 or 1950 because of budgetary problems. In the early 1950s it was decided to hold the event in the spring to take advantage of the lovely weather on the French Riviera during that season. Also in the 1950s, the festival secured its reputation as the exhibitor of the cream of cinema, and became more of an actual competition than a ‘film forum’.

Today, the festival is unanimously recognised as ‘The leader of the ‘Big Five’ international film festivals’ which includes Venice, Berlin, Sundance, and Toronto; involving a huge budget which amounts to approximately 20 million Euros, half of which originates from public funding. This financing is completed by contributions from a number of professional and institutional groups along with the festival`s official partners. Best known for recognising and appreciating talent all across the world, through its tradition of diverse awards in filmography, it fosters great interest in cinema as a medium.

In 1998, Gilles Jacob created the ‘Cinéfondation’, a selection of short and medium-length motion pictures from film schools all over the world with the objective of discovery and promotion of new talent.

Since palm trees had become an icon of Cannes, the top prize was redesigned from a sketch by celebrated director Jean Cocteau and renamed the Palme d’Or or the‘Golden Palm’, the most prestigious award given out at Cannes for the best film. The Jury for the Cannes determines the prizes for the feature films in competition, and awards them during the closing ceremony. The list of top honours at Cannes includes: the Palme d`Or, the Grand Prix, Best Actor Award, Best Actress Award, Best Director`s Award, Best Screenplay Award and Jury Award. This time at the 60th meet of the event, twenty-two films from all across the world will be seen rubbing shoulder with each other for the ‘2007 Palme d’Or’. The movies will be awarded the suitable honour by the official jury.

This year’s panel of includes Maggie Cheung (Actress – Hong Kong), Toni Collette (Actress – Australia), Sarah Polley (Actress, Director – Canada), Marco Bellocchio (Director – Italy), Maria De Medeiros (Actress, Director – Portugal), Orhan Pamuk (Writer– Turkey), Abderrahmane Sissako (Director – Mauritania), Michel Piccoli (Actor, Director – France) and the British director of the academy award winning ‘Queen’ fame, Stephen Frears, who will be presiding the jury panel. The official Jury of the Cinéfondation and Short Films will comprise of a president, Jia Zhang ke (Director – China) and four film personalities. It will award the Short Film Palme d`Or as well as the prizes for the three best films of the Cinéfondation.

Another interesting feature of the Cannes Film Festival is the special category of the ‘Un Certain Regard’ which characteristically includes the films that expresses a personal vision of director’s artistic interest. The jury of Un Certain Regard, comprises of president, journalists and industry professionals, will have Pascale Ferran, a French director heading the panel.

A comparatively new addition since the 1978, has been Caméra d`Or Prize to the best first film in any selection. This jury for this is comprised of a president, appointed by the Festival`s Board of Directors, as well as film directors, technicians and French and international critics, appointed by their respective professional organisations. This year’s president for the Independent Jury would be the Russian director, Pavel Lounguine.

The festival this year will be opened by the film ‘Blueberry Nights’ starring the world famous singer Norah Jones. The Grammy Award winner stars in the story of a young woman who travels across America to find answers to her questions about the true meaning of love. This movie will be the first English flick from the director Wong Kar Wai. Also, as one of the film critic puts it, ‘Blueberry Nights’ symbolizes the increasingly cross-border direction cinema is taking today. "It is a Chinese director with European money and American actors shot in the U.S. It`s a sign of a new world". Festival de Cannes will present numerous American directors both in and out of competition, including the world premiere of Michael Moore`s (Winner of Palm d’Or 2004 for his documentary film, “Fahrenheit 9/11’) latest, "Sicko." The other out of competition screenings will include ‘Ocean`s Thirteen’ directed by Steven Soderbergh ‘Mighty Heart’ directed by Michael Winterbottom.

Also customary to Cannes is the segment of special screenings and this year is no exception. The segment this year will exhibit ‘11th Hour’ directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, ‘The War’ directed by Lynn Novick and Ken Burns, ‘Retour en Normandie’ directed by Nicolas Philibert and ‘He Fengming’ directed by Wang Bing. Cannes today is the most sought after celebrity event. The catalogue of films and personalities this year might just prove to be an indicator to how it is not only a film meet, but it is also a celebrity meet from all over the world. The environment at Cannes is that of vivacious revelry as the stars gear up to do their bidding at the festival. Hoping to see another year of achievement and stardom on the red carpet, Cannes is only waiting for its 60th year of history making!

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