2024-04-20 20:10:19
In 2011, in these same pages of Contacto, I wrote that the official selection for the Cannes Festival was made up of regulars. “In addition to Von Trier, there are names in competition that have never missed a festival or that have already won awards at Cannes: Almodóvar, Moretti, Dardenne or Kaurismaki”, I said, quite irritated.
Every now and then, at major festivals dedicated to the Seventh Art, a Portuguese work appears. In 2015, I wrote that “at festivals, Manoel de Oliveira was the first to experience international success, followed by other names such as João César Monteiro, Teresa Villaverde, Pedro Costa and more recently Miguel Gomes”. The mention of Gomes appeared because the Portuguese had been selected for the Directors’ Fortnight, where he presented his original work “A Thousand and One Nights”. I then stated that Miguel Gomes became “a used to Cannes and a favorite in Berlin with “My Dear August” and “Taboo”. And I stated that Miguel Gomes, despite being a new filmmaker, “already has a firm place at festivals, being above all one of Cannes’ favorite boys”. Interestingly, nine years later, the Portuguese is the only Portuguese representative in the official selection and the first to compete for the Palme d’Or in the last 18 years (!).
In the distant year of 2015, it continued to irritate me that festivals had their favorites and that Cannes was perhaps “the event most faithful to its filmmakers”. A few more years passed and, in 2021, joy appeared in my chronicle due to the fact that we were once again having an in-person festival. So, I was able to write that those responsible for the festival are alternating “between politics and superficiality” and a zombie film that had to change its name at the last minute because, precisely, of politics. And I added that “Cannes faces some difficult choices. But we say this every year” and that even “if the directors and producers are always the same; They manage to surprise me.”
And maybe that’s why every year, without exception, I head south (for those in Luxembourg), despite agreeing with many who accuse the festival of being stuck in the past, or that it’s sold out, or that the big films go to Venice. All of this may be true; the industry is on the move and Cannes has already changed its mind several times, about the platforms of streaming, for example. But what is special about this film festival and this French city?
Cannes is at the origins of the French Riviera as a tourist destination. In 1835, an English lord, traveling to Italy, discovered the city and decided to invest in land. Since then, English tourists have transformed that part of the Mediterranean coast into one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
Almost 200 years later, the French seaside resort has become even better known for hosting the biggest film festival in the world. In addition to thousands of journalists, the festival welcomes more than ten thousand professionals from the film industry every year to participate in the “Marché du Film”, an event where the main global transactions of the Seventh Art take place.
The crowds that gather in Cannes in the second half of May make the city very expensive, especially in terms of accommodation. A room in one of the best hotels on the Croisette can cost between two and five thousand euros per day. The hotel offer on the most famous street in the south of France is immense, but the emblematic Carlton, Martinez and Marriott buildings are part of the ‘mystique’ of the festival and the city. There are around 500 hotels, guesthouses or apart-hotels, which means that, even in high season, or during the festival, it is possible to find an Ibis or a similar hotel with “normal” prices. But by the way, we should also talk a little about cinema…
“Grand Tour”, the film by Miguel Gomes, takes place at the beginning of the 20th century. The story follows Edward, a civil servant in the British Empire, who runs away from his fiancée Molly on the day she arrives for her wedding. On his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what happened to Molly… Challenged by Edward’s impulse and determined to marry him, Molly follows the trail of her fleeing fiancé through this grand tour Asian.
The film was shot in a studio in Rome, but also filmed in Lisbon and in various parts of Asia. The argument is by Miguel Gomes, Mariana Ricardo, Telmo Churro and Maureen Fazendeiro.
In the official competition – as expected – there are also, among others, “Megalopolis”, an ambitious independent project by Francis Ford Coppola over 40 years old, “The Shrouds”, by David Cronenberg, “Motel Destino”, by Brazilian director Karim Ainouz, “Bird”, by Andrea Arnold, “Emilia Perez”, by Jacques Audiard, or “Kinds of Kindness”, by Greek Yorgos Lanthimos, again with Emma Stone, after having filmed her eating cream puffs.
For those who want to attend, the 2024 Cannes Film Festival starts on May 14th.
2024-04-20 20:10:19