What to See at Cannes 2013

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Wednesday, 15 May 2013 15:46

Written by Marian Masone

The advance word on the Festival de Cannes in 2012 was the fact that not one woman director had a film in the competition. Things have improved in 2013 – there is one film made by a woman in the festival’s competition section – and she’s the sister-in-law of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. (The film is A Castle in Italy by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) Female filmmakers fare better in the section known as Un Certain Regard, where luminaries such as Claire Denis, Sofia Coppola, Lucia Puenzo, Rebecca Zlotowski and others make appearances with new films.

Last year the festival was hammered by storms, making for a cold, wet and muddy event. At least one film had its premiere canceled – the theater in which it was scheduled was in fact a large tent-like structure, which threatened to collapse from the high winds. Rain is predicted again this year, at least on opening night and the first few days after that. One can only hope that it will be drizzles and not downpours.

The festival is set to open with Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby. In a very rare turn, the film will not be having its world premiere at Cannes. It opened in the U.S. last Friday, May 10, and is set to be released in Paris on the same day it will play at the festival. Opening the festival with a 3D film is not a first, however; the animated 3D feature Up premiered on opening night in 2009.

Perhaps it’s because of the plethora of big names at the festival – not only in the competition but in other sections as well – that the headline preceding Cannes this year is the prospect of a preview of all (or at least many) awards contenders. Will the Camera d’or winner (for best first feature) wind up with scads of Academy Award nominations, as Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild did last year? Will the Palme d’or winner go on to win the Best Foreign Film Oscar, repeating Michael Haneke’s feat with Amour?

The list of bold face names (in international cinema, at least) with films in the festival this year are many: the aforementioned Claire Denis and Sofia Coppola, Alexander Payne, Roman Polanski, Claude Lanzmann, Stephen Frears, Marcel Ophuls, François Ozon, Jim Jarmusch and the Coen Brothers.

But there are many more films by filmmakers of less renown to look forward to: J.C. Chandor, who’s first feature, Margin Call, was a critical (and commercial, for indie cinema) success, is presenting his second film out of competition. All is Lost is a one-man tour de force for Robert Redford, who plays an unnamed sailor lost at sea. Also out of competition is Max Rose, a first feature by director Daniel Noah, which stars Jerry Lewis as a widower who discovers his late wife’s dark secret.

Much more is on the horizon over the next twelve days: Time for discoveries and rediscoveries. And some lovely prizes at the end!

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