Latest news with #Cannes2023
The National
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Iran spars with France over dissident filmmaker's Cannes triumph
Iran hit out at France on Sunday for praising a dissident filmmaker whose tale of revenge against the Iranian state triumphed at the Cannes Film Festival. Jafar Panahi, a former prisoner in Iran, won the top prize in Cannes – the Palme d'Or – for his film It Was Just an Accident, which depicts five Iranians confronting a man they believed tortured them in jail. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot praised the film as a "gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime's oppression". Tehran is under widespread sanctions for cracking down on dissent, most notably after anti-regime protests that followed the 2022 death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. That led to Iran's Foreign Ministry summoning France's top diplomat in Tehran on Sunday, state news agency IRNA reported. "Following the insulting remarks and unfounded allegations by the French Minister..., the charge d'affaires of that country in Tehran has been summoned to the ministry," it said. The state news agency had previously hailed Panahi's victory as having "made history for Iranian cinema", without delving into the film's contents. It was the first Iranian win in the Palme d'Or since Abbas Kiarostami received the honour for Taste of Cherry in 1997. Panahi, 64, was detained in Tehran's Evin prison for almost seven months on charges of spreading anti-government propaganda. He was released in 2023 two days after beginning a hunger strike. Panahi won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for his filmThe Circle. In 2015, he won the Golden Bear in Berlin forTaxi Tehran, and in 2018, he won the Best Screenplay prize at Cannes forThree Faces. His latest film depicts an Iranian torture victim who believes he has encountered Peg Leg, a one-legged state interrogator responsible for mistreating him and many others. The National's film review described it as a production that "rages against the Iranian state".
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Elle Fanning looks 70s chic in flared jeans and a floral headscarf at Sentimental Value photocall in Cannes
Elle Fanning looked 70s chic in flared jeans and a floral headscarf at the Sentimental Value photocall in Cannes on Thursday. The actress, 27, sported a white T-shirt which read 'Joachim Trier Summer', tucked into stylish £860 blue Gucci jeans. Elle was kitted out in Gucci as she teamed her look with a £320 belt and elevated her frame in £1,010 platform heels. The Maleficent star styled her long blonde tresses loose under a £430 silk floral headscarf. When asked about Elle's T-shirt at the press conference, Joachim said: 'I was stoked that you made that. Charli xcx gave a little hello to us and we are super grateful. 'I love her music, she's awesome. I know Elle's a fan too. The problem is, I've been working so much for the last three years I don't even know what a Joachim Trier summer is anymore. But I'd like to have one.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Elle, who takes on a leading role in the movie, was in good spirits as she waved to the crowds and posed for cameras at Palais des Festivals. She was joined by director Joachim Trier and co-stars Stellan Skarsgard, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Anders Danielsen Lie. Elle pulled out all the stops to celebrate the release of the Norwegian-language film, titled Affeksjonsverdi in its original dialect. Affeksjonsverdi/Sentimental Value follows sisters Nora (Renate) and Agnes (Inga) as they reunite with their estranged and charismatic father Gustav (Stellan). A film director, he offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film, but she turns it down and he instead offers it to a Hollywood star, played by Elle. The American actress is dropped in the middle of their complicated family dynamics as they try to navigate their newly rekindled relationship with their father. Elsewhere Barbara Palvin cut a cool figure in a navy and grey midi dress which boasted a stylish pleated skirt as she departed the Hotel Martinez. The model, 31, looked incredible in the number which boasted two large cut out showcasing her slim waist. Elle headed to her Sentimental Value photocall Affeksjonsverdi/Sentimental Value follows sisters Nora (Renate) and Agnes (Inga) as they reunite with their estranged and charismatic father Gustav (Stellan) Barbara added a cool coordinated cropped bomber jacket over the number and carried a black £2,450 Miu Miu handbag. She elevated her frame in a pair of black slingback heels and opted for a pair of long semi-sheer black stockings. Styling her long brunette tresses loose, the Victoria's Secret Angel completed her ensemble with a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses. Meanwhile Cara Delevingne cut a summery figure in a blue short sleeved shirt and stylish matching shorts. The model, 32, layered a white top beneath the cool co-ord and kept comfortable in a pair of black trainers. Cara carried her belongings in a white Prada £2,500 handbag and shield from the sun behind a pair of trendy sunglasses. Styling her long blonde tresses up in a sleek do, the actress beamed as she stopped to pose for a selfie with waiting fans. Teri Hatcher was all smiles as she picked up a hot beverage as she departed the five-star hotel after attending The History of Sound premiere the night prior. The model, 31, looked incredible in the number which boasted two large cut out showcasing her slim waist Barbara added a cool coordinated cropped bomber jacket over the number and toted her belongings in a black £2,450 Miu Miu handbag Meanwhile Cara Delevingne cut a summery figure in a blue short sleeved shirt and stylish matching shorts The model, 32, layered a white top beneath the cool co-ord and kept comfortable in a pair of black trainers Cara carried her belongings in a white Prada £2,500 handbag She shield from the sun behind a pair of trendy sunglasses Cara styled her long blonde tresses up in a sleek do The stunner beamed as she stopped to pose for a selfie with waiting fans The Desperate Housewives star, 60, looked smart as she layered a black blazer over a matching sheer blouse and wide legged trousers. Styling her dark tresses in a neat up do, she added inches to her frame in a pair of black heels and carried a large coordinated handbag. Teri donned a pair of aviator sunglasses and accessorised with a pair of small silver earrings. This year's Cannes Film Festival is taking place in the wake of Trump´s vow to enact tariffs on international films. Cannes, where filmmakers, sales agents and journalists gather from around the world, is the Olympics of the big screen, with its own golden prize, the Palme d´Or, to give out at the end. Filmmakers come from nearly every corner of the globe to showcase their films while dealmakers work through the night to sell finished films or packaged productions to various territories. 'You release a film into that Colosseum-like situation,' says Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who´s returning to Cannes with 'The Secret Agent, a thriller set during Brazil ´s dictatorship. 'You´ve got to really prepare for the whole experience because it´s quite intense - not very far from the feeling of approaching a roller coaster as you go up the steps at the Palais.' Teri Hatcher was all smiles as she picked up a hot beverage as she departed the five-star hotel after attending The History of Sound premiere the night prior The Desperate Housewives star, 60, looked smart as she layered a black blazer over a matching sheer blouse and wide legged trousers Cara looked in good spirits as she headed out and about along the sea front Cara beamed as she stepped out from the Hotel Martinez The star headed towards the crowd of waiting fans as she posed for photos The actress kept cool in her blue co-ord Trump sent shock waves through Hollywood and the international film community when he announced on May 4 that all movies 'produced in Foreign Lands' will face 100 percent tariffs. The White House has said no final decisions have been made. Options being explored include federal incentives for U.S.-based productions, rather than tariffs. But the announcement was a reminder of how international tensions can destabilize even the oldest cultural institutions. The Cannes Film Festival originally emerged in the World War II years, when the rise of fascism in Italy led to the founding of an alternative to the then-government controlled Venice Film Festival. In the time since, Cannes´ resolute commitment to cinema has made it a beacon to filmmakers. Countless directors have come to make their name. This year is no different, though some of the first-time filmmakers at Cannes are already particularly well-known. Kristen Stewart (The Chronology of Water), Scarlett Johansson (Eleanor the Great) and Harris Dickinson (Urchin) have all unveiled their feature directorial debuts in Cannes´ Un Certain Regard sidebar section. Many Cannes veterans have returned, including Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning), Robert De Niro - who received an honorary Palme d´Or 49 years after Taxi Driver premiered in Cannes - and Quentin Tarantino, who paid tribute to low-budget Western director George Sherman.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Alpha review – Julia Ducournau's disjointed body horror is an absolute gamma
Strident, oppressive, incoherent and weirdly pointless from first to last … Julia Ducournau's new film Alpha has to be the most bewildering disappointment of this year's Cannes competition; even an honest lead performance from Mélissa Boros can't retrieve it. I admit I was agnostic about her much-acclaimed Palme d'Or winner Titane from 2021 but that had an energised purpose lacking in Alpha and Ducournau's excellent 2016 debut Raw is still easily her best work. Body-horror – the keynote of Ducournau's films – is still arguably the genre here, or maybe body-horror-coming-of age. We are in a kind of alternative present or recent past; some of the film appears to take place before France adopted the euro in 2002, or perhaps in this imagined world, the euro didn't happen. Thirteen-year-old Alpha (Boros), from a Moroccan-French family, royally freaks out her mother (Golshifteh Farahani) one evening by coming back from a party with the letter A tattooed on her arm. (This incidentally indicates a kind of badass rebellious attitude that she never really displays again.) With a dirty needle? A shared needle? Her mother, a doctor, is beside herself because her hospital is now overwhelmed with infection cases of a bizarre new disease, which turns the sufferer into a marble-white statue. However, despite the near-riot developing outside the hospital, Ducournau doesn't show any restrictive hygiene practices and appears to suggest that society ultimately pretty much copes with the white-marble disease, with unstressed doctors and nurses in the same hospital smilingly dealing with a row of patients. This fictional situation could therefore be said to gesture at Aids or Covid, although it is not particularly compelling or scary either on its own literal terms or as metaphor. It could relate to respectable society's horror of drug addicts – who include Alpha's emaciated smackhead brother Amin (Tahar Ramin) whom Alpha's mom once very rashly allowed to babysit the five-year-old Alpha in some scuzzy rented room while patently out of it – he is evidently intended to be some sort of magically sacrificial figure. As for Alpha, her tattoo, and her leaking bandage, earn her some bullying ostracism from the class, who are themselves angrily preoccupied with the disease, and the various infections of misogyny and homophobia are arguably also being satirised. But the madly, bafflingly overwrought and humourless storytelling can't overcome the fact that everything here is frankly unpersuasive and tedious. Every line, every scene, has the emoting dial turned up to 11 and yet feels redundant. Ducournau surely has to find her way back to the cool precision and certainty of Raw.
Malay Mail
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Nicole Kidman calls out scarcity of female directors as she's honoured at Cannes
CANNES, May 19 — Australian megastar Nicole Kidman lamented Sunday the 'incredibly low' number of hit films made by women directors, and revealed that she often wakes up at 3.00am to do her own personal writing. Despite her efforts backing and mentoring women-led projects, the number of women-made films among the highest-grossing films 'is incredibly low', she said as she received a Kering Women In Motion award at the Cannes film festival. Kidman pledged in 2017 to work with a woman director at least once every 18 months, saying then that there was 'such a disparity in terms of the choices'. 'You would go, 'OK, could a woman direct this?' There just wasn't a number of names that you could consider,' she said. The Oscar-winning actor confirmed that she had worked with 27 female directors since her pledge eight years ago. Only seven of the 22 films in the main competition in Cannes this year are directed by women. But Kidman heaped praise on an early critics' favourite, Mascha Schilinski's The Sound of Falling, a German-language drama about multi-generational trauma among women on a farm. 'To have 'Sound of Falling' heard on the world stage, that's fantastic,' she said. Although she ruled out writing her own script, she did reveal that she frequently wakes up during the night to write. 'It's a very ripe time for things to happen because you're in that slightly removed state from reality,' she said. 'I wake up and I'll write something, be it a dream, be it something that's circulating in my mind.' — AFP
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nicole Kidman laments 'incredibly low' number of women-directed films
Australian megastar Nicole Kidman lamented Sunday the "incredibly low" number of hit films made by women directors, and revealed that she often wakes up at 3:00 am to do her own personal writing. Despite her efforts backing and mentoring women-led projects, the number of women-made films among the highest-grossing films "is incredibly low", she said as she received a Kering Women In Motion award at the Cannes film festival. Kidman pledged in 2017 to work with a woman director at least once every 18 months, saying then that there was "such a disparity in terms of the choices". "You would go, 'OK, could a woman direct this?' There just wasn't a number of names that you could consider," she said. The Oscar-winning actor confirmed that she had worked with 27 female directors since her pledge eight years ago. Only seven of the 22 films in the main competition in Cannes this year are directed by women. But Kidman heaped praise on an early critics' favourite, Mascha Schilinski's "The Sound of Falling", a German-language drama about multi-generational trauma among women on a farm. "To have 'Sound of Falling' heard on the world stage, that's fantastic," she said. Although she ruled out writing her own script, she did reveal that she frequently wakes up during the night to write. "It's a very ripe time for things to happen because you're in that slightly removed state from reality," she said. "I wake up and I'll write something, be it a dream, be it something that's circulating in my mind." adp/fg/jj
