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The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Jafar Panahi's Cannes victory is a wonderful moment for an amazingly courageous film-maker
In the end, the Cannes Palme d'Or went to the most courageous film director in the world. It was a very satisfying grownup decision, favouring a remarkable and utterly individual film-maker: the director and democracy campaigner Jafar Panahi, an artist who unlike any other director in the Cannes competition really has suffered, taken real risks for cinema and spoken truth to power – and endured arrest and imprisonment for his pains. He has created a rich canon of work which has told the world about Iranian society and the Iranian mind with a subtlety and depth that we are never going to get from the TV news. Thirty years ago, his directing debut, The White Balloon, won Cannes's Camera d'Or for best debut and now he has triumphantly carried off the biggest prize at Cannes, having won the main awards at many other European festivals. It Was Just an Accident is another of his humane, sharp, witty, seductively oblique and deeply engaged dramas which reveal how political oppression and political resistance is embedded into the everyday fabric of Iranian life. In fact, it's his most emotionally explicit movie yet, with an almost Hollywoodised premise: a garage mechanic has to repair a car belonging to someone who has just suffered an accident on the road and thinks he recognises him, a suspicion which causes him to reunite with a whole cohort of traumatised contemporaries. It's the kind of political film which you might expect to see as a period piece, about a time and a place safely in the past. But no. It Was Just an Accident is happening right now. Panahi has had the finger of theocratic disapproval wagged in his face for decades. In 2010 he was subjected to a six-year prison sentence and a 20-year film-making ban. In theory, his entire extraordinary career should have been mostly impossible. But through a complex combination of protracted appeals, samizdat secret film-making in his apartment and sneaking films out of the country on flash drives, he has given us marvellous and much acclaimed work. His Cannes prominence has made him, if not untouchable, then someone to be approached with caution, and the Iranian authorities are surely aware that Panahi and dissident Iranian cinema in general have (paradoxically) created international prestige for their country in a way nothing else could. At all events, we are always talking about film-makers showing 'courage'. But for Panahi it really is true and this Palme is a wonderful victory for him. As for the other prizes, I was just a little conflicted. I was sorry that Juliette Binoche's jury couldn't a way to recognise the remarkable film-making of Sergei Loznitsa, with his fierce vision of the Stalinist 1930s in Two Prosecutors, or the wonderful style of the Spanish director Carla Simón in Romería – though her day in Cannes will surely come. Joachim Trier's big, heart-on-sleeve dramedy Sentimental Value, which won the Grand Prix (effectively the festival's silver medal), was a crowd-pleaser, a critic-pleaser and a jury-pleaser. It is the story of an accomplished stage actor (played by Renate Reinsve) who is astonished to find on her mother's death that the family home is still legally the property of her unmanageable old dad (Stellan Skarsgard), a failing movie auteur who abandoned his family but now wants to use it as the location for his new film and even cast his daughter in the lead role. I thought some of its effects were a little broad and self-indulgent but it really hit the spot with so many people at the festival. For the bronze medal, the jury prize, I have very mixed feelings. Mascha Schilinski's rigorously composed generational German drama Sound of Falling is an outstanding film which deserves its joint win. It shares this with Olivier Laxe's Sirât, a strange, freaky, trippy tale of tragedy in the desert, about a father searching for his daughter; I didn't go along with the saucer-eyed reverence for this film, which involved almost Pythonesque landmine explosions. My own preference for the top prize had been the Brazilian film The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho; this is an amazing epic about a man challenging the system and trying to get out of the country with his son during the 1970s dictatorship before he can be killed. As it transpired, it got best director for Filho and best actor for the formidable Wagner Moura, who also plays the grown-up son in the present – a stylish extra dimension to his performance that might well have clinched it for Binoche's jury. The best actress prize (which so many thought would go to Jennifer Lawrence for her fascinating, almost Cassavetes-esque turn as the woman suffering postnatal depression in Lynne Ramsay's Die, My Love) in fact went to some of the most unshowy, almost self-effacing acting in the festival: Nadia Melliti, for the queer Muslim coming-of-age drama The Little Sister. This was a film which perhaps did not hit it out of the park, but it was good to see the Cannes jury rewarding something other than obvious acting pyrotechnics. (My choice, for what it's worth, was Yui Suzuki for the Japanese film Renoir, an excellent piece of work unfairly overlooked in Cannes.) But 2025 was Panahi's Cannes. It's been a long time coming.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dogma 25 Explodes at Cannes, Spearheaded by New Quintet Led by May el-Toukhy: ‘A Rescue Mission and a Cultural Uprising'
Five Danish filmmakers are picking up the baton from the founders of Dogma 95 and launching Dogma 25 along with a new manifesto and ten 'vows of chastity' to 'protect the artistic integrity of feature film and create space for uncompromising cinematic storytelling.' May el-Thouky ('Queen of Hearts,' 'The Crown'), Milad Alami ('The Charmer,' 'When the Dust Settles'), Isabella Eklöf ('Holiday,' 'Kalak'), Annika Berg ('Hurricane') and rising talent Jesper Just will lead the new revolution. More from Variety Soundstage Expansion Adds to New Jersey's Strong Incentives to Juice Film and TV Production: 'People Are Taking Notice of Us' Jai Courtney on Making an Acting Comeback in Cannes Serial Killer-Shark Thriller and if He Would Return to DC Universe: 'I Have Hope' 'The Chronology of Water': Will Kristen Stewart's Directorial Debut and Jim Belushi and Thora Birch's Supporting Performances Generate Awards Heat? Previously, Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen and Kristian Levring kicked off the movement that resulted in 212 Danish and international feature films, including 'The Celebration,' 'The Idiots,' 'Italian for Beginners' and more. 'We celebrate Dogma 95, the filmmakers who came before us, and those who will come after. We stand together to defend artistic freedom as a shield against pointlessness and powerlessness. Dogma 25 is a rescue mission and a cultural uprising,' stated new leaders. 'In a world where formulaic films based on algorithms and artificial visual expression are gaining traction, it is our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct, and human imprint. We champion the uncompromising and unpredictable, and we fight against the forces working to reduce cinematic art to an ultra-processed consumer product.' With the manifesto and the vow of chastity, the five directors commit to working within a structure that requires 'immersion, restraint and artistic necessity.' Three core themes are 'Back to the physical reality,' 'Aesthetic restraint,' as at least half of the film must be without dialogue, and 'economic and geographic accountability,' meaning the film must be shot where the narrative takes place. Funding may only be accepted if it doesn't impact the content. The groundbreaking announcement was made today at Zentropa's villa, attended by the collective and Dogma 25's key partners: Nordisk Film, DR and Nordisk Film Distribution. In a statement, von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg said: 'In '95, we made films in the certainty of peace and created a revolt against conformity. In '25, new dogmas were created, now in a world of war and uncertainty. We wish you the best of luck on your march toward reconquering Danish film.' Dogma 25 is an initiative of May el-Toukhy, who brought together the five directors. In late 2024, she reached out to Zentropa to establish the initiative as 'a space for development, reflection and innovation.' Louise Vesth and Sisse Graum Jørgensen, two of Zentropa's managing directors, are in charge of the financing and launch of Dogma 25. The Danish Film Institute is providing support for the development of the concept and manifesto as well as production, while TrustNordisk will oversee international sales and ensure a wide global distribution for the films. Here's the manifesto in its entirety:Dogma 25 is a collective of filmmakers founded in Copenhagen in the spring of 2025. Our stated purpose is to preserve the originality of cinema and the opportunity to create film on its own terms. The role of the director has increasingly been reduced to that of project manager, the film to a commodity, and the audience to consumers. Experimental practice is stifled by fear of risk-taking, which suffocates artistic exploration and silences unique voices. When films are merely executed and not allowed to evolve organically, it puts the art form in danger of becoming functional, obedient and thereby irrelevant. In a world where formulaic films based on algorithms and artificial visual expression are gaining traction, it's our mission to stand up for the flawed, distinct, and human imprint. We champion the uncompromising and unpredictable and we fight the forces working to reduce cinematic art to an ultra-processed consumer good. By scaling down production, we ensure that everyone on the team has an intimate relationship with the film and its message. This will enhance mutual trust and a sense of collective responsibility for the film and for each other. It also allows us to safeguard the flexibility that is vital in making a creative process dynamic and intuitive, rather than purely executive. We celebrate Dogma 95, all the filmmakers who came before us, and those who will come after. We stand together to defend artistic freedom as a shield against pointlessness and powerlessness. DOGMA 25 is a rescue mission and a cultural uprising. To protect and preserve what we hold dear, we hereby submit to the unflinching and unbreakable set of rules called: THE VOW OF CHASTITY.I vow to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by Dogma 25:We compel ourselves to write the script by hand in order to nurture the kind of intuition that flows most freely from the dream, channeled through the hand onto the insist on a cinematic approach to filmmaking because we believe in visual storytelling and have faith in the commit to produce the films relying on real people within our physical reality – rather than in a digital one infused with assume responsibility for keeping budgets down so the team retains final say in all artistic commit to working in close collaboration to build trust and strengthen our shared as an art form becomes artificial and generic when we portray a location in a false as we strive to maintain the authenticity of the location, we also want to portray the human body without a filter. We celebrate it – warts and commit to making films using objects that already exist and renounce the ahistorical and self-destructive culture of abstain from any lengthy processes that stand in the way of creative flow. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
The Guardian
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Fight back and don't let them win': actor Pedro Pascal decries Trump's attacks on artists
Pedro Pascal has sharply criticised Donald Trump's attacks against artists, as the director of a conspiracy theory satire starring the actor said he feared the political messages of films could be weaponised by US border guards. 'Fuck the people that try to make you scared,' the Game of Thrones and The Last of Us actor said at a press conference at the Cannes film festival, promoting Ari Aster's new film Eddington. 'And fight back. And don't let them win.' He urged creatives to 'keep telling the stories, keep expressing yourself and keep fighting for it'. The comments came shortly after the US president used his Truth Social platform to call singer Bruce Springsteen a 'pushy, obnoxious JERK' for criticising his leadership, and claim that Taylor Swift's popularity had decreased since he announced his 'hatred' for her. 'Obviously, it's very scary for an actor participating in a movie to sort of speak to issues like this,' Pascal said when asked whether he feared that the US could completely close down to all forms of migration. 'I want people to be safe and to be protected, and I want very much to live on the right [side] of history.' 'I'm an immigrant', said Pascal, whose parents fled Pinochet-led Chile when he was nine months old. 'We fled a dictatorship, and I was privileged enough to grow up in the US, after asylum in Denmark, and if it weren't for that, I don't know what would have happened to us. And so I stand by those needing protection, always.' Pascal plays a small-town mayor in New Mexico alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone and Austin Butler in the new film by Aster, the acclaimed director of 'elevated horror' films Midsommar and Hereditary. Asked whether he was concerned that the political message of films could be used against cast members when they tried to re-enter the US, Aster said: 'The truth is, I'm scared of everything. All the time. So, yeah. The tongue is sort of in the cheek in that answer, but it's also true.' Sign up to Film Weekly Take a front seat at the cinema with our weekly email filled with all the latest news and all the movie action that matters after newsletter promotion Set in the first summer of Covid-19 restrictions and Black Lives Matter protests, Eddington pits Pascal's restrictions-advocating mayor Ted Garcia against Phoenix's lockdown-sceptic sheriff Joe Cross. 'I wrote this film in a state of fear and anxiety about the world', Aster said in Cannes. 'I feel like over the last 20 years we've fallen into this age of hyperindividualism. The social force that used to be central in liberal mass democracies, which is an agreed-upon version of the world, that is gone now. And Covid felt like the moment where that link was finally cut for good.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Film Tariffs Plan Prompts Appeal From Global Industry Organizations Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
A group of more than 100 film and TV organisations from around the world launched an appeal to European Union institutions and global governments Monday – on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival kickoff – calling on them to support the indie industry ecosystem following U.S. President Donald Trump's announced plan to impose tariffs on film imports. Signatories include the The European Producers Club, which represents top independent film and TV drama producers across continental Europe, Irish Equity, South Africa's Independent Directors Association, and Canada's Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada. More from Variety Erige Sehiri's 'Promised Sky' Debuts Trailer Ahead of Premiere in Cannes as Luxbox Launches Sales (EXCLUSIVE) Philippines' QCinema Industry Set for Cannes Launch, Bolsters Southeast Asian Film Hub Ambitions Nour Films Takes French Rights to Lav Diaz's 'Magellan' Ahead of Cannes Premiere (EXCLUSIVE) The appeal, titled 'Our Stories, our Voices: A Global Declaration for Artistic Freedom, Cultural Diversity and Cultural Sovereignty' asks governments 'to stand firm and safeguard the systems that support independent film and audiovisual creation so that culture, creativity, and democratic access to diverse stories for the screen can continue to flourish,' it said. 'We are witnessing increasingly aggressive attempts by powerful political and corporate actorsto dismantle the regulatory protections that ensure the diversity and accessibility of culturalexpression,' the appeal noted. 'This includes direct challenges to essential protections such as the Audiovisual MediaServices Directive in the European Union, proposed local content obligations in Australia,screen quotas in Asia, and requirements that streaming services contribute to domesticproduction in Canada, among others,' it added. In Europe Trump's aggressive new trade policy is prompting U.S. studios to mount a new offensive against the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) which forces foreign streaming services to invest a portion of their revenues into local productions. The Motion Picture Association which, among other Hollywood companies, represents the interests of Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Amazon Prime/MGM, Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. in March – prior to Trump's tariffs on film announcement – sent a memorandum to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) underlining 'disproportionate investment obligations' in European countries including France, Germany, and Italy. Signatories in their appeal underlined that they 'firmly oppose any political, legal, or economic initiative that seeks to undermine national or international rules designed to uphold artistic freedom andcultural diversity in the film and audiovisual sector.' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Telegraph
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Artists ‘terrified to speak freely about Gaza and gender issues'
Artists are terrified to speak freely about Gaza and gender issues, a free speech study has found. The campaign group Freedom in Arts claims there has been a steep decline in artistic freedom over the past five years. A large majority of artists, 78 per cent, would not 'dare own up to Right-of-centre political opinions', according to a survey of British arts professionals. The study found that within the arts sector, the 'left' and 'woke' stance is considered good, while the 'Right' or 'anti-woke' stance is considered bad. Arts organisations are 'oppressively politicised' with a 'very one-sided view of social issues [that] stifles debate, humour and nuance in the arts', the survey respondents claimed. Artists prefer to self-censor rather than risk their livelihoods, stifling the expression of dissenting opinions on gender ideology, Palestine, racial politics, and immigration, the study found. 'Support for Brexit = instant leprosy' It cites the cases of Graham Linehan, creator of Father Ted, who was ostracised from the TV industry for his gender-critical views, and Helen Joyce, a gender-critical author who was shunned by literary festivals, as examples of those who have paid the price for speaking out. A majority 84 per cent of respondents said they never or rarely felt free to express their opinions openly in the arts sector. Opinions on transgender issues were identified by artists as the most risky, with many noting that disagreeing with comments like 'trans women are women' could be 'career-ending'. Being sceptical of 'anti-racism' practices, critical race theory, or diversity quotas was also raised as a career risk. Similarly, any support for tighter border controls or Brexit as a political project risked censure within the arts, with one respondent stating that 'Support for Brexit = instant leprosy in my field'. Surveyed artists said they preferred to stay silent rather than speak freely. The situation has worsened since 2020, when less than 20 per cent of served arts professionals feared voicing their opinions. 'Some beginning to resist ideological conformity' Now 80 per cent fear speaking freely, and 74 per cent say they felt pressure from their colleagues to conform ideologically. Instead, arts professionals 'keep their head down' to avoid any repercussions, the Freedom In Arts (FITA) survey found. Rosie Kay, co-founder of FITA. said: 'Artists are being forced into silence, not because they lack creativity, but because they fear professional repercussions. 'This report gives voice to those who have been marginalised, punished, and isolated for simply expressing their views.' While there is a culture of fear, some are beginning to resist ideological conformity in the sector, with 75 or respondents making concrete suggestions for reform to ensure free speech in the arts. Denise Fahmy, a co-founder of FITA, said: 'Change is possible, but it requires a concerted commitment to freedom of expression from artists, cultural leaders, and policymakers to create an environment where diverse viewpoints can thrive without fear of reprisal.'
