May 12 2023,Cannes [France]: It's light, camera, and Cannes time! Only a few days remain until the small French town of Cannes is transformed into the world's film centre. This year marks the 76th year of the Cannes Film Festival. Spain has been named the upcoming film festival's Country of Honour.
Image: Cannes Official
Variety reports that the Marche du Film will collaborate with ICEX Spain Trade & Investment and the ICAA - Institute of Cinematography & Audiovisual Arts to promote Spanish talent and content spanning from cinema to documentary, animation, and augmented reality. Spain follows India as the first official Country of Honour at Cannes in 2022. Last year, the industry event established a programme to highlight and promote different countries at each market edition.
The organisers just revealed the lineup for the 2017 edition, which includes new works by such mega-watt auteurs as Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Catherine Breillat, Wim Wenders, Kore-eda Hirokazu, and Todd Haynes. These filmmakers will screen films both in and out of competition, which means that only a chosen number will have a chance to win the festival's top honour, the Palme d'Or. All of the directors are famous faces on the Croisette, having previously presented films there. In addition, after being chastised for not featuring more female directors in its roster, Cannes will shatter its own record with six films directed by women.
Among these are Alice Rohrwacher's "La Chimaera," Jessica Hausner's "Club Zero," Breillat's "Last Summer," Justine Triet's "Anatomie d'une chute," Ramata-Toulaye Sy's "Banel et Adama," and Kaouther Ben Hania's documentary "Four Daughters." Only Sy and Ben Hania are rookies to the competition. With the latest works from Nanni Moretti ("The Sun of the Future"), Marco Bellocchio ("Rapito"), and Rohrwacher, who previously competed with "The Wonders" and "Happy as Lazzaro," which won the Jury Prize and the screenplay prize, respectively, the competition will have an Italian flavour. In addition to "Four Daughters," the competition contains another politically charged documentary, "Jeunesse" by Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing, who previously competed at Cannes with "Dead Souls." "Man in Black" is also in Special Screenings for the director. Wenders, who won the Palme d'Or for "Paris, Texas," is back in the hunt with "Perfect Days," one of two films he will screen at Cannes.
Outside of the main competition, Cannes' Un Certain Regard will feature a diverse range of emerging and up-and-coming directors from around the world, including a large delegation of films from Africa and a first film from Mongolia with Zoljargal Purevdash's "If Only I Could Hibernate." The French film "Le Regne Animal" by Thomas Cailley, whose feature debut "Les Combattants" earned a couple Cesar Awards, will kick off Un Certain Regard. Anushka Sharma will represent India at Cannes 2023 this year. According to a source, Anushka will attend the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 to recognise women in cinema. Kate Winslet, a well-known actress, will accompany her.
Anushka met with France's ambassador to India, Emmanuel Lenin, and her husband, Virat Kohli, earlier this year at the French Embassy in New Delhi. The ambassador captioned his social media photo with a hint about Sharma's travel to the festival, which will be held in France, the fashion centre of the world. "It was a pleasure to meet @imVkohli and @AnushkaSharma!" "I wished Virat and #TeamIndia the best of luck in their upcoming tournaments, and we talked about Anushka's trip to the #CannesFilmFestival," Emmanuel wrote.
This year's Cannes Film Festival will also include content creator Dolly Singh. "The Cannes Film Festival has provided an important platform for Indian artists to showcase their talent on a global scale." Indian talent has not only introduced Indian cinema to the global scene, but has also helped to break down cultural barriers and foster cross-cultural interchange over the years. Today, I am honoured to be contributing to this dialogue in my own unique way and making my festival debut this year. I'm grateful and happy for this chance, which has taken me from creating candles in the small village of Nainital to walking the red carpet at Cannes. This was a long-held ambition of mine, and I've now completed an important milestone.
Actress Manushi Chillar is all set to debut in Cannes Film Festival 2023, which will take place from May 16 to May 27.