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Organisers of the world's biggest film festival
said on Thursday they were confident of being able to host
dinners and beach screenings alongside the main competition as
some COVID-19 measures are lifted in France.
Usually held in May, the extravaganza was cancelled last year
due to the pandemic, and will run between July 6 and 17 this
year. While there will be no "kissing at the top of the red
carpet", restrictions should not be too onerous, festival
director Thierry Fremaux said.
Travellers from some countries such as Britain are still facing
quarantine measures in France for now, but there will no longer
be evening curfews.
After a Hollywood-heavy edition of Cannes in 2019, the comeback
line-up features fewer big-name U.S. stars.
The selection competing for the Palme d'Or features some films
anchored in COVID-19 times, with characters wearing face masks.
"Cinema will also have been marked by this," Fremaux told a news
conference.
French director Catherine Corsini's "La Fracture" is set in a
hospital in the present day.
OZON TO AUDIARD
Highlights will include "The French Dispatch" by Wes Anderson,
known for his quirky "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "The Grand
Budapest Hotel". Anderson's latest film, about a fictional U.S.
newspaper office in France starring Bill Murray and Tilda
Swinton, has been delayed since 2019.
"Flag Day", a drama directed by Sean Penn, will also among the
24 films competing, with a jury headed by U.S. filmmaker Spike
Lee.
Italy's Nanni Moretti, who won in 2001, returns with "Tre Piani",
while Paul Verhoeven will present "Benedetta", about a love
story in a convent.
Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard star in "Annette", a musical by
Leos Carax that will premiere on the opening night.
French directors Francois Ozon and Jacques Audiard will also be
presenting films, as will Iran's Asghar Farhadi, Russia's Kirill
Serebrennikov and Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who won
the Palme d'Or in 2010.
Outside the competition, Oliver Stone will screen a reworked
version of his 1991 political thriller "JFK", with new material.
Oscar-winner Jodie Foster, who first walked the red carpet at
Cannes as a 13-year-old when she starred in "Taxi Driver", will
be presented with an honorary Palme d'Or.
Cannes' organisers have long been at loggerheads with streaming
giant Netflix, which produces its own films and has shown them
some at festivals, but has objected to strict French rules about
giving films in competition a cinema release.
Fremaux said two Netflix movies had been possible Cannes
contenders, but no agreement had been reached on how to showcase
them.
(Reporting by Sarah White and Michaela Cabrera; Editing by Giles
Elgood)
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