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"I honestly think this is one of the best
Cannes line-ups in years," said Scott Roxborough, European
bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter.
The festival runs from May 17-28, resuming its traditional
calendar following two years of pandemic disruptions. It was
canceled in 2020, and last year moved to July, when it was held
under strict COVID protocols.
This year, the parties are back and Hollywood heavyweights will
include Tom Cruise's "Top Gun Maverick" – bringing the star to
Cannes for the first time in three decades – as well as Baz
Luhrmann's Elvis biopic, starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.
"It's tradition to have our American friends – let's not forget
that the Cannes Festival, in 1939 and in 1946, was practically
co-built, co-invented by France and Hollywood," festival
director Thierry Fremaux told a press conference.
Actor Forest Whitaker will be on hand to receive the festival's
Honorary Palme D'Or for lifetime achievement.
David Cronenberg will mark his return to horror films with
"Crimes of the Future," featuring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen
Stewart and Lea Seydoux.
Asia will have a strong showing, despite the absence of China,
with films by Park Chan-wook and Hirokazu Kore-eda in
competition and "Squid Game" actor Lee Jung-jae premiering his
new film "Hunt."
"Everyone wants to sort of come back for this moment, sort of
this re-awakening of cinema here in Cannes," said Roxborough.
The festival opens on Tuesday with a zombie film, "Final cut,"
by French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, who changed the title
from "Z, like Z" to strip out a reference to the letter which
has become associated with the war in Ukraine.
The festival banned official Russian delegations from the event
but will feature "Tchaikovski's Wife" by exiled Russian director
Kirill Serebrennikov, who has been outspoken about the war.
Also screening is "Mariupolis 2" by Lithuanian director Mantas
Kvedaravicius, 45, who was killed in Mariupol, the Ukrainian
city heavily bombarded by Russian forces, nearly a month ago
while working on the film. His fiancée Hanna Bilobrova, who
finished the project, will present it.
Another Ukrainian entry is a debut film from Maksim Nakonechnyi,
"Butterfly Vision," the story of a young Ukrainian woman who
returns to her country after being captured then released in a
prisoner swap.
"We will be thinking a lot about film, but we will never stop
thinking about what is happening in Ukraine as well," said
Fremaux who was peppered with questions about the festival's
position on the war.
(Reporting by Mimosa Spencer and Hanna Rantala; Editing by Frank
Jack Daniel, Richard Chang)
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