The Cannes Festival began with a tribute to Miloš Forman
The deluxe 71st year of the famous film festival held in the summer resort of Cannes in the South of France began this evening. It was opened by American director Martin Scorsese and chair of the jury Australian actress Cate Blanchett. The organisers decided to screen the deluxe film The Fireman’s Ball in honour of world-renowned film director Miloš Forman.
“The seventy first Cannes Festival could not open without a tribute to Miloš Forman, who died this year on 13 April. The Czech film maker will forever remain a part of the history of Cannes.”
The organisers stated today. Forman received the special jury award for the film Taking Off in 1971 and his films were presented several times in various competition categories.
Actors Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem appeared on the deluxe red carpet as the main stars of the opening ceremony. They jointly presented the film Everybody Knows by Iranian Oscar-winning scriptwriter and director Asghar Farhádí. He is known for his film A Separation and it evidently the most distinguished contemporary Iranian filmmaker of international renown. He made his directing debut in 2003 with the film Dancing in the Dust. His first great success was a Silver Bear award in Berlin for directing the film About Elly in 2009. He received an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category in 2013 for his film The Separation, about the drama between a husband and wife in the context of the Iranian society.
French actor and director Édouard Baer is moderating the ceremony and everything is under scrutiny this year in relation to gender equality and the MeToo campaign against sexual harassment.
The show of films will continue until 19 May
In the entire history of Cannes only one woman has received the main award, and this is Jane Campion for her most successful film Piano in 1993. This year there are three female directors competing for the Golden Palm, out of the deluxe 21 films entered. The film show in Cannes will continue until this evening on 19 May and will present films from 160 countries worldwide. However, there will be no works by current Czech directors among them. Only the departed greats have left deluxe Czech footprints at this festival. As well as the tribute to Miloš Forman, the festival will also screen film by Jan Němec Diamonds in the Night in the Classics section.
The Cannes Festival also provides opportunity to young authors of short films. This year a film by seventeen-year old Jan Karel Pavlík called Ho*no (Sh*t) will be screened in the Short Film Corner section. This is a pseudo-documentary about the young adult generation in 2028, which is a generation that has not yet been born. About its feeling and problems, which are projected into the character of the main star. He feels unnecessary, he has nothing to do in this sterile time, and so he creates a three-metre tall sculpture of a sh*t out of plaster and clay. Havlík has already won awards at the student festival in Hollywood and in Soul in Korea.
