Festivals

The 13th Zurich Film Festival opened with Januz Metz’ drama Borg vs McEnroe and some special insights from Swiss tennis star Roger Federer. The festival, in Switzerland’s largest city, includes three main competition categories, several out of competition gala screenings and one last-minute surprise guest.

The unique coming of age story Stupid Young Heart, from director Selma Vilhunen, won the Finnish Film Affair Work-in-Progress award at the recent Helsinki International Film Festival. Around 60,000 people flocked to Finland to attend the 30th anniversary of the Love & Anarchy: Helsinki International Film Festival, held from September 14-26 and the three-person jury for the September 19-21 industry showcase event included HFPA member Jenny Cooney Carrillo.

Now in it’s 19th year, the Taipei International Film Festival kicked off its opening night with The Great Buddha +, directed by Huang Hsin-yao.  The sold-out film is Huang’s first feature, based on his Golden Horse award nominated short film of the same name.

The prestigious Edinburgh International Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world, but after spending a week there we can say that it is one of the coolest, charming and most pleasant film festivals around.   151 features from 46 countries screened at this year’s edition of the festival, between featrures, shorts and documentaries, with God’s Own Country , written and directed by actor Francis Lee, opening the event on June 21.

Fashion on the Cannes red carpet turned heads as high drama and feminine florals and flounces flourished. The men were suave and groomed, the women demonstrated that the Golden Globes is the carpet to watch for predictors of fashion – many of the trends started in January, as the HFPA honored the best in entertainment, took root.

Could 2017 go down as the year of the women despite men taking all of the top awards at the Cannes Film Festival, bar one? The Palme d’Or went to Ruben Östlund, for the Swedish satire The Square. The runner-up Grand Prix went to festival favorite 120 Beats per Minute, by French director Robin Campillo, and Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev was awarded the Jury Prize for his drama Loveless.

The pastels have faded and white – but mostly black – dominate on the carpet. EvaGreen, Uma Thurman and Miriam Odemba were standouts – click to see more photos.

Some awards have already been given - Cinefondation, Directors Fortnight, Un Certain Regard, Critics' Week - and as of end of day today, with the gala premiere of Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here, all films in competition would have been screened. A thick veil of suspense envelops the Croisette as Pedro Almodóvar's jury debates the merits of this jubilee year's selection.

After color drenching the carpet for the first part of the festival, black and white has dominated in the last two days. The twist is the geometry of the patterns in an exquisite, modern way.

Consider the life of a Cannes jury member - there's basically two activities in her/his agenda:  watching the best international films available at the moment and attending whatever events tickle her/his fancy among the vast opportunities available; this, in a country famous for the excellence of its cuisine, wines and parties. The job, of course, also comes with a tremendous amount of pressure and responsibility.