Festivals

The 75th Cannes International Film Festival is over. While the festival celebrates the return to relative normalcy following a global pandemic, there is a new global threat just three hours away from the sunny beaches of the Cote d’Azur—Putin’s devastating war in Ukraine.

“Sometimes opposite things happen at the same time in one's own life, like a strange morning – and at the same time, a rebirth,” says writer/director Mia Hanson-Løve (Things to Come, All is Forgiven) on the impetus of One Fine Morning (Un Beau Matin) which premiered in the Director’s Fortnight at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Speaking after the screening, she explained the very personal narrative of the film which stars Léa Seydoux, Nicole Garcia and Pascal Greggory.

After the big blow of Titane last year, all predictions were possible for the Palme d'Or this year. On the Croisette, tongues were starting to loosen between a young director who questions masculinity (Close), a thriller that confirms the South Korean wave (Decision to Leave), or the film by the Dardenne brothers which could obtain a historic treble with Tori and Lokita.

Imagine you are a young filmmaker walking the coveted red carpet of the world’s première festival for the first time. And getting thrown out.

The war had barely ended, the wounds and scars were still open and painful. The arts could be a powerful balm for all the pain that remained from the past horrors.