Festivals

Ken Loach is one of the most decorated Cannes directors ever. The British helmer has won two Palmes d’Or (The Wind That Shakes the Barley in 2006 and I, Daniel Blake in 2016) and three Jury Prizes to boot.

When the lights came back up in the cavernous Grand Theatre Lumière after the world premiere of Rocketman, applause was thunderous and emotions ran high – especially in the central seats reserved for dignitaries and the film’s cast, gathered around its subjects: Bernie Taupin and Elton John. The thunder was commensurate with the spectacle which had just concluded on the GTL’s widescreen which was augmented by the unique feeling of having absorbed a biographical celebration of someone actually present right there in the theater.

I was lucky to meet Elton John in London in October 1970 as I was starting my journalistic career. He had just returned from Los Angeles after his explosive American debut with 6 nights at the legendary West Hollywood Troubadour.

You could call The Dead Don’t Die a neo-noir small town zombie comedy. The apocalypse here hits the small upstate hamlet of Centerville, an actually slightly off-center Mayberry style all-American town, inhabited by zany characters: a movie buff convenience store clerk, amiably gruff diner waitresses, a resident mumbling racist (Steve Buscemi), the motel owner and two somewhat hapless sheriff deputies (Chloë Sevigny and Adam Driver) led by nonplussed sheriff Bill Murray.

More than any other film festival -with the possible exception of Berlin, which comes close- Cannes is first and foremost a market festival. Taking place too early in the year to truly influence the awards season - Telluride, Venice and Toronto are the leaders in that department – Cannes is all about deals and money.

Last year, 82 famous women marched on the red carpet of the Palais du Festival to bring attention to the lack of female directors at the French festival. Lead by then-current and previous jury presidents Cate Blanchett, Ava DuVernay and Agnès Varda, their ranks included Salma Hayek, Kristen Stewart, and Marion Cotillard.

Things finally got underway on the Croisette with the customary Jury press conference in the Palais du Cinema. Loudly announced by Thierry Fremeaux channeling his best Sergeant at Arms, the “Grand Jury of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival” filed into the press room to the usual lightstorm of camera flashes.