Limelight:
Viva el cinema!
By
Lubna Abdel Aziz
It's 'Buon giorno', not 'Bonjour', as the French hasten to brush up their Italian this week; at least they are at Cannes where the 56th International Film Festival is being held 14 - 25 May. Festival president Gilles Jacob dedicated this session to the memory of Italian master film director Federico Fellini marking the 10th anniversary of his death -- thus the Italian theme of this year's festival Viva El Cinema, 'Long Live Cinema'. The festival will showcase such Fellini works as La Strada, Otto e mezzo , La Dolce Vita, as well as four special documentaries dedicated to the master.
Since 1946 except for a few odd years, the cinema world has honoured a rendez-vous at the glamorous Azure Coast of France where for 10 glorious days this tiny resort becomes the capital of Filmdom. Despite the frivolous façade of a lazy Riviera romp for 'show-biz' folk, cinema is serious business for the French. They love this young art with an ardent passion -- after all France is film's original birthplace. Although several inventors in Britain, the US and France were experimenting on ways of projecting moving pictures in the late 1800s, it is a fact that on 28 December 1895, in a small Paris café, the Lumière brothers, Louis and Auguste, publicly projected pictures of a moving train on a screen, for the first time in history.
Yet France was not the first country to hold a film festival. This honour goes to Venice, Italy, where the First Film Festival was inaugurated in 1932. It rapidly assumed a political flavour, favouring Fascist countries like Italy and Germany, which outraged the French. In 1939 Jean Renoir's film La Grande Illusion -- a favourite to win 'Coppa Mussolini' (today's Lion d'Or), was overlooked for Italian and German films. The French resigned in protest followed by the British and Americans. A powerful lobby by a group of critics and filmmakers petitioned the French government to underwrite a French film festival. The enchanting Mediterranean resort of Cannes was favoured because of its idyllic climate and location, and because it pledged to finance a special building to house the event: 'Palais des Festivals'. On 1 September 1st 1939, Cannes opened its doors to its first film festival only to close them the next day when France joined Britain in declaring war against Germany. The Festival was cancelled and remained in hiatus throughout the war years. It re-emerged in 1946 and except for a few odd years it has steadily grown in scope, range and renown.
It is hard to conceive of another art form that reaches more people from all walks of life simultaneously, as does the cinema. Created from the proud fabric of man's imagination, advanced and improved by 20th century technology, the seventh art has a dominating impact worldwide. The French, distinguished for their unique contributions to the arts, have long treasured and served the cinema, making their Festival the most outstanding artistic, educational and business event of the year.
Cannes has much to offer its visitors. It has its own eloquence that speaks to your senses with the gentle persuasion of the Mediterranean breezes. The festival provides a high degree of tension and tempo in anticipation of the arrival of Filmdom's royalty. For serious filmmakers it is a brilliant showcase for young and old talent and the exploration of ideas and techniques as varied and as colourful as the 80 some countries that participate. This year Cannes kicks off its 56th festival with a remake of the 1952 French classic Fanfan la Tulipe as its opening night treat.
On their famous boardwalk 'La Croisette', visitors will be entertained with orchestras playing familiar themes from popular movies; specific nights will be dedicated to compositions by Nino Rota and Nicola Piovani for scores composed for Fellini's films, as part of the tribute to the great Italian master. At sundown the Palais des Festivals will mount giant screens in the neighbourhood, projecting old trailers and credits from familiar classics, highlighting the magic and thrill of the art of cinema.
A line-up of 52 feature films have been selected for a variety of categories. In the official competition of this year's bouquet are 20 films from 13 countries presented by an eclectic group of veterans and newcomers representing the cinema of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The youngest director is 23-year-old Iranian Samira Makhmalbaf with her A Cinq Heures de L'Après-midi. Samira is no newcomer to Cannes, although this is only her third feature film. In 2000 she won the Prix du Jury for Blackboards, an unheard of honour for one so young. The oldest director is 84- year-old Lester James Peries of Sri Lanka, who returns to Cannes with Mansion by the Lake "a rare serene and timeless piece" inspired by the works of Anton Chekov.
The festival is thrilled with the return of distinguished Brazilian filmmaker Hector Babenco, in a gripping real- life experience account of Dr Drauzio Varella and his life inside the infamous S‹o Paolo prison Carandiru.
Other notable entries are Clint Eastwood's Mystic River with Sean Penn, and Lars von Trier's Dogville, starring Nicole Kidman. Nicole is the festival's darling, since her first visit in 1994 with To Die For. Two years ago she electrified the tiny resort with her presence, appearing in Baz Luhrman's daring musical Moulin Rouge. She is back turning heads again this year with Danish director Von Trier, a Palme d'Or winner in 2000 for his Dancer in the Dark. Since her divorce from mega-star Tom Cruise, Kidman's career has taken flight. She is the most sought after star in Hollywood today and has just received her first Oscar for her turn as Virginia Woolf in Steven Daldry's The Hours. The best is yet to come for this talented beauty.
This year the jury boasts the presence of a real life beauty-queen-turned-actress India's Bollywood star Aishwarya Ray as well as America's sweetheart Meg Ryan and wonder-kid director Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Erin Brokovich) who also won the Palme d'Or for his 1989 surprising low-budget gem Sex, Lies and Videotapes.
On closing night, the festival pays tribute to two film icons, French actress Jeanne Moreau and British genius Charlie Chaplin. At a special dinner in her honour, Mlle Moreau will be offered the Festival's Trophy while a documentary dedicated to her life and works will open the closing session. Considered one of cinema's greatest classics, Chaplin's last silent movie Modern Times will close this year's edition of the Cannes Film Festival. The 1936 feature has been restored with 126,000 images scanned and retouched one by one. A DVD revival of Chaplin's films will be released next June including The Great Dictator, Limelight, Gold Rush andModern Times.
They may be dumping French wine in Philadelphia and eating 'freedom fries' in Washington, but Hollywoodistas are not phased. Cannes is far too important, "too strategic". Politics, for or against France, matters little when it comes to acquisition and distribution: "It's a great venue to reach the international press...to view, to sell, to buy." Studios seize the moment to obtain maximum exposure to their products.
The whole cast of the much-awaited blockbuster Matrix Reloaded, premiering at Cannes on 15 May, will head the list of the many visiting Americans there to celebrate the glitz and glitter of Springtime at the French Riviera. Besides the above-mentioned, the festival will host several other Americans: Lauren Bacall, James Caan, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and, Kevin Bacon among other international stars.
A veritable melting pot of talent and creativity from far off lands and familiar places get together in Cannes for a brief spell to celebrate the art of the future. Can you help but rejoice with the French who so honour this art and join their cheer in Dante's tongue, Viva el Cinema!
