Cannes brings the party and the demands, Hollywood the stars

The 77th Cannes Film Festival will open its doors in a week with 22 candidates for the Palme d’Orincluding Francis Ford Coppola, tributes to the old guard of Hollywood and, behind the scenes, the tension surrounding French cinema due to allegations of abuse.

The Brazilian Karim Ainouz (“Firebrand”) will be the only Ibero-American voice in the official competition with “Motel Destino”, his return to cinema in Portuguese, while the new generations advance in parallel sections, with more than a dozen films and short films from Spain and Latin America.

Coppola’s megalomania

At 85 years old, Francis Ford Coppola attracts much of the attention with “Megalopolis”, a film starring Adam Driver, a job for which he invested a good part of his fortune, like 45 years ago with the legendary “Apocalypse Now”, with which he triumphed in Cannes.

There are many other well-known names of that generation, such as George Miller, who will premiere “Furiosa” out of competition, another episode of his “Mad Max” saga.

The also American Oliver Stone (“Platoon”, “JFK”) returns to the documentary, this time with “Lula”, a work dedicated to the Brazilian president, in line with his leftist vision of the recent history of Latin America.

Kevin Costner returns with “Horizon” to one of his favorite themes, the conquest of the West, presented out of competition.

The Cannes festival will also honor George Lucas with honorary Palmes d’Or (“Star Wars”) and the actress Meryl Streep, who returns to Cannes after a long hiatus of more than three decades, as well as the Japanese animation studio Ghibli, the first time it has been awarded to a group.

The claims

During the Cannes festival it usually becomes a showcase of glamour, a business platform and a stage for all kinds of demands, and this edition (May 14 to 25) promises to serve the same cocktail.

A small workers’ association, “Under the screens of misery”, called a strike during the Festival to protest their working conditions.

The group, independent of the large French union centers, called the strike after a meeting on Monday.

The Festival, as well as the parallel sessions, reacted this Tuesday with an offer of dialogue, after acknowledging that they are “aware of the difficulties suffered by some of their workers who chain different contracts for film festivals.”

For her part, actress Judith Godrèche, who shook French cinema with her rape allegations against directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, will present a short film with testimonies from victims of sexual violence.

Only 20% of the film selection has been directed by women, criticizes a French feminist association that fights for parity.

Narcos and transsexuals

Francis Ford Coppola will have to deal with a varied representation of world cinema.

The musical film is provided by the Frenchman Jacques Audiard, with “Emilia Pérez”, a bizarre story of drug trafficking and transsexuality set in Mexico and with Latin actors (Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gómez…).

Also notable are the Iranian Ali Abbasi with “The Apprentice”, about Donald Trump’s youth, or one of last year’s winners, the Greek Yorgos Lanthimos, who returns with “Kinds of Kindness” alongside his favorite actress of the moment. , Emma Stone (Oscar-winning last year for “Poor Creatures”).

Paul Schrader, award-winning screenwriter of “Taxi Driver” and author of “American Gigolo,” will present “Oh Canada,” starring Richard Gere.

And rising in the firmament, new stars: Jacob Elordi, Barry Keoghan, Margaret Qualley…

The question remains as to whether the Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof, a filmmaker harassed by the regime, will be able to travel to Cannes in competition for the Palme with “The seed of the sacred fig.”

The new values

On the Ibero-American side, the Spanish Jonás Trueba, a filmmaker appreciated in France, debuts in Cannes with “Volverás”, in which he directs his partner Itsaso Arana.

This comedy competes in the Filmmakers’ Fortnight along with “Something old, something new, something borrowed” by Argentine Hernán Rosselli, the documentary “A quest do céu”, filmed by Eryk Rocha and Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha in the Amazon and the avant-garde ” The Hyperboreans” (Chile), by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña.

The Critics’ Week, chaired by the Spanish Rodrigo Sorogoyen (“As bestas”), will host “Simón de la Montaña”, by the Argentine Federico Luis, “Baby” by Marcelo Caetano (Brazil) and in a special session the short “Las novias del sur” by Elena López Riera (“El agua”).

This year’s jury is chaired by filmmaker Greta Gerwig, the author of the multimillion-dollar “Barbie”, supported among others by the Spanish Juan Antonio Bayona (“The Snow Society”) and the indigenous American actress Lily Gladstone.

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