Spike Lee, the first Black Cannes’ jury president, kicks off film festival: ‘Vive la France!’
The Cannes Film Festival rolled out the red carpet for the first time in more than two years on Tuesday, launching the French Riviera spectacular with the premiere of Leos Carax’s “Annette,” the introduction of Spike Lee’s jury, and with high hopes for shrugging off a punishing pandemic year for cinema.
The 74th Cannes opened Tuesday with as much glitz as it could summon, led by “Annette,” a fantastical musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard and scored by the musical duo Sparks. The opening ceremony also returned last year’s Palme d’Or winner, Bong Joon Ho (for “Parasite”) and Jodie Foster, who first came to Cannes as a 13-year-old with Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” for an honorary Palme.
Cannes Film Festival 2021 to open with ‘Annette’ starring Adam Driver for in-person return
Cannes has pushed ahead in much its usual form, with splashy red-carpet displays and a lineup of many of the world’s most revered filmmakers, including Asghar Farhadi, Wes Anderson, Mia Hansen-Love and Paul Verhoeven. Festivalgoers are tested every 48 hours, seated shoulder to shoulder and masked for screenings.
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Much of the talk on Tuesday at Cannes centered on injustice and survival. That the festival was even happening, after last year’s edition was canceled, was a surprise to some. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who’ll see the 24 films in competition for the Palme as a member of the jury over the next 12 days, said it will be her first time in a movie theater in 15 months. When “Parasite” actor Song Kang Ho was invited to be a juror, he said, “I thought: Will there really be a festival?”
“The fact that we’re here today, it’s really a miracle,” said Song.
Still, much of the usual pomp is toned down this year. There’s a relative dearth of promotion up and down Cannes’ oceanfront promenade, the Croisette, and Hollywood has less of a role than in years past. Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho (“Bacurau”), a juror, added that in some parts of the world, cinema is under siege. In President Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, he said, the national cinematheque has been closed and its staff dismantled.