72nd Festival de Cannes begins today

Festival de Cannes is often regarded as the Holy Grail for film fraternities around the world. With an extravagant history that dates back to 1946 focusing on films and documentaries from all genres around the world. Besides the star-studded red carpet, special screenings, master classes, prominent juries and prestigious competition awards, Festival de Cannes also serves as a platform for networking with foreign dignitaries of the film fraternity.

This year’s festival honours French filmmaker Agnès Varda, featuring her on the official poster of the festival, scheduled to be held from May 14 – 25. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu will serve as jury president. The opening film of the festival is titled, The Dead Don’t Die, a zombie flick starring Iggy Pop, by American director Jim Jarmusch. Other films competing in the prestigious Palme d’Or include Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s The Young Ahmed, Elia Suleiman’s It Must Be Heaven, among many more.

The red carpet at Cannes 2019 is all set to amaze with celebrities like Rihanna, Elton John, Iggy Pop, Bono, Tom Waits and Selena Gomez, to name a few.

This year’s jury for Palme d’Or will comprise of Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, Senegalese actor Maimouna N’Diaye, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, American actor Elle Fanning, Moroccan-born French screenwriter Robin Campillo, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, Polish filmmaker  Paweł Aleksander Pawlikowski, American screenwriter and director Kelly Reichardt and French director Enki Bilal.

As per the usual proceedings, the festival will also include Un Certain Regard, Out of competition screenings, Special screenings, Short films, Cinéfondation, Cannes Classics, Documentaries, FIPRESCI and much more. Keep your eye on The Daily Star for more coverage.