Women at Cannes

Natalie Portman

Maïwenn: Her second selection In Competition was with “Mon Roi”, and always with that provocative and visceral touch, Maïwenn enlists Emmanuelle Bercot to portray a lawyer married to a perverted narcissist and split between desire, suffering and the search for emancipation.   

Valerie Donzelli: Love and seduction are once more at the heart of her fifth feature film, as well as transgression. In “Marguerite & Julien”, a brother and sister experience passionate love. With prohibition and taboo on one side and fairytale tenderness on the other, Valerie Donzelli sets and maintains a very singular tone and universe for her first time In Competition.

Shin Su Won: Un Certain Regard welcomes this ex-teacher from Korea for the first time. Through her film “Madonna”, she portrays human cruelty, particularly in relation to women with the story of a nurse working at a hospital for rich patients awaiting transplants.

Alice Winocour: Winner of the Short Films Palme d'Or in 2005 with “Kitchen”, Alice Winocour returns this year in Un Certain Regard with her film “Maryland” which portrays the suffering of Matthias Schoenaerts' character, a solider returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder. With this genre of film, she wishes to reaffirm the idea that 'everything is fair game for women directors today.'

Ingrid Bergman

Ida Panahandeh: Her first film, “Nahid”, says much about the status of women in Iran. This year, Un Certain Regard discovered Ida Panahandeh, a rising star among the new generation of Iranian film directors. This film expresses her concern with the discrepancies between archaic law and the evolution of society through the portrayal of a single mother who wants to remarry.

Emmanuelle Bercot: She provides a compassionate view of youth despite all its vagaries. In “La Tête Haute”, the Festival's opening film, she meticulously examines the juvenile justice system's supervision of delinquents from a judge's office.

Natalie Portman: The Oscar-winning actress tries her hand at directing feature films with “A Tale of Love And Darkness”, inspired by the book by Amoz Oz. Natalie Portman's presentation of this film in Special Screenings was her opportunity to reconnect with her origins, the story of her grandparents and with history itself at the time of Israel's creation.

Agnès Varda

Agnès Varda: As an emblematic figure and artist unlike any other, she serves as a role model for the younger generations: her work and her life are infused with the spirit of freedom, the art of driving back boundaries, a fierce determination and a conviction that brooks no obstacles. Simply put, Varda seems capable of accomplishing everything she wants. She received an honorary Palme d'Or during the Closing Ceremony of the 68th Festival de Cannes. Previously, only Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, and Bernardo Bertolucci, have been granted this supreme distinction by the Board of Directors of the Festival de Cannes. The award is given to renowned directors whose works have achieved a global impact but who have nevertheless never won the Palme d'Or. Agnès Varda is the first female director to garner the prestigious trophy. 

Sabine Azéma: The French actress Sabine Azéma will preside over the Camérad'or Jury this year, to select the best first film presented in Cannes. The Camérad'or, created in 1978, is awarded to the best first film presented in the Official Selection (In Competition, Out of Competition and Un Certain Regard), during La Semaine de la Critique or the Directors' Fortnight, which represents a total of 26 films in 2015.

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini: The Italian-American actress, director and daughter of Italian director Roberto Rossellini and Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, Isabella Rossellini has kindly agreed to be the President of the Un Certain Regard Jury, the Official Selection of the Festival de Cannes made up of twenty films to be announced, along with the films In Competition, at the press conference on 16th April. Her mother, Ingrid Bergman is being honoured by this year's Festival de Cannes. At the Festival de Cannes, Isabella Rossellini will take part in the tribute to her mother by attending the screening of Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words, a documentary by Stig Björkman being shown as part of the Cannes Classics. She will also launch her own “Ingrid Bergman Tribute” to celebrate the centenary of her mother's birth. The show, directed by Guido Torlonia and LudovicaDamiani, will be based on both her autobiography and her correspondence with Roberto Rossellini and will play on some at the world's major theatres.

SOURCE: THE INTERNET