Spanish despair on a rainy Cannes

`As we mentioned before, the movies competing for the Golden Palm are screened at Grand Theatre Lumiere.  Every day, the very first screening is at 8:30 am, which is called “press screening”. A mere press accreditation doesn't make for easy access -- it is all on a first-come-first-served basis. So, journalists queue up for hours to get access to the screening.  Later, around at 11 am, another competition film is screened, which is by invite.
Today, there were two competition films”: Foxcatcher”, an American production by “Capote”--famed director Bennett Miller and “Maps to the stars” by David Cronenberg (who made “Eastern Promises” and “A History of Violence”). Rafi Hossain who viewed both the films came away with mixed emotions.
On one hand, I was trying my best with the camera. But it was raining in Cannes. So I just grabbed an invitation card to see what it looked like. The rain made me stay indoors and catch the stars after the press conferences. One of the funniest men of tinsel town, Steve Carrel was caught on my video camera. So was one of the most handsome Hollywood hunks Channing Tatum and shy guy Mark Ruffalo.
I decided to give a shot to Un Certain Regard sidebar film, “Beautiful Youth” (Hermosa Juventud in Spanish). Barcelona-based director Jaime Rosales' “Beautiful Youth” is a movie about love and despair. Although a slow paced movie, the powerful acting of Ingrid García Jonsson just blew me away. The theme of the movie was unusual  The poverty displayed and the lengths that García Jonsson had to traverse to keep love alive is expected only from Eastern European countries, but it was based in Madrid, a European country with a fair economy. I am sure, our readers understand what I mean -- I just don't want to spoil the story.
Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It runs parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or. This section was introduced in 1978. Each year, it presents a score of films with various types of visions and styles; "original and different" works which seek international recognition. In 1998, the Prize Un Certain Regard was introduced to the section to recognise young talent and encourage innovative and daring works by presenting one of the films with a grant to aid its distribution in France. Since 2005, the prize consists of €30,000.
Other than the Hollywood stars like Channing Tatum, Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore and Robert Pattinson, rain dowsed much of the enthusiasm of previous days.

Editor of Star Showbiz Rafi Hossain, and sub-editor Zia Nazmul Islam are in the French Riviera City of Cannes for the 67th Cannes Film Festival, and will keep readers updated on this page, on events at the festival.