On Saturday, the 76th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival arrives at the most important station that filmmakers, especially directors of films shown in the official competition, are looking forward to.
And 21 feature films stand in the balance of the jury, which is chaired by Swedish director Robin Ostlund, who will announce tonight the name of the winner of the Palme d’Or and the rest of the festival’s major awards.
Attention is drawn strongly to the movie “A Story of a Fall”, by French director Justine Teret, who presented the festival’s audience with a cinematic masterpiece, with an elaborate scenario about the story of Sandra, Samuel and their visually impaired son, Daniel, who is 11 years old.
The film presents a distorted judicial investigation, on a journey to uncover the causes of Samuel’s death, who is found dead, leaving the question open as to whether he killed or committed suicide.
About the story of this film, which has occupied the festival since its release, British writer and critic Peter Bradshaw tells Sky News Arabia:
- It is the favorite film to win the Palme d’Or. Justin’s strong screenplay was accompanied by an outstanding performance by the actors.
- The film focused on the element of suspense in a complex and sad story that was not devoid of comedic moments.
- If the film does not win the Palme d’Or, it will inevitably snatch one of the most important major awards.
- In addition to the French film, Italian, Turkish and British cinema seem to be the most likely to snatch the festival’s awards.
As the Swiss critic Igo Brusaburcu told Sky News Arabia:
- We have seen, at the 76th edition of the Film Festival, the signing of great directors, such as the Italian director Marco Polocchio, who participated in the movie “Kidnapped”, and who bore the director’s usual courage in dealing with sensitive and controversial stories in Europe, specifically Rome.
- Polochio’s fortunes seem ample, with his film that he returned to the sixteenth century to expose the practices of the Catholic Church and its excessive power at that time over the reins of government, politicians, and even the individual religious freedom of people.
- Not far from the dark area that Polochio highlighted, British director Jonathan Kleiser takes us with her movie “Area of Interest” to new angles from the angles of the Holocaust stories, which he presented in the German language, which attracted the attention of critics at the Cannes Festival, which made the film one of the most prominent films A nomination for the Palme d’Or.
Fallen leaves
In addition to these works, there is much talk about “Falling Leaves” by Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki, “The Beast” by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, and “Perfect Days” by German director Wim Wenders.
In addition to the cinematic masterpiece presented by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan “On Dry Herbs”.
Great competition
About this short list of candidates for the Palme d’Or, American critic David Rooney tells Sky News Arabia:
- The 76th session witnessed a great competition between great directors, such as Wes Anderson, Polocchio, Nani Moritz and Ken Loach, and the presence of these names in one competition is not an easy matter for the jury.
- According to Rooney, the last word will be the most influential story, in light of the participating films presenting separate topics between history, family problems, and thorny questions that revolve around the future of future generations and the way of thinking of today’s generation of young people.
Arab cinema
In this corner, Arab cinema reserves its place among the films nominated for winning, with the film by Tunisian director Kawthar Ben Hania, who presented to the festival a different film entitled “Girls of Intimacy” about the extremist ideas that invade adolescents and the role of the family in shaping their awareness.
As for the echoes coming from the halls of the Palais des Expositions at the Cannes Festival, “Daughters of Intimacy” bears the features of one of the strongest films that were shown at the Cannes Festival and is also strongly nominated to win the Festival Awards, which is the film “The Zero Club” by Austrian director Jessica Hosner.
It concludes the activities of the 76th session of the largest film festivals in the world, after 12 days that witnessed the participation of more than 35,000 filmmakers from the world.
The Arab participation in the film market was distinguished, to which this year it attracted more than 14,000 participants, including producers, directors, cinematographers and distributors around the world.
