Post written by Marie, a United Planet Team member.

Founded in 1946 by Jean Zay, the Cannes Film Festival is the most popular film festival in the world. The 62nd annual festival, hosted by French Actress Isabelle Huppert, just wrapped up on May 24th.

The red carpet has been rolled out! The Festival de Cannes screened 52 feature films from 32 different countries this year. Among those unveiled in the official selection, including off-competition screenings and the parallel section “Un Certain Regard,” which is aimed at boosting film talent. This year, for the first time in the festival’s history, an animated film was screened at the opening ceremony.

Picture taken by MyCine, Flickr

Well-established Asian and European directors dominated the list of 20 films competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or in the main selection. These films include Quentin Tarantino’s much hyped Inglorious Bastards and Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist. Festival favorites, directors Pedro Almodovar and Ang Lee, also presented films in this year.

French cinema was well represented on its own soil this year, with four French films competing in the official selection. Jacques Audiard entered his prison drama, “A Prophet”, one of the buzz films in this year’s competition. In “Wild Grass” from Alain Resnais, Georges, a character of mysterious and disturbing impulses finds a red wallet that glows seductively, and pursues the owner, Marguerite, a busy dentist who has a pilot’s license and wants nothing to do with him. Gaspard Noe’s “Enter the Void” and Xavier Giannoli’s “A l’origine” rounded out the French entries in the main festival selection.

However, unlike last year, the Palme d’Or was not won by a French film. This year’s winner was Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon”. Last year the award when to “The Class” from Laurent Cantet. Nevertheless, Charlotte Gainsbourg, a French actress was named best actress for her leading role in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, the highly controversial film that depicts physical abuse and the torturing of her husband. Jacques Audiard won the “Grand Prix” and Resnais received the lifetime achievement award. Although the Festival de Cannes is an international film festival, it is France’s biggest and most important film festival of the year. France’s strong showing at the annual festival is also a testament to the influence of French cinema and culture on this global industry.
Picture taken by Haydenfilms, Flickr

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 2:02 pm and is filed under Europe, Festival, France, French films, Local festival. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.