A Quick Recap of the Cannes Film Festival, and 3 Films to Watch
After eleven days of red carpet fanfare, rapturous applause breaks, and media controversy, the 78th Cannes Film Festival came to a close last Saturday.
Beyond showcasing cinema’s cutting edge talent, the annual festivities on the Riviera produced major cultural moments. Hollywood royalty, emerging stars, and global icons strutted along the Croisette, dressed head-to-toe by leading fashion houses, watchmakers, and jewellers.
Red carpet interviews and photographs dominated social media feeds for the week. Netizens worldwide were reminded of the industry’s unparalleled glamour.
But behind the glitz and glamor, this year’s cinematic procession reflected the current climate of political turmoil raging worldwide. On the festival’s opening day, a group of 350 filmworkers—including actor Ralph Fiennes and Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón—signed a letter condemning the killing of Fatma Hassouna in an Israeli airstrike. Murdered alongside ten of her relatives, the Palestinian photojournalist was one of the main subjects of the documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, a documentary that premiered at the festival. In his opening ceremony speech, Robert De Niro called out the U.S. President Donald J. Trump, and the closing day of the festival was disrupted by a suspected arson attempt.
The film’s selected in this year’s festival also did not shy away from tackling the most pressing cultural and political issues of the moment. The winner of Cannes’ most coveted prize, the Palme d’Or, went to dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose film It Was Just an Accident received an eight minute standing ovation. On why the film was selected for the award, Jury President and acclaimed actress Juliette Binoche proclaimed: “Art will always win. What is human will always win.”
Despite the tension that underscored this year’s Cannes, some of the films screened display an inspiring optimism for the innovative potential for cinema, not only in its innovations in storytelling, but also in the transcendental quality these stories can have in confronting a world ablaze.
Out of the 22 films selected for official competition this year, along with the hundreds of other works shown in other categories and exhibitions, here is a list of three exciting releases to keep an eye on.
Magellan, by Lav Diaz
Filipino auteur Lav Diaz’s new biopic of the titular Iberian explorer stars Mexican actor Gael García Bernal — famous for his roles in modern classics such as Amores Perros and Y Tu Mamá Tambien. Selected as part of the festival’s “Cannes Premiere” lineup of shortlisted competition contenders, Magellan marks Lav Diaz’s return to the Croisette since the premiere of his 2013 film Norte, the End of History. A companion piece to a still unreleased and untitled 9-hour project on Ferdinand Magellan’s spouse, the director’s latest may be one of his more conventionally accessible films to date. With a runtime of 157 minutes, Magellan is a dramatically shorter work with regards to Diaz’s oeuvre of slow-burn, odyssean tales. A visually striking portrait of imperial conquest, the film continues a career-long exploration on how the forces of religion, colonialism and violent domination have shaped national history.
The Secret Agent, by Kleber Mendonca Filho
Inspired by research conducted for his documentary 2023 Pictures of Ghosts, Kleber Mendonça Filho makes his prize-winning return to Cannes with this stylized period thriller set in a ’70s Brazil besieged by military dictatorship. Wagner Moura plays Marcelo, a middle aged technology researcher who arrives in Recife seeking refuge, only to realize the idyllic seaside town brimming with vintageVintageVintage refers to the specific year a wine's grapes were harvested, with exceptional vintages reflecting particularly favorable growing season conditions within a given region and year. Serious collectors track vintageGo to Vintage Glossary cars and record players was not the safehaven he thought it was. This role marks Moura’s triumphant return to Brazilian cinema. The actor had previously played Pablo Escobar Netflix’s Narcos series, and more recently a jaded journalist alongside Kirsten Dunst in Alex Garland’s Civil War. Like Filho’s previous features, The Secret Agent has elicited critical praise for providing an entertaining viewing experience that does not compromise on its socio-political depth. Filho went home with the festival’s coveted Best Director award.
Highest 2 Lowest, by Spike Lee
Though premiering out of competition in this year’s festival, one of the most talked about projects at Cannes this year is Brooklyn legend Spike Lee’s revamp of Akira Kurosawa’s 1953 noir classic High and Low. The original film, which was an adaptation of an Ed Mcbain novel, centered around an executive of a shoe manufacturer who must deal with a crippling ransom demand to free his chauffeur’s son from captivity. Lee transports this story across the Pacific and to the present day, building the film’s drama around a recording label mogul played none other by Hollywood icon Denzel Washington. Alongside other veteran actors like Jeffrey Wright, the cast is also filled with new talent from the music world, including award-winning rap artist A$AP Rocky and viral hip hop sensation Ice Spice. What is sure to be a typically bold and crowd-pleasing affair, Highest 2 Lowest is not only an unmissable opportunity to watch a living American maestro’s work on the big screen, but also to witness the convergence of Hollywood’s old guard with promising new talent.