All the Buzz You Need to Know from Cannes Film Festival 2021: Part 1

The Cannes Film Festival is in full swing, after being canceled in 2020, and then postponed in 2021 from its regular May date to July. Here’s the latest buzzy news from la Croisette. 

Jury President Spike Lee’s Pink Suit & Remarks on Race

BlacKkKlansman director Spike Lee is the jury president this year at the festival, a title he was given for the 2020 festival, which was canceled due to the pandemic. On the festival’s opening night, Lee wore a pink Louis Vuitton suit with pink sunglasses, Nike sneakers, and a top hat. Known for his playful style, which typically includes baseball caps and enviable sneakers, Lee turned it up a notch, and the paparazzi loved it.

 

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Lee’s films, which include Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and more, often shine a light on issues of race and social justice. So it was on-brand for Lee to speak out during the Cannes Film Festival about George Floyd and issues of racism in America. The late film critic Roger Ebert’s wife, Chaz Ebert, asked Lee at a press conference at Cannes about Do the Right Thing being snubbed at the festival in 1989. Variety reports how Lee told Chaz Ebert, “A couple weeks ago was the 32nd anniversary of the film. I wrote it in 1988. When you see brother Eric Garner, when you see king George Floyd murdered, lynched. I think of Radio Raheem. And you think and hope that 30 mother-fucking years later, Black people would stop being hunted down like animals. So, I’m glad to be here, though.”

 

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Jodie Foster Honored as a ‘Friend of Films’ at Cannes

Actress and director Jodie Foster has been in films since she was a child when she appeared in Napoleon and Samantha in 1972. She later shot to fame for her role in Taxi Driver when she was a teen. Foster first came to the Cannes Film Festival in 1975 with the Scorsese-directed film, in which she starred alongside Robert De Niro.

Foster is a highly respected member of the film industry and well-regarded for her craft, eloquence, poise, and strength, and it’s no wonder she was honored at this year’s Cannes Film Festival as a result. Cannes gave Foster – who also happens to be a fluent French speaker – an honorary Palm d’Or.

Adam Driver’s Standing Ovation Cigarette Break

Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard’s musical film, Annette, from director Leos Carax was the festival’s opening night film, and it received a five-minute standing ovation during which Driver playfully lit up a cigarette. Driver also reportedly clapped wildly and was “ecstatic” to be at Cannes, after last year’s canceled festival.

Adam Driver lights up a cigarette at the end of ‘Annette.’ #Cannes2021 pic.twitter.com/xTGbc12wnf

— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) July 6, 2021

Cannes is known for many things, and one of them is that it’s the more emotive and more – let’s say – lively of the film festivals. Compared to the likes of the Berlin Film Festival or Toronto Film Festival or Sundance Film Festival, Cannes is the Wild Wild West. Critics loudly boo and jeer when they don’t like a film, actors are thrust up into the air after screenings, and stars light up cigarettes inside theaters.

There’s already speculative Oscar buzz around Annette, although reviews have been somewhat mixed on the whole, with some calling the operatic musical “strange” and “quirky.”

 

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A ‘Jackpot’ of Film Titles

After a year like last’s, the world is chomping at the bit for incredible films, and Cannes is delivering. The slate of films selected to premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival has critics salivating, and it’s easy to see why.

From the hotly anticipated Annette to a laundry list of other hot titles, press and industry players will be clambering to get into screenings. Some of the most anticipated films include Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and Sean Penn’s Flag Day; read the full listing of the “In Competition” films on the festival website

 

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Euros Finals Take Centerstage Amid Films

The UEFA European Football Championship men’s soccer tournament – concisely referred to simply as “the Euros” – is currently in full swing, with England battling Italy at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday. Even though Cannes is awash with cinephiles, directors, and actors at the moment, even the industry’s elite aren’t immune to the excitement surrounding the matches.

As Italy played Spain in the semi-finals earlier this week, Cannes attendees crowded into pubs and restaurants around the Grand Palais to get a glimpse of the “footie” over beer and wine.

Actor Matt Damon Moved to Tears Amid Lengthy Standing Ovation

Adam Driver smoked a cigarette during his standing ovation, but actor Matt Damon took a different route: He got teary. For his film Stillwater, actor Matt Damon received a lengthy standing ovation, and he was visibly touched. Moved to tears, the actor relished in the praise from his industry colleagues. The Tom McCarthy-directed film is out of competition, but the star power commanded by Damon makes it a hot ticket this year.