he was expected with impatience. The list of films that will compete at the Cannes film Festival is fallen! For its 72nd edition, which will open on 14 may, the event will host a selection of «romantic and political,» said Thierry Frémaux read a few sentences lyrical that he had laid out on the paper before going to the traditional press conference for the announcement of the official selection. In the company of President Pierre Lescure, the delegate-general then unveiled the names of the nineteen directors in the competition to win the Palme d’or and the successor to A family affair . Among them, the regulars, Pedro Almodovar, Xavier Dolan, Ken Loach or the Dardenne brothers.
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The big absent from this list? Quentin Tarantino. His feature film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was awaited as the great event of the edition 2019 on the Croisette. «His movie is not ready,» said Thierry Frémaux. He has been prematurely and wrongly announced in the newspapers». Once Upon A Time In Hollywood could integrate the selection, on condition that it be finished in the coming weeks. «It is part of the movies we hope to be present in the final selection,» explained Mr Frémaux. The director of Pulp Fiction will still have to wait and activate it in the editing room – if he wants to walk the red carpet this year, 25 years after having won the Palme d’or.
«Netflix does not play the game»
we focused a lot on Ad Astra , the feature film from James Gray ( The immigrant ) with Brad Pitt and Toimmy Lee Jones. «The film has long been announced on the 22 may, which has led observers to think he was ready. This is not the case,» said the general delegate of the event, regretting the speculations of the media that, according to him, generates «expectation» and «disappointment». Unless the american director has elected to skip the check Croisette to engage in the Oscar race, preferring to in this case a trip in the gondolas on the side of the Mostra of Venice.
also note the absence of Hirokazu Kore-eda, winner of the Palme d’or last year with A family affair . The film on the japanese filmmaker shot in France with Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve will probably not be finished in time to be part of the final selection. «A pity, but the film is not ready,» said Thierry Frémaux.
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Answering journalists’ questions, the director general has, finally, reiterated the policy of the festival vis-à-vis Netflix and other giants of the streaming. «Netflix does not play the game of competition, so we can’t accept them in the festival», he explained. The physical distribution is the condition imposed by the operators to allow the presence of a work in the competition. A demand impossible for the firm of Los Gatos, who does not wish to bend to the chronology of French. With its chairman, the delegate general said, however, that the discussions are not broken with the giant of the streaming.
