Jurys in Cannes, A Tale of Dictatorships and Bad Decisions or When Cronenberg Didn’t Want Almodovar to Win | culture

At the end of May, he became the head of the jury of Cannes, one of the most powerful figures in the world of culture. After the Academy Award for Best Picture, there is no award more coveted in cinema than the Palme d’Or at the Côte d’Azur competition. For some directors, the European Cup is more important. Only two films have received the two awards: Marty (1955) and Parasites (2019). Now, the Oscar vote is massive, secretive, and anonymous. On the other hand, the deliberations of the Palme d’Or, though also secret, are neither massive nor anonymous: everyone knows the name of the jury, and above all the name of its chief, who, depending on his character, can act differently. dictatorial.

The history of Cannes is full of rage, battles, bad decisions or controversial choices that have been defended over time. Gilles Jacob, one of the people who knew the ins and outs of Cannes, recounted in his diary, Life will pass like a dreamcitizen was), Some of these accidents. Jacob was the event’s general delegate from 1977 to 2000, and its president from 2001 to 2014. In an interview at EL PAÍS, he confirmed, after being asked if the day the winners were announced was equivalent to hell: “No, but it was purgatory, because of course it doesn’t look like Heaven in any way.

In an unexpected decision, Vincent Lyndon, president of the jury for the current edition of Cannes, spoke with some journalists about his work hours before the joint presentation conference of all members of that court. An unexpected decision, because in the twenty-first century no one has done it. Thierry Fremaux [el delegado general del certamen] He only told us one thing: “We are completely free human beings,” said the actor, who premiered in Spain. new world. In this way, he dispelled his fears that he was a managed head of the organization, a designation that for years marked the decisions of Russian Nikita Miyakov, famous for his leniency in decision-making. “I will not read movie news, I will try to be myself. I will avoid social networks and have this fun with my eight buddies. In my daily life I watch four or five films a week. Here is 21 in 15 days. However, it is my pleasure.” Alongside him are directors Asghar Farhadi, Ladge Lee, Jeff Nichols and Joachim Trier, and actresses and directors Rebecca Hall and Jasmine Trinka. Actresses Nomi Rapas and Deepika. “On Monday we actually spent four hours together, talking, we called.”

For Lyndon, “there will be no messages in the deliberations, but a pure love of cinema.” But how will they make the decision? in an absolutely democratic way. And if everyone likes a movie and I don’t like it, then I’ll think about what happens to me in that movie, “Translator titan, Palme d’Or last year. I hate friction and confrontation. I believe in speaking up and sharing feelings.”

It may not happen in the 75th edition, but there were big fights in Cannes. In one of the episodes Life will pass like a dream Jacob was recalling the 1997 confrontation between Isabel Adjani – then president – Nanny Moretti and Mike Lee. Adjani wanted the Palme to go to beautiful future by Atom Egoyan. Fadl Moretti Iranian Cherry taste. The Italian convinced Mike Lee to support him, and they agreed. they won cherry taste Abbas Kiarostami, and eel, by Shohei Imamura For example, but not limited. Adjani called Lee a “garden dwarf” and Moretti an “unbearable Machiavelli.”

Almost since its inception there has been controversy. In 1953 he won fear salary by Henri-Georges Clouseau. Then there was no Palme d’Or, established two years later, but there was the award for Best Film. He almost won it Welcome Mr. Marshall! Luis García Berlanga, if not a member of the jury, which was presided over by Jean Cocteau, the American actor Edward J. Robinson, who flew into a frenzy when he saw the sequence in which a small United States flag disappears down a hole as a symbol of disappointment.

Cronenberg vs. “All About My Mom”

Questionable decisions were prepared in Spanish cinema. All about my mother She was one of the nominees for the 1999 Palme d’Or. The head of the jury, David Cronenberg, hated her. After some time, Pedro Almodovar told EL PAÍS: “I will never be closer to winning than I was in 1999. David Cronenberg, chair of this jury, will be haunted by this question for life. [el porqué no le dio la Palma]. When you go into a competition, you have to be aware that the list of winners is unpredictable, beyond the quality of the films I suppose.” That year Almodovar won Best Director. In 2017, he himself chaired the jury and was the award-winning film. Square, by Robin Ostlund. The Spaniard, at the closing press conference of the festival, admitted something different, that the person who really touched his heart was 120 beats per minute, by Robin Campello. “I was emotional from start to finish. We’ll see tomorrow in the papers what people and journalists think about the winners (…) but this is a very democratic jury, and I’m part ninth in it. That’s the only thing I can say.”

Among the most protested Palme d’Or advertisements at Cannes are the triumphs of three American films. taxi driver, by Martin Scorsese, booed in 1976 (Tennessee Williams chairs the jury). In 1990, neither critics nor journalists felt it The heart of an adventurer, David Lynch, deserving of the award (Bernardo Bertolucci served as president). And in 2004, Quentin Tarantino led his fellow jurors to a controversial Palme d’Or for the documentary 9/11 Fahrenheit, by Michael Moore. Tarantino himself had a split opinion when he won with Pulp Fiction (1994). In contrast, in 2013 for several days, the press debated whether Steven Spielberg, the head of that edition, would dare to award Adele’s life Written by Abdel Latif Kechiche. He did so, requested that the name of the two heroes, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, also appear on La Palma, and mocked journalists noting that although it did not resemble the cinema he had created, this did not mean that he did not know how to appreciate it.

In any case, these confrontations take place not only in Cannes, but at any festival. As well as quarrels. The emphatic words of Francesc McDormand, chair of the jury for the 2011 San Sebastian Festival, still resonate after watching There will be no peace for the wicked, by Enrique Orbiso. “my husband [Joel Coen] He does like this every year. ” end of discussion.