Final Cut Opens 75th Cannes Film Festival

©Andreas Rentz / GettyImages

The Cannes Film Festival celebrates its 75th anniversary! After a glamorous star-studded Montée des Marches with international stars, the Opening Ceremony kicked off the competition with the screening of Michel Hazanavicius’ Final Cut (Coupez!)

Cannes Film Festival 2022: the Competition Jury, chaired this year by actor Vincent Lindon, was welcomed on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière at the Palais des Festivals by the Master of Ceremonies, actress Virginie Efira. More than 1,800 feature films have been submitted to the Official Selection, for some 20 films competing in the Official Competition. The competition for the Caméra d’or brings together feature films from the Official Selection, the Semaine de la Critique and the Directors’ Fortnight.

Montée des Marches ©YesICannes.com

New media partners

The opening ceremony was broadcast live on France 2 and internationally on Brut. All of the Festival’s events will also be accessible to all thanks to France Télévisions and Brut., new media partners, who will cover all of the Festival de Cannes’ events. Red Carpet, press conferences, photocalls and all official events will be broadcast in French and English on France.tv, Culturebox, Brut. Cannes, YouTube and on the official Festival de Cannes website.
Brut. Cannes, which is present in more than 80 countries, is giving gamers around the world a unique experience by transposing the Cannes Film Festival and the Croisette into the world of Fortnite, the video game phenomenon developed by Epic Games. From 17 to 28 May, players will be able to act as one of three characters: a journalist, an actor and a director to experience a crazy Festival!

Vincent Lindon ©YesICannes.com

The winners will be announced on Saturday 28 May at 8.30pm

Under the presidency of Vincent Lindon, winner of the Best Actor Award for Stéphane Brizé‘s La Loi du Marché in 2015, the jury, composed of men and women from the five continents, will select the winners of the various awards from the 21 films in the 2022 Official Competition and will unveil the prize list on 28 May, which, as in previous years, will surprise even the most discerning of predictions.
The members of the Cannes Film Festival 2022 Jury are Rebecca Hall (Actress, producer, screenwriter, director – United Kingdom / United States), Deepika Padukone (Actress – India), Noomi Rapace (Actress – Sweden), Jasmine Trinca (Actress, director – Italy), Asghar Farhadi (Director, producer, screenwriter – Iran), Ladj Ly (Director, screenwriter, actor, producer – France), Jeff Nichols (Director, screenwriter – United States), Joachim Trier (Director, screenwriter – Norway).

©Valery Hache / AFP

Palme d’honneur for Forest Whitaker

After Jodie Foster in 2021, actor Forest Whitaker was the guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Following in the footsteps of a host of famous actors and directors, such as Jeanne Moreau, Bernardo Bertolucci, Manoel de Oliveira, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Agnès Varda and Alain Delon, the immense actor received an honorary Palme d’Or, which salutes a brilliant artistic career and a rare personality, as well as a discreet but assertive commitment to the major humanitarian actions from our time.

Forest Whitaker ©YesICannes.com

For the Sake of Peace

Pierre Lescure, President of the Cannes Film Festival, said: “It is traditional for the Festival de Cannes to honour those who have made its history and Forest Whitaker is one of them. He is the young actor that Clint Eastwood discovered in Bird and the man who broadens his vision of the world to offer it to those who suffer and those who fight. All the honours could go to Forest Whitaker. This Palme d’Or is a tribute to the recognition of the film world.”
On this occasion, For the Sake of Peace, directed by Christophe Castagne and Thomas Sametin and produced by Forest Whitaker, will be screened on Wednesday 18 May in a Special Screening.

©Andreas Rentz / GettyImages

Tribute to Johnny Halliday

On the stage of the most beautiful cinema in the world, the Grand Théâtre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals, the Belgian-born actress Virginie Efira, splendid in a silver Saint Laurent dress, signed by Anthony Vaccarello, and Cartier jewellery, hosted the opening night of the great annual meeting of lovers of the 7th art. Virginie Efira already walked the red carpet last year to present the film Benedetta.
While the Palme d’honneur was being awarded to Forest Whitaker, Vincent Delerm took to the piano to play Johnny Hallyday’s superb song Que je t’aime! Virginie Efira then joined him to give a moving rendition of the Belgian artist’s favourite song.

Final Cut: don’t throw one piece!

Final Cut! is the remake of a Japanese film: One Cut of the Dead (2017) by Shin’ichirō Ueda. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius with, mainly, Romain Duris, Bérénice Bejo, Matilda Lutz, Luàna Bajrami and Finnegan Oldfield, this hilarious film features actors from a “Japanese-style” horror film where the director, unleashes a star of blood, awakening real zombies, to get more sincerity and realism from his actors. Indeed, the gory scenes follow one another, but we feel a slight uneasiness in the first half hour of the film, due to some disturbing oddities in the course of the action. The rest of the film – its making of – puts everything into a tasty and hilarious perspective!

Coupez! ©Lisa Ritaine

Market law vs. passion

In this very humorous film, with its offbeat second degree, Michel Hazanavicius offers a real tribute to cinema and its “tricks of the trade”, its resourcefulness. But he also denounces the sad difference/indifference between the passion that drives a director who has to manage the actors’ egos and the problems of filming, and the improvisation of live action. With a low budget, the film responds to market and broadcasting imperatives, whereas the artistic team gives all its soul to succeed in the epic shooting – live and in a single sequence shot – of a 30-minute episode. It is within the film crew that emotions are born, while the production remains in the banality of an existence without real warmth. Coupez is a brilliant film that will satisfy both fans of a good laugh and “real” film lovers.