Sorry for the above – it’s a terrible video but you get the idea.
The Cannes jury just finished their press conference.¬† Pres Tim Burton, said seeing films without any preconceived ideas was the best way to see them. “When I used to watch movies, I never knew what was going to happen so it was always surprising.”
That the Cannes fest lineup doesn’t knock one’s socks off sight unseen, the way last year’s lineup did, is misleading. If the Oscar race had become too closed before they expanded the Best Pic lineup to ten, profit-driven cinema has also choked the life out of our blockbusters. They cost too much – therefore the risk level has to be low – therefore they must be dumbed down to the least common denominator It is rare anymore that a movie is smart and a money-maker and not a sequel. They all can’t be Avatar.
And so it’s possible that the Oscar race might expand — if enough people see the hidden treasures and bring them to light.
To that end, Roger Ebert has written one of his best blog entries yet about the changing face and purpose of the Cannes fest, and why it’s important to make the films chosen and seen here relevant.
Cannes is still the most important annual event in the world of what some of us consider good cinema. The Official Competition here is so much better, as a group, than all the nominees for the Academy Award that it makes you want to cry. My friend Richard Corliss thought the 2009 Cannes festival was the best in its history. I fully expect this year’s Cannes to show me great movies.
The jury is made of the following: President Tim Burton, Kate Beckinsdale, Emmanuel Carrere, Benicio Del Toro, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Shekhar Kapur, Victor Erice, Andre Desplat, and Alberto Barbera.