More than 350 figures from the cinema world together with Hollywood stars Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon condemned “genocide” in Gaza in an open letter printed Monday on the eve of the Cannes Festival.
“We cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place in Gaza,” learn the letter initiated by a number of pro-Palestinian activist teams and printed in French newspaper Liberation and US journal Variety.
The signatories, which embody acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodovar and former Cannes winner Ruben Ostlund, decried the dying of Gazan photojournalist Fatima Hassouna.
Hassouna, 25, is the topic of a documentary which can premiere in Cannes on Thursday by Iranian director Sepideh Farsi, titled “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk”.
Hassouna was killed together with 10 kin in an Israeli air strike on her household dwelling in northern Gaza final month, the day after the documentary was introduced as a part of the ACID Cannes choice.
Farsi welcomed the impression of her movie however known as on Cannes Festival organisers to denounce Israel’s ongoing bombardment of the devastated Palestinian territory.
“There needs to be a real statement,” she advised AFP. “Saying ‘the festival isn’t political’ makes no sense.”
This 12 months’s Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche was initially mentioned by organisers to have signed the petition, however her spokeswoman advised AFP she had not endorsed it and her identify was not printed by Liberation.
Other signatories embody Jonathan Glazer, the British director of Jewish origin who gained an Oscar for his 2023 Auschwitz drama “The Zone of Interest”, in addition to US star Mark Ruffalo and Spanish actor Javier Bardem.
– War programming –
The Cannes Festival kicks off Tuesday on the French Riviera, with a gap ceremony headlined by Robert De Niro and three movies exhibiting the devastation of Russia’s warfare on Ukraine.
Two documentaries that includes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a 3rd movie shot on the brutal frontlines of Europe’s largest warfare in 80 years are to be screened on a “Ukraine Day” of programming.
It is “a reminder of the commitment of artists, authors and journalists to tell the story of this conflict in the heart of Europe”, the competition mentioned.
Nothing related has been deliberate for the warfare in Gaza, however the movie on Hassouna is about to “honour” her reminiscence, organisers have mentioned beforehand.
Gazan filmmakers Arab and Tarzan Nasser are additionally set to showcase their fiction function set in 2007 within the Palestinian territory in one of many secondary sections of the competition.
The opening movie on Tuesday night is “Leave One Day” by newcomer French director Amelie Bonnin earlier than Hollywood heavyweight De Niro receives an honorary Palme d’Or.
– Depardieu –
De Niro is likely one of the most outspoken critics of Donald Trump within the American cinema world, with the “Taxi Driver” star usually struggling to seek out phrases harsh sufficient for the US president.
Trump has made himself one of many predominant talking-points in Cannes after asserting on May 5 that he wished 100-percent tariffs on films “produced in foreign lands”.
The thought despatched shockwaves via the movie world, though few insiders or specialists perceive how such a coverage may very well be carried out.
Cannes director Thierry Fremaux talked up the competition’s “rich” American movie programme on Monday, with films from Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Ari Aster and Kelly Reichardt in the principle competitors.
“American cinema remains great cinema. The United States remains a great country of cinema,” he mentioned.
Off-screen news in France can also be prone to overshadow the red-carpet motion in Cannes on Tuesday, with French movie icon Gerard Depardieu dealing with a verdict in a sexual harassment case in Paris.
Depardieu, who has acted in additional than 200 movies and tv sequence, is the highest-profile determine caught up in France’s response to the #MeToo motion towards sexual violence.
– Cruise on the town –
While impartial cinema kinds the core of the Cannes competition, organisers additionally hand over a part of the programme to main Hollywood studios to advertise their blockbusters.
Tom Cruise is about to return to the Riviera for the premiere of the newest instalment of his “Mission: Impossible” franchise on Thursday, three years after he lit up the competition whereas selling “Top Gun: Maverick”.
The competition may even see a sequence of high-profile debut movies from actors-turned-directors, together with “Eleanor the Great” from Scarlett Johansson and “The Chronology of Water” by Kristen Stewart.
Organisers on Monday denied stories that they’d banned provocative near-nude clothes from the purple carpet.
However, “full nudity on the red carpet” has been formally outlawed, “in keeping with French law”.
Source: www.anews.com.tr