Cannes kicks off glamour festival – Anti-terror measures in place

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CANNES, France, May 11, (Agencies): With almost enough star wattage to forget the grim anti-terror measures in place, the Cannes Film Festival opens Wednesday with Woody Allen’s “Cafe Society” starring Kristen Stewart.

The red carpet saw some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, such as Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron and George Clooney, as the French Riviera town transforms into the film capital of the world for 12 heady and exhausting days.

The event has heaped pressure on French authorities already on high alert six months after a terror attack left 130 dead in Paris.

Hundreds of extra police officers have been deployed, with daily bomb sweeps to take place at the main venue, the Palais des Festivals.

But while rain is forecast to drench the opening, authorities have vowed security measures will not dampen the party atmosphere that lures billionaires, celebrities, film industry schmoozers and tourists to Cannes.

This year is one of the most star-studded in recent times, and “Twilight” megastar turned indie darling Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively and Steve Carell are among those appearing on the red carpet for the opening film.

Veteran filmmaker Allen, 80, gets the party started with his coming-of-age tale about a young couple who fall in love in 1930s Hollywood, which is being screened out of competition.

Novel

Allen is the narrator of “Cafe Society”, his 46th film which he describes as “like reading a novel on his life”.

The feature is Allen’s 14th presented out of competition in Cannes and his third — after “Hollywood Ending” in 2002 and “Midnight in Paris” in 2011 — to open what is arguably the world’s most prestigious film festival.

However the director told French radio this week that he “is not at all blase. I am always happy to come to Cannes.”

“Cafe Society” is also one of five films whose rights are held by Amazon, a sign of a shift in the cinema industry which is increasingly opening up to subscription services, although straight-to-streaming site Netflix is still being snubbed by Cannes.

Nearly 90 feature films from all over the world will be shown in this year’s official selection.

These include 21 which are in the running for the Palme d’Or main prize, such as “The Last Face” by actor-director Penn featuring his ex-girlfriend Theron and the latest offering from French Canadian wonderkid Xavier Dolan of “Mommy” fame.

The first of the big Hollywood films, Foster’s drama about a Wall Street tipster “Money Monster” starring Clooney and Roberts screens Thursday. And Steven Spielberg will roll out his blockbuster version of Roald Dahl’s “The BFG” at the weekend, although neither are competing for the main Palme d’Or prize.

Raising

But already some of the main competition films are raising eyebrows, with Juliette Binoche starring in a period horror “Slack Bay” about Victorian tourists eaten by the locals in northern France.

Another, “The Neon Demon”, also features cannibalism, this time among supermodels in Los Angeles according to the film’s Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, who is notorious for depicting extreme violence.

Hundreds more films are showing in the film market and in the Director’s Fortnight and Critics’ Week sections.

And in a first for Cannes, the burgeoning virtual reality industry has rolled into town and will be screening several films.

The population of Cannes is set to nearly triple to some 200,000 people as film producers, industry workers and actors roll in to soak up the glamour, sell films, network and party.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has visited Cannes to ensure all was in place to secure the event, declaring an “extraordinary mobilisation” of security forces.

“We must keep in mind as we prepare to open this festival, that we are… faced with an enemy determined to strike us at any moment,” Cazeneuve said on his visit to Cannes Monday.

Police on horseback, foot and motorbikes patrolled the Croisette, a strip of beach lined with ultra-luxury stores as hardened autograph hunters braved blustery winds to set up chairs and folding ladders at the foot of the red carpet.

Here is the jury of celebrities who will decide who wins its top prize, the Palme d’Or, on May 22:

George Miller: The 71-year-old Australian president of the jury trained as a doctor before creating the Outback post-apocalyptic world of “Mad Max”, partly inspired by his days working in a hospital emergency room.

Arnaud Desplechin: The 55-year-old French maker of the 2008 heart-warmer “A Christmas Tale” had another hit last year with “My Golden Days” and is a connoisseur of family dramas.

Kirsten Dunst: Still only 34, the former child actor has had built a glittering career matching art-house hits like “Interview with the Vampire” and “The Virgin Suicides” with blockbusters such as the “Spider-Man” films.

Valeria Golino: The Italian actor-director, 50, is best known for her part in “Rain Man” alongside Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. Her first feature, “Honey”, was shown at Cannes in 2013.

Mads Mikklsen: Denmark’s best known export after bacon and beer made his name as a sensitive cop in the “Pusher” film trilogy before playing a memorable line of baddies including Le Chiffre in the Bond film “Casino Royale” and Dr Hannibal Lecter in the television version of the cultured cannibal story.

Mikkelson, 50, also stars in the new Star Wars film, “Rogue One”. His inclusion on the jury was somewhat controversial, as he is a close friend of fellow Dane Nicolas Winding Refn, who is in the running for the Palme d’Or.

Laszlo Nemes: The Hungarian director’s debut feature, “Son of Saul”, picked up the fest foreign language picture award at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes this year as well as the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2015.

It was described by Claude Lanzmann as one of the best films he had seen on the Holocaust, no mean praise from the French maker of epic documentary “Shoah”.

Vanessa Paradis: The French singer and actress, 43, began as a model before becoming a huge film and singing star in France and having two children with Hollywood star Johnny Depp.

Katayoon Shahabi: The Iranian producer, who was born in 1968, is a major player in her homeland.

She has made a series of documentaries, including one about the impact the Oscar Asghar Farhadi won in 2012 for the acclaimed “A Separation” had on the Islamic Republic. Farhadi is again in the running for the Palme d’Or this year with “The Salesman”.

Donald Sutherland: The veteran Canadian actor — now the head of a thespian dynasty that includes his son Kiefer Sutherland and granddaughter Sarah — made his name with the war films “The Dirty Dozen” and “M*A*S*H” before starring in the Oscar-winning thriller “Klute” alongside Jane Fonda.

With a career spanning five decades, the 80-year-old made a big screen comeback in “The Hunger Games” franchise.

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