At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, which opens on Tuesday, there are six films – not counting midnight screenings or dramas The Idol — “Out of Competition” will be screened, meaning there will be a lavish red carpet premiere and accompanying heavy media coverage, but will not be eligible for festival prizes.
They include the prologue Jeanne du Barry , starring Johnny Depp ( Follow in the footsteps of star vehicles from The Beaver in 2013 to 2015 of Gotti); fest closer Elemental from Pixar (animated images are almost never invited Participate in the competition); franchise flick Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Fortune (a 2010 Indiana Jones picture also eliminated, along with Kill Bill , Matrix , ) Oceans , Star Wars and X-Men ); and most anticipated titles in cinemas, Martin Scorsese Killer of the Flower Moon .
Among them, Killers is a special case, at that festival director Thierry Fremaux revealed in April that it had been invited to a competition screening. He said he initially only offered the film an out-of-competition slot because its global digital distributor, Apple, like most other streaming companies, typically doesn’t wait as long before streaming as the festival requires. cinema window. Compete for slots. But then Apple said it would work with Killers (where Paramount will be released in France and the United States). “So,” Fremaux explained, “I said, ‘Well, in that case, you’re welcome to play.'” Now we’ll see what their reaction is. “
Scorsese – who has previously screened many films at Cannes, including Taxi Driver , at and After Hours won the Palme d’Or , For this he won 1985 the best director award) and came out of it (many documentaries) – Apple chose not to accept Fremaux’s proposal. Which begs the question: Why would a legendary filmmaker and a wealthy distributor, with what Fremaux called “a very powerful film” that made him cry, didn’t want to Screening a film at the most prestigious film festival in the world?
Some filmmakers object to the idea of competition. Woody Allen For example, the Manhattan . The three started the feast, but no one played. Allen explained in 2013, “Judging others is something one should never do in any group … I don’t believe in it and I don’t want to be part of it. Others followed suit. Jacques Audiard, with his Dheepan at won the Palme d’Or, in 2016, he said in 2023 that he would refuse competition places in the future, and said, “I don’t want to play anywhere. This is also what Stephen Frears gained after 2023 presided over the competition jury; Despite having screened multiple films in competition before, he reserved his next film, 2010 of Tamara Drewe, from which.
Other times, a filmmaker and/or distributor is concerned with managing expectations for a film. The New York Times stated , “Increasingly More and more established filmmakers … are refusing to compete at Cannes on the grounds that losing the grand prize to some up-and-comer might be more damaging than winning prestige. ’ Columbia University film professor Annette Insdorf , and multiple Cannes veteran, told THR, “I Without recalling, it once helped the “Masters” who had films in competition. When filmmakers get their work reviewed on their own terms, they feel less pressure. Considering that Ang Lee‘s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not available at the festival at 1989, according to Sony Classics Co-Director Tom Bernard : ” If the movie had been in competition, it would have been written differently. We want people to discover it without competition. “
On the rare occasion that a seasoned filmmaker just feels like he’s being candid and wants to give a lesser-known filmmaker a chance to compete. That’s Explanation by Steven Soderbergh , whose Sex, Lies and Videotape won the Palme d’Or in , why did he initially reject the competition for 2013 places*) Behind the Candelabra(before Fremaux convinced him to reconsider).
Robert Altman, who won the Palme d’Or 1974 ) )M*A*S*H, finding all lacking these explanations, telling Roger Ebert In 1970, “If you don’t want to compete, that means you’re either too Arrogant, or too scared. So you might lose? I’ve lost before; there’s nothing wrong with losing. ”
That said, no one thought Scorsese was arrogant or intimidating — quite the opposite. Instead, THR heard that he and his Supporters of the Killers stance based on the fact that two American films were out in competition that year, Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis Presley , which made a huge splash at the film festival and made a fortune at the box office, only to go to awards season film won the Palme d’Or The Triangle of Sorrows (all three films were nominated for best picture at the Oscars ), so there is no reason to try to fix the uncorrupted parts.
2023
