The Razzle-Dazzle Of CANNES 2019

The montage of large silver screen exploding with the best of cinema of the world, the everlastings applause by audiences, the endless flash bulbs of paparazzi, the slow sipping of the finest Rose, red and white wines and the champagnes, the laid back checking out of the michelin star Provence and Mediterranean cuisine, the air sprinkling with the exclusive perfumeries of Grasse, private jets not getting enough landing slots, the purring loudness of the red and yellow colored Italian sports automobiles pacing down the croissette, hundreds of yachts parked in the azure blue waters overflowing with billionaires and philanthropists, the endless red carpets events inviting the fashionables of the world, jewelers of the world glittering the evenings, the streets and skies filled with hundreds of stars and all this usually combined with the moderate weather and breathtaking scenery of the French Riviera - beyond this the Cannes also includes the lunches by the beach where ideas of the future of our world come up for discussion - for Cannes is the stage where point of views are dissected and all encompassing debates are launched - this is the microcosm of planet Earth where the art, economics and technology invented by humankind join together to celebrate the fabulous diversity of humanity!

This is Cannes with all the razzle-dazzle!

For more than seven decades, everyone who’s anyone in the film world and a lots of people who wish they could be - have all migrated to the French Riviera in the middle of May forthe biggest event of the year: the Cannes Film Festival, which combines glitzy, star-studded exclusive premieres with long, exhausting days of screenings, meetings, networking and if you’re lucky, out of this world parties.

This year at Cannes, the hottest ticket was Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” a terrific 1960s set drama starring Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio.He has a quarter of a century ago walked away with the Palm D’Or for ‘Pulp Fiction’. After the “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” cast and director Quentin Tarantino had entered the Premier screening, access to theGrand Lumiere was shut off and the hundreds ofpeople still waiting to get in were unusually told the house was full.The film went on to premiere to a seven minute standing ovation from the audience. Screened at Cannes with an eye on the Oscars for Tarantino for writer and director as wellas for DiCaprio and Pitt the film is like to be the big summer box office hit when Sony Pictures releases it across the world later in July 26. Tarantino is a candid conversation admitted he loved Indian films and the first Indian film he ever saw was RameshSippy’s ‘Sholay’.

A visual essay on the female gaze Céline Sciamma’s ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ was one of the most beautiful and seductive at this year’s Cannes. Set in 18th-century France, it isabout an artist hired by a wealthy woman to paint of portrait of her reluctant daughter. it thoughtfully contemplates the significance of painting, tenderness, fixation and seduction. The other film making news at Cannes was British filmmaker Asif Kapadia’sdocumentary “Diego Maradona” for HBO Sports about the world class soccer player.

On the business side, Manga Productions, which is a subsidiary with SaudiCrown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s MiSK Foundation and Saudi Arabia’s leading animation studio announced thatit will be producing its first feature length animated film “The Journey” – an epic tale that will be directed by Shizuno Kubo. The movie is a co-production with Japanese major TOEI Animation,expanding on the pact the two companies made, in November 2017,to produce animated content together. Manga Productions CEO Dr. Bukhary Essam, stated, “Manga Productions authored the main idea and concept of “The Journey”, with a goal to present the ancient civilizations of the Arabian Peninsula and Middle East, in anattractive, high-end, and commercial form of animation that is universally enjoyed by children and families of all generations.” Animation work on “The Journey” will be done in both Riyadh and Tokyo. Manga will have teams working on this project with the TOEI team. The film will take approximately two years and three months to complete, and employ a production team of over 330 people. Shinji Shimizu, Managing Director of TOEI Animation, announced, “It is a great honor to cooperate in making Saudi Arabia’s veryfirst animation film based on the history and culture of ancient Arabia. We are now workinghard on its production, and please stay tuned.”

At the end of the sparkling festival awards night on Saturday, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho (“Okja”)’s “Parasite” took home the Palme d’Or, the first Korean filmmaker to doso. The movie earned raves from critics and will be the likely Oscar submission from Korea, which has yet to score a foreign-language nomination.

An Indian film has yet to win the Palm D’Or or a Foreign language Oscar but that is for another day.