Cannes Has Record Number of Female Filmmakers, But Lots of Ground to Make Up

Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant turned a red carpet appearance into a special date night. On Saturday, the actor and his artist girlfriend attended the 2022 MOCA Gala held at the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The "Matrix Resurrection" star, 57, and the 49-year-old held hands and smiled into each other’s eyes as they walked the red carpet for the outing.

Keanu Reeves and Alexandra Grant coupled up for a fun date night at this year’s MOCA Gala.

Joe Alwyn and Margaret Qualley pose together at the photo call for their film Stars At Noon in Cannes, France on Thursday (May 26).

Marta Balaga French filmmaker Léa Mysius follows her nose in “The Five Devils,” focusing on the sense of smell. That’s her protagonist’s special gift, one that scares her mother (“Blue Is the Warmest Color” actor Adèle Exarchopoulos) but allows her to venture beyond the constraints of time and space.Shown in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight – with Wild Bunch on board – it’s Mysius’ second feature film as a director following “Ava,” awarded at the French fest in 2017. She also co-wrote Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon,” presented in the main competition.“It all started when I was a kid – I was fascinated by smells,” Mysius tells Variety.“Together with my sister, we had fun making these little potions.

Lee Grant will join Ipswich Town's backroom staff after leaving Manchester United this summer.

Manchester United stars Bruno Fernandes and David de Gea have sent their best wishes to Lee Grant after the veteran goalkeeper announced that he would be retiring this summer.

“The Stars at Noon” finds the French filmmaker Claire Denis shooting in Panama doubling for Nicaragua; directing a cast of Yanks, Brits, and assorted Central Americans; and working from a script switching between Spanish and English. Internationally coproduced Towers of Babel such as this aren’t at all uncommon at the Cannes Film Festival, but the errors in translation all over this disappointing foreign-relations drama run deeper than simple differences of ethnicity or language.

Given the combustible subject matter and the director’s reputation, French auteur Claire Denis has made a remarkably listless and unpersuasive film in Stars at Noon. Set during the Nicaraguan Sandanista revolution circa 1984, this adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novel published two years later centers on a couple of Americans of dubious character who misspend time in Central America before finally deciding it’s time to split when, in fact, it might be too late. This is the sort of misfire that, just because it comes from a hallowed French auteur, sometimes gets programmed in the Cannes competition even when it manifestly doesn’t deserve to be there.

Lise Pedersen The top IEFTA (Intl. Film Talent Assn.) award for docs-in-progress at the Cannes Film Market’s documentary-focused industry sidebar Cannes Docs has gone to “Twice Colonized” by Lin Alluna.The film was developed by the Circle Women Doc Accelerator, a training program for female-identifying documentary filmmakers.The win marks a hat-trick for Circle since they started their partnership with Cannes Docs in 2020: previous IEFTA Docs-in-Progress Award laureates at the industry event include “Beauty of the Beast” by Anna Nemes, produced by Circle 2018 alumna Ágnes Horváth-Szabó, and “Cent’anni” by Circle 2020 alumna Maja Prelog, produced by Rok Biček.“Twice Colonized” tells the story of renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of her people.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In keeping with a tradition that began in 2005, the Morelia Int’l Film Festival will showcase a selection of shorts at Cannes’ Critics Week.As festival director Daniela Michel explained: “The selection is made by the Critics’ Week team directly. Every year, a member of that team is invited to participate in our Mexican Short Film jury; they make a shortlist of films for the program in Cannes and the programming team narrows it down to four shorts.”The shorts chosen from Morelia’s prior edition underscore the diversity of themes and genres that are currently explored in Mexican cinema, from family ties that bind to black and white animation.

th Cannes. “In so many ways, what we have belongs to an older structure. Whether we want it to or not, the future will show up.”But, he added, the change in the movie business is only part of a wider change across society.

#Cannes pic.twitter.com/VCEz0aI3BW“Holy Spider,” which screened on Sunday, was particularly overt in its discussion of violence against women, based on the true story of a serial killer who was supported by much of the public because he murdered prostitutes in the name of religion. It was not even made by a female filmmaker, but by the Iranian-born, Denmark-based Abbasi, whose last trip to Cannes was with the startling “Border,” which became known for its scene of troll sex.

Lise Pedersen A multinational panel gathered on the first day of Cannes Docs, the Cannes Film Market sidebar, to discuss how having a strong, international, diverse and expert network is more important than ever to succeed as a documentary filmmaker today.Moderated and curated by Brigid O’Shea, co-director and co-founder of the Documentary Assn. of Europe, the panel brought together Nadja Tennstedt, director of DOK Industry, DOK Leipzig’s industry event, Nora Philippe, head of program at Eurodoc, a training program for producers with documentary projects in the development stage, Egyptian producer Kemsat El Sayed, and Michael Krotkiewski, producer and co-owner of Stockholm-based production company Momento Film.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films is shooting “Curiosity Room,” a remake of Wim Wenders’s cult 1982 documentary “Room 666,” during the Cannes Film Festival. Produced by MK Prods.

Bleecker Street has snapped up U.S. rights to Alice Troughton’s feature directorial debut The Tutor, which will star Oscar nominees Richard E. Grant and Julie Delpy and Daryl McCormack. Bleecker Street is planning a 2023 release in cinemas.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has appointed its new team line up and structure as the festival revamps.