Judith Godrèche To Bring #MeToo Campaign To Cannes With World Premiere Of Short Film ‘Moi Aussi’

The first iteration of the Cannes Film Festival, planned for 1939, was scuppered when Germany invaded Poland to trigger the start of World War II. But when the festival finally got off the ground in 1946, Indian cinema came out swinging. Mounted shortly after the conclusion of the war, the first “real” Cannes Film Festival featured competition entries from Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend), Roberto Rossellini (Open City), and David Lean (Brief Encounter). In the spirit of post-war peace and reconciliation, the competition jury, headed by French historian Georges Huisman, handed the top prize — then the Grand Prix — to films from 11 of the 18 countries represented that year.

Filmmaker Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” horror had been under wraps for some time. Described as a body horror seen through a feminist lens, for months, all the French writer/director has said about the movie was that it would “push boundaries with a different kind of violence.” But if the Cannes Film Festival synopsis wasn’t already self-evident, the newly released teaser for “The Substance” basically gives up the ghost.

Rithy Panh has dedicated the lion’s share of his career to interrogating the genocidal Khmer Rouge era in his native Cambodia, and it is no trivial obsession. Panh fled Phnom Penh when he was just 11, and after his family was devastated in the Killing Fields, he escaped to a Thai refugee camp at 15. Now 60, Panh has been committed to keeping the memory of the impact of Pol Pot’s tyrannical regime alive in documentary, narrative and animated film.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Chile’s Quijote Films, behind Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize winner “The Settlers,” has tied down a powerful alliance of international partners on “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” the first feature of 2018 Cannes Cinéfondation top winner Diego Céspedes. An LGBTQ-themed drama, “The Mysterious Gaze” is set in a mining town where a strange illness is said to be transmitted between men who fall in love with each other.

“Mommie Dearest” actress walked the red carpet at the premiere of the action film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy. She was joined by Laurent Bouzereau, 62, who is the director of her new documentary that is premiering at Cannes, and her son Liam Dunaway O’Neill, 43, who appears in the HBO doc.The Hollywood icon wore a black blazer over a white shirt with black pants.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France’s Les Films du Losange, the iconic distribution company owned by producer Charles Gillibert (“Annette”), has acquired Palmeraie et Desert,” the production company founded by celebrated filmmaker Raymond Depardon. Les Films du Losange, which was bought by Gillibert from longtime manager Margaret Menegoz in 2021, has been dedicated to preserving and promoting cinematic heritage since its inception.

Naman Ramachandran A first clip has been unveiled for Emma Benestan‘s “Animale,” which closes the Cannes Film Festival‘s Critics’ Week strand this year. The film is set in the Camargue region of the south of France, where daring youths participate in the local tradition of bull running. Only one woman, 22-year-old Nejma, takes her place in the arena.

Judith Godrèche has been a regular on the Cannes red carpet for close to 30 years for her performances in films such as Patrice Leconte’s 1996 Palme d’Or contender Ridicule and Un Certain Regard cycling drama The Climb in 2019. 

Addie Morfoot Contributor Arnaud Desplechin‘s hybrid documentary “Spectateurs!” (“Filmlovers”) debuted a first trailer ahead of the film’s world premiere at Cannes on May 22. The 88-minute docu is a love letter to cinema, inspired by Desplechin’s own discovery and passion for cinema.

The Guardian, the list is being described as “explosive”, and was said to have been sent anonymously to the National Centre for Cinema in Paris along with other “leading finance companies in France.”Both Le Figaro and Le Canard enchaîné claim that festival organisers have set up a crisis management team ahead of the allegations being made public.On Wednesday (May 15), a short film about abuse in the industry is also set to premiere, Moi Aussi, and it is expected to further hold France’s art sector to account.The film was made by Judith Godrèche who has been described as the French “ambassador of #MeToo” after she spoke out about assaults she claims to have experienced early in her career.The film includes the words of many women working in the arts. “Suddenly, before me was a crowd of victims, a reality that also represented France, so many stories from all social backgrounds and generations,” Godrèche said of the piece (via The Guardian).

The Cannes Film Festival opened Tuesday with expectations that the big theme of this 81st edition will be #MeToo, even if rumors of an imminent bombshell exposé involving 10 prominent cinema figures were quashed overnight.

Jamie Lang Catalan titles will be in no short supply at this year’s Cannes Festival and Marché du Film. Below, a near dozen titles that hope to impress at this year’s event. “Blue Sun Palace,” (Constance Tsang) Tsang’s debut feature, shot in New York, world premieres at this year’s Critics’ Week.

Ben Croll Shortly before last year’s Cannes Film Festival, director Sophie Fillières attended a cast and crew screening of “Anatomy of a Fall.” The filmmaker had a supporting role in the film, playing the deceased’s sister, and she soon celebrated her work’s Palme d’Or win from afar, hanging back in Paris, where she was preparing to shoot her seventh feature, “This Life of Mine.” The five-week production kicked off in late June, running smoothly and wrapping on the last day of July. The next day, Fillières checked into the hospital; in less than a month, she was gone.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Bona,” one of the landmark films of Philippines cinema, is headed for release in France and the U.S. later this year. Directed by Lino Brocka, considered one of the pioneers of Philippines cinema, a restored version of the film returns to Cannes after an absence of more than 40 years.

French actress and activist Judith Godreche is among a group of protestors who have set up a demonstration outside the CNC in Paris this morning calling for the organization’s head Dominique Boutonnat to be suspended. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The trailer (below) has debuted for Leonardo Van Dijl‘s “Julie Keeps Quiet” ahead of its world premiere in Critics’ Week in Cannes. The film’s world sales agency New Europe Film Sales has revealed the first territory deals. New Europe has sold the film to New Horizons for Poland, Kino Pavasaris for the Baltic states, and I Wonder Pictures for Italy.

Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock here with you today. Cannes is nearly here, and we’ve got you covered there, along with the rest of the noise from the international film and TV worlds.

Cannes Film Festival President Iris Knobloch has said the event is paying close attention to the evolving #MeToo situation in France in an interview with celebrity magazine Paris Match.

With less than a week to go until the kick-off of the 81st Cannes Film Festival, speculation is mounting in the French media and local film industry over rumors that a bombshell #MeToo exposé will drop on the day of the opening.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean sales firm Finecut has inked multiple deals for horror thriller “Noise” and for “A Traveler’s Needs,” the recent Berlin prize-winner directed by Hong Sangsoo.“Noise” is a “multi-sensory and realistic horror” film that intertwines societal motifs of “floor noise” with suspenseful elements. Directed by Kim Soo-jin, the film centers around a woman with a hearing aid haunted by inexplicable sounds linked to her sister’s disappearance in her own apartment and attracting a malevolent presence.