MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th May, 2019) The 72nd Cannes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious and well-known cinematographic events in the world, will officially open in the French Rivera on Tuesday and is expected run through May 25.
The festival was founded in 1946. It annually attracts directors, producers, actors and other celebrities from all over the world to the French resort city of Cannes.
This year's edition will be open by the screening of The Dead Don't Die, a film by US director and Cannes darling Jim Jarmush. The movie stars Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton and Selena Gomez.
The jury for the festival's main competition includes four women and four men from four continents and of seven various nationalities, according to organizers.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, an acclaimed Mexican film director and winner of five academy Awards, will chair the jury. This would be the first time when a Latino-American director helms the jury at the Cannes festival.
US actress Elle Fanning and Kelly Reichardt, a US filmmaker, will also sit on the jury alongside their peers from Senegal, Poland, Italy, Greece and France.
A total of 21 films will compete for the Palme d'Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Festival. Among them is A Hidden Life, a movie by prominent US director Terrence Malick, Matthias and Maxime, a film by Canadian director Xavier Dolan as well Pain and Glory by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
Quentin Tarantino, a prolific US director, will bring his new movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a black comedy starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
As for special screenings, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino is expected to showcase his new movie the Staggering Girl starring Julianne Moore, while his US counterpart, Robert Rodriguez, will premiere Red 11.
Alain Delon, an iconic French actor who has appeared in such acclaimed movies as La Piscine, the Leopard by Luchino Visconti and L'Eclisse by Michelangelo Antonioni, will be awarded an Honorary Palme d'Or.
Russian movies are regularly screened at the prestigious festival. Last year, Leto, a movie by Russian film director Kirill Serebrennikov, competed for the Palme d'Or.
This year, Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov will premier his new movie, Beanpole, at the Un Certain Regard section. Balagov is a Cannes darling, he has previously received a Fipresci prize at Cannes for his acclaimed movie Closeness, while in 2018 he served on the jury of the Un Certain Regard section.
Once in Trubchevsk, a film by Russian director Larissa Sadilova, will also compete for the Un Certain Regard prize.
At the same time, Russian filmmaker Kirill Mikhanovsky will screen his US-made movie Give Me Liberty at the Directors' Fortnight section, while short film Complex Subject by Olesya Yakovleva has been selected for a screening at the Cinefoundation section.
