1.
2015 Cannes Film Festival
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The 68th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 2015. Joel and Ethan Coen were the Presidents of the Jury for the main competition and it was the first time that two people chaired the jury. Since the Coen brothers each received a vote, they were joined by seven other jurors to form the customary nine-juror panel. French actor Lambert Wilson was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies, the Palme dOr was awarded to the French film Dheepan directed by Jacques Audiard. On winning the award Audiard said To receive a prize from the Coen brothers is something pretty exceptional, the festival poster featured Hollywood star and Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, photographed by David Seymour. The poster was chosen to pay tribute to Bergman for her contributions to films, as part of the tribute to Bergman, the Swedish documentary Ingrid Bergman, In Her Own Words was screened in the Cannes Classics section. Standing Tall, directed by Emmanuelle Bercot, was the opening film. This was the opening film in the festivals history to have been directed by a woman. Ice and the Sky, directed by Luc Jacquet, was the closing film. French film director Agnès Varda was presented with the honorary Palme dOr at the closing ceremony. She is also the first female filmmaker to receive the award. The Official Selection of films for the 2015 festival, including the line-up for the Main Competition, was announced on 16 April 2015, the films competing for the Palme dOr were announced at a press conference on 16 April 2015. Two films were added to the main competition line-up on 23 April 2015, Valley of Love, directed by Guillaume Nicloux, the following films competed in the Un Certain Regard section. Lamb, the first feature directed by Yared Zeleke, is also the first Ethiopian film to be included in the Official Selection. Sweet Red Bean Paste, directed by Naomi Kawase, was announced as the film for the Un Certain Regard section. The following films were selected to screen out of competition, Midnight screenings Special screenings Out of 4,550 entries, the Cinéfondation section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The following 18 entries were selected out of 1,600 submissions, more than one-third of the films selected represent schools participating in Cinéfondation for the first time. It is also the first time that a film representing a Spanish film school had been selected, the full selection for the International Critics Week section was announced on 20 April 2015, at the sections website
2.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
3.
Film director
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A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a films artistic and dramatic aspects, the director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film, the film director gives direction to the cast and crew and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized, or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions, there are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some film directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors or actors, other film directors have attended a film school. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors dialogue, while others control every aspect. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners, some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films. Film directors create a vision through which a film eventually becomes realized/noticed. Realizing this vision includes overseeing the artistic and technical elements of production, as well as directing the shooting timetable. This entails organizing the crew in such a way as to achieve their vision of the film. This requires skills of leadership, as well as the ability to maintain a singular focus even in the stressful. Moreover, it is necessary to have an eye to frame shots and to give precise feedback to cast and crew, thus. Thus the director ensures that all involved in the film production are working towards an identical vision for the completed film. The set of varying challenges he or she has to tackle has been described as a jigsaw puzzle with egos. It adds to the pressure that the success of a film can influence when, omnipresent are the boundaries of the films budget. Additionally, the director may also have to ensure an intended age rating, thus, the position of film director is widely considered to be a highly stressful and demanding one. It has been said that 20-hour days are not unusual, under European Union law, the film director is considered the author or one of the authors of a film, largely as a result of the influence of auteur theory. Auteur theory is a film criticism concept that holds that a directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision
4.
Legion of Honour
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The Legion of Honour, full name National Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit for military and civil merits, established 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte. The order is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction, Chevalier, Officier, Commandeur, Grand Officier and Grand-Croix. The orders motto is Honneur et Patrie and its seat is the Palais de la Légion dHonneur next to the Musée dOrsay, in the French Revolution, all French orders of chivalry were abolished, and replaced with Weapons of Honour. The Légion however did use the organization of old French orders of chivalry, the badges of the legion also bear a resemblance to the Ordre de Saint-Louis, which also used a red ribbon. Napoleon originally created this to ensure political loyalty, the organization would be used as a facade to give political favours, gifts, and concessions. The Légion was loosely patterned after a Roman legion, with legionaries, officers, commanders, regional cohorts, the highest rank was not a grand cross but a Grand Aigle, a rank that wore all the insignia common to grand crosses. The members were paid, the highest of them extremely generously,5,000 francs to an officier,2,000 francs to a commandeur,1,000 francs to an officier,250 francs to a légionnaire. Napoleon famously declared, You call these baubles, well, it is with baubles that men are led, do you think that you would be able to make men fight by reasoning. That is good only for the scholar in his study, the soldier needs glory, distinctions, rewards. This has been quoted as It is with such baubles that men are led. The order was the first modern order of merit, under the monarchy, such orders were often limited to Roman Catholics, and all knights had to be noblemen. The military decorations were the perks of the officers, the Légion, however, was open to men of all ranks and professions—only merit or bravery counted. The new legionnaire had to be sworn in the Légion and it is noteworthy that all previous orders were crosses or shared a clear Christian background, whereas the Légion is a secular institution. The jewel of the Légion has five arms, in a decree issued on the 10 Pluviôse XIII, a grand decoration was instituted. This decoration, a cross on a sash and a silver star with an eagle, symbol of the Napoleonic Empire, became known as the Grand Aigle. After Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804 and established the Napoleonic nobility in 1808, the title was made hereditary after three generations of grantees. Napoleon had dispensed 15 golden collars of the legion among his family and this collar was abolished in 1815. The Légion dhonneur was prominent and visible in the French Empire, the Emperor always wore it and the fashion of the time allowed for decorations to be worn most of the time
5.
Bette Davis
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Ruth Elizabeth Bette Davis was an American actress of film, television, and theater. After appearing in Broadway plays, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930, however, her early films for Universal Studios were unsuccessful. She joined Warner Bros. in 1932 and established her career with several critically acclaimed performances, in 1937, she attempted to free herself from her contract. Although she lost the legal case against the studio, it marked the beginning of the most successful period of her career. Until the late 1940s, she was one of American cinemas most celebrated leading ladies, known for her forceful, Davis gained a reputation as a perfectionist who could be highly combative and confrontational. She clashed with executives and film directors as well as many of her co-stars. Her forthright manner, idiosyncratic speech and ubiquitous cigarette contributed to a public persona, Davis was the co-founder of the Hollywood Canteen, and was the first female president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her career went through periods of eclipse, and she admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships. Married four times, she was widowed and three times divorced, and raised her children as a single parent. In 1999, Davis was placed second behind Katharine Hepburn on the American Film Institutes list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Bettys younger sister, Barbara Harriet Bobby, was born October 25,1909, at 55 Ward Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1915, Daviss parents separated and Betty and Bobby attended a Spartan boarding school called Crestalban in Lanesborough, which is located in the Berkshires. In 1921, Ruth Davis moved to New York City with her daughters, Betty changed the spelling of her name to Bette after Honoré de Balzacs La Cousine Bette. Davis attended Cushing Academy, a school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. In 1926, she saw a production of Henrik Ibsens The Wild Duck with Blanche Yurka and Peg Entwistle, Davis later recalled for Al Cohn of Newsday, The reason I wanted to go into theater was because of an actress named Peg Entwistle. She auditioned for admission to Eva LeGalliennes Manhattan Civic Repertory, but was rejected by LeGallienne who described her attitude as insincere, upon graduating from Cushing Academy, Bette enrolled in John Murray Andersons Dramatic School. In 1929, Davis was chosen by Blanche Yurka to play Hedwig, after performing in Philadelphia, Washington and Boston, she made her Broadway debut in 1929 in Broken Dishes, and followed it with Solid South. In 1930, Davis moved to Hollywood to screen test for Universal Studios, Davis and her mother traveled by train to Hollywood and arrived on December 13,1930. She would later recount her surprise that nobody from the studio was there to meet her at the train, in fact, a studio employee had waited for her, but left because he saw nobody who looked like an actress
6.
Lee Grant
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Lee Grant is an American actress and film director. In her debut film in 1951, she played the role of a shoplifter in Detective Story, co-starring Kirk Douglas. It gave her an Oscar nomination along with the Best Actress Award at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. In 1952, because she refused to testify against her husband at the HUAC hearings, she was blacklisted from most acting jobs for the next 12 years and she was then only able to find occasional work on the stage or as a teacher during that period. It also contributed to her divorce, in 1964, she won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performance in The Maids. During her career, she was nominated for the Emmy Award seven times between 1966 and 1993, winning twice. Lee Grant was born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal in Manhattan, the child of Witia, an actress and teacher, and Abraham W. Rosenthal. Her father was born in New York City, to Polish Jewish immigrants, the family resided at 706 Riverside Drive in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Her date of birth is October 31, but different sources cite dates between 1925 and 1928 and she debuted in LOracolo at the Metropolitan Opera in 1931 at age four, and later joined the American Ballet as an adolescent. She attended Art Students League of New York, Juilliard School of Music, The High School of Music & Art, Grant graduated from high school and won a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, and studied under Sanford Meisner. She subsequently enrolled in Actors Studio in New York, Grant had her first stage ballet performance in 1933 at the Metropolitan Opera House. In 1938, in her teens, she was made a member of the American Ballet. As an actress, Grant had her stage debut as understudy in Oklahoma in 1944. In 1948, she had her Broadway acting debut in Joy to the World, Grant established herself as a dramatic method actress on and off Broadway, earning praise for her role as a shoplifter in Detective Story in 1949. She said she enjoyed working under director William Wyler, who helped guide her, after her eulogy was published, she was summoned by the same committee to testify against her husband, playwright Arnold Manoff, but refused. As a result, for the dozen years, her prime years, as she put it, she was blacklisted. She was so good that she earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her very first film role, but because Eddie Dmytryk named her husband, Lee Grant was blacklisted before her film career even had a chance to begin. Of course, she refused to testify about the man to whom she was married, Grant appeared in a limited number of stage and television shows during these years
7.
Susan Hayward
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Susan Hayward was an American actress. After working as a model, Hayward traveled to Hollywood in 1937. She secured a contract and played several small supporting roles over the next few years. Her career continued successfully through the 1950s and she received subsequent nominations for My Foolish Heart, With a Song in My Heart and she finally won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of death-row inmate Barbara Graham in I Want to Live. After Haywards second marriage and subsequent move to Georgia, her appearances became infrequent, although she continued acting in film. She died in 1975 of brain cancer, Hayward was born Edythe Marrenner in Brooklyn, the youngest of three children born to Ellen and Walter Marrenner. Her paternal grandmother was an actress, Kate Harrigan, from County Cork and her mother was of Swedish descent. She had a sister, Florence, and an older brother, Walter, Jr. Hayward was educated at Public School 181. During her high school years, she acted in school plays and was named Most Dramatic by her class. Hayward began her career as a model, going to Hollywood in 1937. Although she did not win the role, Hayward found employment playing bit parts until she was cast in Beau Geste opposite Gary Cooper. During the war years, she acted with John Wayne twice, as a lead in Reap the Wild Wind. She also starred in the version of The Hairy Ape. After the war, Haywards career took off when she was contracted by producer Walter Wanger for a contract at $100,000 a year. With her first film being Canyon Passage, in 1947, she received the first of five Academy Award nominations for her role as an alcoholic nightclub singer in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman, her second film for Wanger. She continued as one of Hollywoods most popular leading ladies in films such as Tap Roots, My Foolish Heart, David and Bathsheba, Haywards portrayal of Graham won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1959, she played the lead, Mary Sharron, in Woman Obsessed, in 1956, she was cast by Howard Hughes to play Bortai in the historical epic The Conqueror, as John Waynes leading lady. Though Hayward never truly known as a singer because she hated her own singing
8.
63rd Berlin International Film Festival
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The 63rd annual Berlin International Film Festival took place in Berlin, Germany between 7 and 17 February 2013. Chinese film director Wong Kar-wai was announced as the President of the Jury, the Golden Bear was awarded to the Romanian film Childs Pose directed by Călin Peter Netzer, which also served as the closing film. The French documentary filmmaker Claude Lanzmann was awarded with the Honorary Golden Bear, italian actress Isabella Rossellini and German film director Rosa von Praunheim were awarded with the Berlinale Camera. I. C. A. E
9.
Polisse
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Polisse is a 2011 French drama film written, directed by and starring Maïwenn. It also stars Joeystarr, Karin Viard, Marina Foïs, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Emmanuelle Bercot, the film centres on the Child Protection Unit of the Paris Police, and a photographer who is assigned to cover the unit. The title is derived from Maïwenns sons misspelling of the word police, the film won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and in 2012, was nominated for thirteen César Awards. In moments of relaxation the squad gossip, quarrel, drink, dance, relationships tremble and their boss is a political policeman, not wholly sympathetic to the demands of their consciences, and ready to tighten the leash if the man they are questioning has powerful friends. At the centre of the story is a hard-edged, bitter yet tender policeman, Maïwenn got the idea for the film when she saw a documentary about the Child Protection Unit on television. She was allowed to stay with the officers of the unit to research the subject, all the cases in the screenplay were based either on things the director had witnessed during her time with the unit or older cases they told her about. Not letting the viewers know the verdicts of the defendants was a conscious choice, Maïwenn wrote a first draft for the screenplay on her own, and was then joined by Emmanuelle Bercot. The film was produced for €6.14 million through Les Films du Trésor in co-production with Arte France Cinéma, the production received pre-sales investment from Canal+ and CinéCinéma. Two former members of the CPU were hired to train the actors, filming took place in Paris between 30 August and 29 October 2010. The film was recorded with two or three cameras in each scene. The world premiere took place at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the regular French release was on 19 October through Mars Distribution. At the Cannes Film Festival, Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter compared the film to a season of The Wire packed into a single two-hour-plus film. And even with its loose threads and frenzied structure, it jumps from laughter to tears and back again. In Screen Dailys review from the festival, Jonathan Romney called Maïwenn undeniably a very strong director of actors, shes less adept, though, at judging what is dramatically essential and what is surplus to requirements. The film won the Cannes Film Festivals Jury Prize, peter Bradshaw from the Guardian newspaper was much less positive. He described the film as a contender for the most awful film of the competition and much of it feels like a pretty dodgy evening in front of the television. But I dont think any director of The Bill would have permitted the toe-curlingly embarrassing overacting we get in this movie, peter Schöning, defined in his review for German Der Spiegel Poliss as a cry for help which became a film. He added this was not merely because of the abused children, but. as well because of those policemen who have to enforce the law but moreover have to perform a great deal of social work - hereby permanently being overstrained
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