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  • Forty years ago, Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo ) wrote a book that became an instant best-seller and is still read and more or less remembered—by some as a frothy and irrelevant intellectual joke, by others as a life-changing and profound work of literature. What Gambardella himself is reminded of when people mention the book is that he hasn’t written another one since, not for lack of wanting to but more for lack of time

  • Abdelatif Kechiche’s "Blue Is the Warmest Colour," a graphic but incredibly haunting and beautiful lesbian love story, has won the Palme d’Or, as was just announced during today's closing ceremony. The jury, presided over by Steven Spielberg (the other members: Daniel Auteuil, Vidya Balan, Naomi Kawase, Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee, Cristian Mungiu, Lynne Ramsay, and Christoph Waltz), presented the following awards as well:

  • This 66th Cannes Festival was a genuinely social affair. No, I don’t mean the bacchanalian soirees and the private parties which happened relentlessly during the eleven days or so of the festival. I’m referring to social media. Cannes’ Twitter ecosystem really came into its own this year, with people (“les tweetos” as the French like to call them) taking to the bandwidths to comment on everything from the selection to the celebs (les “pipoles”)

  • The Cannes Festival is also at its best when it serves our interests through the rewarding of serious works that have a strong historical and social component.

    During a brief ceremony in the Theatre Claude Debussy tonight Thomas Vinterberg and the rest of the Un Certain Regard jury handed out prizes to films presented in that section. Of note, Rithy Panh’s “The Missing Picture,” an

  • A Jim Jarmusch movie is rare and mysterious. Today in Cannes his latest film “Only Lovers Left Alive” starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska and Anton Yelchin was shown as a part of the competition program.

    “Lovers” is your average love story between centuries-old people (Swinton and Hiddleston). One lives in Detroit and the other, Tangier. Jarmusch threw in

  • The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Jane Campion […]

  • With his new film “Manuscripts don’t Burn” (the title seems to have been taken from Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita") currently being shown in the non-competition program Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who came to Cannes to show the film today along with the cast, is raising the bar for Iranian filmmakers: rather than bypassing political content he's confronting Iran's regime without

  • Alexander Payne's new film "Nebraska," a melancholy road movie shot in black and white with some hilarious moments, is a worthy contender for a Grand Prix or a Jury prize. And yet, to say that I was less than enthusiastic going to the 8:30 screening of this film is an understatement: I wasn't a fan of "The Descendants" and a black and white movie, well, it's a risky proposition for any film.

  • Finally a discovery at the Cannes Festival that’s worth getting all worked up about: “Blue is the Warmest Color,” or, as the original title, “La Vie D’Adèle.” Three hour-long film is a bright gem and a contender for the top nod at this otherwise tepid Cannes selection. "Blue," starring newcomer Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux and directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, is my choice for this year’s Palme D’or, with five films still remaining to be screened in the competition section. But with Steven Spielberg as president of the jury