The 79th annual Cannes Film Festival commenced on Tuesday with all the pomp and circumstance the Croisette is known for. The bold-faced names were out in force, with Peter Jackson receiving a crowning career achievement, Guillermo del Toro dropping truth bombs, and Jane Fonda and Demi Moore providing plenty of sound bites.
There was also cinema, with the opening film, France’s The Electric Kiss, getting smacked by one reviewer, while one of this year’s busiest entries, Pedro Almodóvar‘s Bitter Christmas, dropped a sneak peek.
Here are the five most memorable moments from the festival’s star-studded first day.
Middle-Earth lands in France
The highlight of the opening-night ceremony was Jackson receiving an honorary Palme d’Or. The Lord of the Rings director was presented the award by his Hobbit pal Elijah Wood. “You showed the world something it had never seen before, and nothing was ever the same. He helped build an entirely new filmmaking culture at the far edge of the world,” Wood said.
“We brought 20 minutes here in 2001 and did some press in a castle up in the hills,” said Jackson. “That gamble changed the perception of the film. By the time [Fellowship of the Ring] came out in December, there was an anticipation that wouldn’t have happened unless it was for Cannes.”
Del Toro reveals ‘second worst filmmaking experience‘
Guillermo del Toro was in town for a screening of a new 4K restoration of his 2006 fantasy masterpiece, Pan’s Labyrinth, but according to the Oscar winner, creating the film was far from a fairy tale.
“Twenty years ago, making this movie was like going against everything at all times,” del Toro said. “It was the second worst filmmaking experience of my life, the first one being Mimic with the Weinsteins. That was horrible.”
The fantasy film originally premiered in competition at the 2006 festival. However, the director noted that nearly everything that could go wrong did—stretching from pre-production through filming and securing financing.
Despite those hardships, Pan’s Labyrinth went on to earn six Oscar nominations, including Best Original Screenplay for del Toro, and ultimately secured three wins for Art Direction, Cinematography, and Makeup.
Jane Fonda and Demi Moore unfiltered
Jane Fonda and Demi Moore set flashbulbs ablaze as they walked down the carpet together for the opening ceremony. Fonda then took the stage with actress Gong Li to officially kick off the event.
“I believe that cinema has always been an act of resistance, because we tell stories and stories are what make a civilization,” Fonda told the audience. “Stories that bring empathy to the marginalized, stories that allow us to feel across difference. Stories that let us see that there is an alternative future that is possible.”
Meanwhile, when Moore was asked if she had concerns about political statements distracting from the films themselves, she expressed a strong hope to the contrary. “I think part of art is about expression, so if we start censoring ourselves, then we shut down the very core of our creativity, which is, I think, where we can discover truth and answers.”
Headline du jour
Variety‘s review of the fest-opening film doesn’t pull any punches:
‘The Electric Kiss’ Review: Cannes Opens With a Thud — a ‘Light’ French Period Romance About an Artist and a Fake Psychic, but the Movie Is Inert
Trailer du jour
Sony Pictures Classics dropped the teaser for one of the festival’s presitge entries, Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas. The film tells the alternating stories of an advertising executive and a filmmaker.
