Cannes film festival head Thierry Frémaux has dismissed suggestions that one of the industry’s most famous events routinely presents work from the “usual suspect” directors to the detriment of new talent.
Interviewed by the Hollywood Reporter, Frémaux said the presence of Cannes favourites such as Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, Andrea Arnold, Nicolas Winding Refn and Olivier Assayas in competition for this year’s Palme D’Or was in no way indicative of a closed-shop attitude.
“Every film we pick up is because of the film and what the film means in terms of schedule, programming and selection,” he said. “What about the names people ignore? What about the Brazilian film-maker [Kleber Mendonça Filho], the German director [Maren Ade]. No one asks me about the new names.”
Frémaux said it was unfair to criticise organisers for inviting back Sean Penn, whose film The Last Face made the competition slate a decade and a half after his 2001 film The Pledge debuted on the Croisette.
“It’s only the second time, and the last time was 15 years ago,” he said. “So there are not that many ‘usual suspects’, and we of course make efforts to put new names in the selection.”
The artistic director said Jarmusch had two entries in the festival’s official 2016 selection: bus-driver drama Paterson and Iggy Pop documentary Gimme Danger, to show his diversity as a film-maker.
“Like a writer, he can do both a novel and sometimes reportage in the press,” said Frémaux of Jarmusch. “It’s the same expression and is part of the territory of creation. It’s good to have documentaries, because sometimes things can only be expressed by reality. I think we have to open windows. We have to show what a film-maker can be.”
Cannes has been criticised in the past for a perceived bias against female directors. In 2012, there were none at all in the main competition for the Palme d’Or. The festival chief said one-fifth of this year’s films were directed by women, which he said was “three times the proportion of what it is in the industry”.
“To have more women in Cannes, we have to have more women in cinema. Cannes is not the problem, do not blame Cannes. Cannes is the consequence,” he said.
