This morning we reported on more jury members and potential films for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, and a few more new details have emerged regarding two important female figures of French cinema.
First up, legendary French filmmaker Agnes Varda will receive the Carosse d’Or award from the Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. The parallel festival of sorts that is run concurrently with the festival proper is often a showcase for the more independent minded films. They’ve awarded the prize only eight times in Cannes’ history with past recipients that include Nanni Moretti, Jim Jarmusch and David Cronenberg. Varda is perhaps best known for her breakthrough 1962 film “Cleo From 5 To 7” (which if you haven’t seen needs to be added to Netflix right now), but has directed a number of highly regarded features and documentaries.
The other bit of news it that Claire Denis, who directed “35 Shots Of Rum” one of our favorite films from last year, will be heading up the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the festival which tends to focus on more experimental films from lesser known helmers.
The Cannes Film Festival starts on May 12 with the full lineup to be announced next week.