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75th Cannes Film Festival Underway
The 75th edition of the Festival de Cannes opened on May 17 in Cannes, South of France.

A moving, outward-looking ceremony with a conscience and speeches that will resonate across the 12 days of the event such as the one given by Vincent Lindon, president of the Feature Films Jury, the festival will close on May 28 with an award ceremony.

At the opening on May 17, Lindon, President of the Feature Film jury, said, “alone, just me here with me in the limelight, condemned to freedom, I am deeply moved, proud and overwhelmed to be leading this exceptional jury, and so very grateful to have been chosen by Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux, over many others of no lesser merit, but more used to living in the solitude of their work. It would undoubtedly make sense, or would at least be human, to declare my joy to you here this evening, as I preside over the 75th edition of this extraordinary festival, the greatest film festival in the world, celebrating the event and openly relishing the honour bestowed upon me.”

The Cannes film festival has over the years emerged as an amazing platform to watch and find great new films. The May 17 opening hosted by Virginie Efira aired on France 2 and Brut. More than five million cinema lovers followed the ceremony live on France 2.  The show recorded its highest ever market share (12.2 per cent) and best ratings since 2011 (1.8 million viewers).

On Brut, videos published on the occasion of the opening ceremony recorded a total of 10.6 million views worldwide, including 5.2 million in France. A statement from the festival indicates that the closing ceremony will hold on Saturday, May 28, at 8:30 pm and broadcast lives on France 2 and internationally on Brut. The screening of the Palme d’or-winning film that would be awarded by the Jury will follow in the Grand Théâtre Lumière Auditorium.

Award Shortlist Released As Pitcher Festival Kicks Off
The 2022 Pitcher Festival of Creativity started with the release of the Pitcher Awards shortlist. The organisers say the in-person event will return in 2023, however, all programmes for 2022 will still proceed online. Six independent juries assessed the Pitcher Awards entries. The six-jury categories include, channel, craft, digital, entertainment, good and heritage.

The Craft category is new for 2022, but according to the organisers, the category has performed well, competing favourably with other older categories in the awards in terms of number of entries. CEO of CHINI Africa and Chairman of the festival, Nnamdi Ndu, said, “overall, we see progress in terms of quality of entries. It was quite heartwarming to hear the jurors say repeatedly, ‘the standards have gone up this year’. We hope this will be sustained and that African creativity will begin to get the respect it deserves on the world stage.” The Heritage category includes entries in Film, Audio, Print, Design and Outdoor and Activations.

The Channel category includes entries in Use of Media, Use of Data, Use of Insights and Strategy, PR and Reputation Management and Integrated Campaigns; while the Digital category covers works in Social Media, Messaging, Apps, Websites, Novel and devices as well as the Integrated Digital campaign, newly introduced this year.

The Good category includes subcategories of work done by for not-for-profit organisations, a second subcategory includes, works done by for-profit organisations. Entries in entertainment were submitted under entertainment film, live events, sports, comic skits, use of music and music video. 

The final winners of the Pitcher Awards will be announced during the Pitcher Awards Show, which will be streamed online by 4 pm WAT on 21 May 2022.  Additional information can be sourced at info@creativityweek.africa

Berlinale Talents Shine in Cannes
FORMER Talents of the Berlinale Talent programme of the Berlin International Film Festival are currently dazzling festivalgoers on the Croisette in Cannes. Three of the Berlinale Talent alumni are starring in films entered for competitions such as Sherwan Haji in Tarik Saleh’s Boy from Heaven, Sara Fazilat in Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, which was produced by Sol Bondy and Jacob Jarek, and finally, Nadia Litz joins the glittering cast of David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future. Also in competition is Lukas Dhont’s Close, co-written by Angelo Tijssens.

Un Certain Regard provides a stage for more Talents to shine, with 17 alumni involved in nine films, including Ariel Escalante’s Domingo y la niebla, to name one example. Abinash Bikram Shah’s Lori is in the short films competition, alongside two films with Zuolong Shan as executive producer, BI Gan’s A Short Story and Story Chen’s The Water Murmurs. Critic’s Week features 11 former Talents, who have contributed their creativity to eight films in the selection. 

Excitingly, the Director’s Fortnight will show the debut feature films of three Talents alumni: Manuela Martelli’s 1976, edited by Camila Mercadal and produced by Dominga Sotomayor, Elena López Riera’s El agua and Pamfir by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. Included in the selection is Un Varón by Fabian Hernández.