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Meryl Streep To Headline Cannes Film Festival Opening
Meryl Streep is guest of honour at the opening of 77th Festival de Cannes, which holds on the stage of Grand Théâtre Lumière on Tuesday, May 14. A celebrated figure in American cinema, the American actress will kick-off the upcoming edition, which draws to a close on Saturday, May 25, with the awards’ list given by the President of the Jury, Greta Gerwig. After Jeanne Moreau, Marco Bellocchio, Catherine Deneuve, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jane Fonda, Agnès Varda, Forest Whitaker or Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep will receive the Festival’s Honorary Palme d’or. Thirty five years after winning the Best Actress award for Evil Angels, her only appearance in Cannes to date, Streep will be making her long-awaited return to the Croisette. “I’m immeasurably honoured to receive the news of this prestigious award. To win a prize at Cannes, for the international community of artists, has always represented the highest achievement in the art of filmmaking. To stand in the shadow of those who have previously been honored is humbling and thrilling in equal part. I so look forward to coming to France to thank everyone in person this May!” Meryl Streep stated. “We all have something in us of Meryl Streep!” Iris Knobloch and Thierry Frémaux said.

We all have something in us of Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, The Bridges of Madison County, The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! Because she has spanned almost 50 years of cinema and embodied countless masterpieces, Meryl Streep is part of our collective imagination, our shared love of cinema.” After her drama studies and initial success on New York City stages, Meryl Streep’s career took off on the big screen in 1978 with The Deer Hunter, starring Robert De Niro. In Michael Cimino’s film, Meryl Streep wrote all her lines to give her character nuance and depth. This marked both her first Oscar nomination — now reaching a record 21 — and her demand to play strong, ambivalent women. For example, when she starred opposite Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer, she refused to let the film revolve around the male lead and rewrote a crucial monologue. She went on to win her first Oscar, and quickly gained recognition from the audiences and the industry alike.

All Eyes On Jury Of Festival De Cannes
THE Jury for 77th Festival de Cannes, chaired by Greta Gerwig, will include Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, as well as Spanish director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu and French actor and producer Omar Sy. The Jury will have the honor of awarding the Palme d’or to one of the 22 films in competition, after Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, presented by Ruben Östlund’s Jury, in 2023. The winners will be announced on Saturday, May 25 at the closing ceremony. In just 15 years, the Cannes Jury President Greta Gerwig has made a name for herself in American and international cinema. Right from the start of her career as an actress, Greta Gerwig has also been involved as a screenwriter, collaborating on numerous projects. She co-wrote Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007) and Nights and Weekends (2008), which she also co-directed, followed by Frances Ha (2012), Mistress America (2015) and, of course, Barbie with her writing partner Noah Baumbach. Her very first solo work, Lady Bird (2017) – a gripping, tender and melancholy portrait of the torments of adolescence – received 5 Oscar nominations, including for Best Director. With her latest film, Barbie (2023), a worldwide cultural phenomenon and the biggest hit of the year, Greta Gerwig becomes the first director in the history of cinema to top the billion-dollar mark at the box office.

Film Submissions Open For Tokyo International Film Festival
THE 37 edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will hold from October 28 to November 6. TIFF opened for film submission from April 25 and it will close on July 8 via the festival website. The festival accepts submissions from around the globe for films that have not yet been released in Japan including documentary and animation features. As in previous years, the Asian Future section will highlight films by emerging Asian directors, including those from Japan and the Middle East, who have directed no more than three feature-length films. Entry information can be sourced at the festival official website: https://www.tiff-jp.net/entry/competition2024

KADIFF Closes Submission, Set For Festival in August
THE 2024 edition of the Kaduna International Film Festival (KADIFF) will hold in Kaduna between August 27 and 31, with the theme: Cinema and Cultural Exchange. The festival had opened calls for submissions last year in several film categories including Feature, Shorts, Student, Animation, Documentary, Experimental and Indigenous. Vice chairman, Nigeria Film Festivals Association and founder, KADIFF, Audu Kashim Israel disclosed that over 150 films were received by the festival from across the world. Details of this edition which is the seventh, can be sourced from the festival’s social media handles @kadunafilmfestival.