Cannes Film Festival 2023: Will the opening film be Johnny Depp's return to cinema?
The 76th Cannes Film Festival starts today in France. The main program will be opened by the costume drama Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp. This is the actor's first major role after accusations of domestic violence. Depp's premiere in Cannes is accompanied by accusations of 'Celebrating Abusers'.
This was reported by the specialized publication Variety, quoting the reaction of the head of the Cannes Film Festival Thierry Fremaux.
Jeanne du Barry is the work of French director and actress Maivenn Le Besco. The plot centers on the story of a young woman of humble origins who becomes Madame du Barry, a favorite of King Louis XV of France, played by Johnny Depp. The female lead is played by the director herself.
In general, the 76th Cannes Film Festival will show a record number of works by female directors. Among them: Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera, Jessica Hausner's Club Zero, Catherine Breillat's Last Summer, Justine Trieu's Anatomy of a Parachute and Kauter Ben Chania's documentary Four Daughters.
The main short film competition will also feature the world premiere of a short Polish-Ukrainian drama by Ukrainian director Anastasiia Solonevych and Polish director Damian Kotsur, How It Was.
Along with the main program, a film market will also start in Cannes. This year, it will host a number of events aimed at supporting Ukrainian filmmakers, industry professionals and entrepreneurs as part of the Ukraine in Focus program. The events will run from today until May 24.
The main event of the program will be a pitching session developed by the Ukrainian Institute in cooperation with the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films (ESFUF), CNC, EFAD Association, Swedish Goteborg Film Fund, French Institute, LIM | Less is More, Movies that Matter, Tatino Films. The 10 film projects in development will take part in the pitching.
As part of the main program of the film festival, the festival will also present new works by famous directors: Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Wim Wenders, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Todd Haynes.
This year's jury will be headed by Swedish director Ruben Östlund, who won last year's festival with his film Triangle of Sadness.