The Press in Cannes | The cannoiseries of the day

Our special correspondent on the Croisette reports on the latest news from the Cannes Film Festival.

Marc Cassivi
The Press

A Palme d’honneur for Forest Whitaker

The first time Forest Whitaker, who received the Palme d’honneur on Tuesday during the opening ceremony, came to Cannes was in 1988 for his role as Charlie Parker in bird, by Clint Eastwood, which earned him the Best Actor Award. “It was the first time that I encountered international recognition as an artist, he recalled at a press conference. It was unheard of. I was 27, an idealistic young man, had never given an interview and didn’t know how to respond. But I had tried to give everything for this role. I worked hard and received here the greatest gift I could have hoped for. The Festival allowed me to be recognized and respected all over the world. ” The comedian (ghost dog, The Last King of Scotland) and producer, who created in 2012 a foundation intended to provide support and training in the face of issues related to precariousness, security and the climate, presents this Wednesday in a special session the documentary For the Sake of Peaceby directors Thomas Sametin and Christophe Castagne, shot in South Sudan.

Asghar Farhadi defends himself

Member of the jury for the feature film competition, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi publicly commented for the first time, on Tuesday at a press conference, on the lawsuit he allegedly brought against a former student, Azadeh Masihzadeh, who accuses him of having plagiarized his documentary for the screenplay of his film A heroGrand Jury Prize at Cannes last year. He regretted the publication of “incorrect information” implying that he had been found guilty, while the trial has not yet taken place. “My film, like this person’s documentary, is inspired by the same news item that happened in Shiraz long before cinema class,” he said. The story of this prisoner had been reported by the newspapers and reports of the time. It therefore belongs to the public domain. »

TikTok is not cinema

If the Cannes Film Festival now has the social network TikTok among its official partners, it should not be believed that the venerable festival is making a youthful turn. “I am not obsessed with young people! It’s not a better audience than another, “said the general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux, at a press conference. Even if TikTok organizes, within the framework of the festival, a world competition of short films entitled #TikTokShortFilm, Thierry Frémaux does not consider these videos of 30 seconds to 3 minutes as “one of the future forms of cinema”. TikTok would be a partner like the others, suggests the general delegate, in the same way as France Télévisions, which this year replaced Canal +, a long-time ally of the Festival. “The media, the social networks have nothing to do with art and cinema, which remains the ultimate art”, believes Thierry Frémaux.