Festival Les Films de Cannes returns this year to Timișoara and aims, as every time, to premiere the most important and award-winning films of the year to the public, adapting to sanitary conditions in order to offer safe and comfortable access to films.
Les Films de Cannes à l'Université de l'Ouest Timisoara will take place between November 12 and 14, in the Aula Magna of the West University of Timișoara and in the Capitol hall of the Banat Philharmonic (with free entry). The Cannes Festival resumed this year after an edition canceled due to the pandemic, being exceptionally organized in July and benefiting from a particularly wide selection area, following the cancellation of the previous edition. The jury was led by the eccentric Spike Lee, and the great authors returned this year to Cannes.
Quality films and surprises from the records were abundantly present in the selection, too Les Films de Cannes à l'Université de l'Ouest Timisoara will bring the most important titles among them:
· Titanium, the Palme d'Or winner,
· the hero, ex-aequo Grand Prix winner,
· The Worsst Person In The World, winner of the Female Performance Award,
· The Olympiads, Best Soundtrack Award,
· Three Floors directed by Nanni Moretti,
· The Civil, Courage Award,
· and the movie Immaculate, awarded with the Audience Award at the 12th edition of Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, in the presence of director Monica Stan.
Films from Cannes at the University of Western Timișoara is organized by the Cinemascop Association, and the main partner is the West University of Timișoara. Cultural project financed by: the West University of Timișoara, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, the National Center of Cinematography, SACD, the French Embassy and the French Institute in Romania.
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In the program of the 2021 edition
Les Films de Cannes à l'Université de l'Ouest Timisoara:
TITANIUM : When Julia Ducournau won the Palme d'Or with this second film of hers, the filmmaker told the jury: "thank you for [opening] the gate to monsters." Film critics were equally stunned by the film, which tells the story of a father who, after a series of unexplained murders, finds his 10-year-old missing son: “Titane is gorgeous to look at, to listen to, to fetishize. It's addictive," exults The Playlist.
Awarded the Grand Prix, the second most important award of the festival, A HERO, the new film by Iranian auteur Asghar Farhadi, tells the story of Rahim, who is in prison for an unpaid debt. During a two-day furlough, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint in exchange for returning part of the debt. Rahim is then faced with an unimaginable crisis. His intimate and provocative tales of family conflict have earned Farhadi praise throughout his career from audiences, film critics, and the major international festival circuit.
The best actress award went to Renate Reinsve for her performance in THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, directed by Joachim Trier. The film concludes the trilogy Oslo of the director with "a romantic drama for those who hate romantic dramas" (The Toronto Star), about the search for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo. The film follows four years in the life of Julie (Renate Reinsve), a young woman who navigates love storms, struggles to make a career and tries to figure out, lucidly, who she really is.
THE OLYMPIADS a Best Soundtrack Award. In the film, Émilie meets Camille who is attracted to Nora, who crosses paths with Amber. Three girls and a boy - they are friends, sometimes lovers, most of the time both. "Here is Audiard's attempt to inaugurate a new wave of the millennium, a kind of Jules et Jim with a synth-pop soundtrack", writes The Playlist.
In 2021, Italian author Moretti is back with THREE FLOORS, the story of three families living in 3 apartments in the same luxury apartment complex, which was said to be "an intriguing canvas that allows for hard-hitting observations, especially thanks to excellent performances from the luminous Margherita Buy, the hypnotic Rohrwacher and the debutante Denise Tantucci” – Edge Media Network.
AT CIVIL, by Teodora Ana Mihai, the only Romanian film in the official selection at Cannes, received a standing ovation for eight minutes after the screening and was awarded the Prix de l'Audace in the final Un Certain Regard section. The film "creates a convincing picture of a society where no one can trust anything and everyone is complicit in an endless cycle of violence" according to Screen Daily and will be screened on Saturday, November 13, in the Timisoara premiere.
IMMACULATE, the feature debut from directors Monica Stan and George Chiper-Lillemark returned from Venice with three awards, including Best Debut and Best Film in the section 'Authors' Day'. Gaia Furrer, artistic director of the competition Venice Days, declared on stage: "Immaculate is a story about the fragility of many human beings, but especially about the discrimination against women that unfortunately still exists inside and outside the walls of any community". Recently also awarded in Warsaw, the film is the story of Daria who enters a rehab clinic to quit heroin. Her innocence saves her from the advances of the men inside and surprisingly they offer her protection. The film won the Audience Award in Bucharest and will be seen in a special screening in Timișoara, in the presence of director Monica Stan.
Recalling the statement of the General Delegate of the Cannes Festival, Thierry Frémaux, Les Films de Cannes à l'Université de l'Ouest Timisoara proposes, in turn “to bring cinema to life, protect artists, expose stars and help the industry. It's a universal vision. Cinema is never uniform, it changes, improves and all festivals must adapt. The festival supports the cinema, and it needs screening rooms. The cinema has not yet said its last word. The proliferation of platforms around the world means that, as time goes on, traditional halls will prove their singular strength”.
Festival Les Films de Cannes à l'Université de l'Ouest Timisoara is presented by Orange Romania, traditional partner of the event and inspired by: UniCredit Bank.
The festival is also organized with the support of: Sun Wave Pharma, Groupama, Chain.
Official car: Renault.
partners: Timișoara County Council, Banat Philharmonic Timisoara, Europa Cinemas, FIHR, Ibis Hotels.
