Cannes 60th: Polanksi walks out alone and hungry; Egoyan & Cronenberg annoy

[Edited May 24, 7:50 EST]


Once again, Peter Howell, the Toronto Star's resident film critic had an interesting tid bit, this time about Roman Polanski, Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg at Cannes.

It seems that Mr. Polanksi grew infuriated with the press and our two Great Canadian Filmmakers™ who took part in To Each His Own Cinema, a collective film made by 34 men and only one woman - a bit chauvinist are we Cannes?

During the press conference for the film, in which 32 of the 35 filmmakers were present, Mr. Cronenberg and Mr. Egoyan expressed their bleak point of view on the future history of cinema. Of the 35 films, they were alone in presenting a cynical future of cinema.

During the press conference for the film in which 32 of filmmakers were present, Mr. Cronenberg and Mr. Egoyan expressed their bleak point of view on the future history of cinema. Of the 35 films, they were alone in presenting a cynical future, Mr. Cronenberg was quoted as saying about the death of film - "In fact, it really isn't the cinema any more; it's different. Whether that's going to be a good thing or a bad thing is something else,"

Mr. Egoyan stated that "Our fundamental sense of what cinema is, is that it's a collective experience. But a new generation will not understand that. It's just a question of convenience, ultimately."

Cronenberg own short was shot in his own bathroom. Titled, At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the World at the Last Cinema in the World,, and about a dismally dark future where suicides are broadcast 24/7 and, where he himself commits suicide in the bathroom of the last remaining movie theatre.

Egoyan's own film sounds just as disturbing, albeit in an entirely different way. Called Artaud Double Bill, the film is set in a Toronto cinema during Dreyer's silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc, while the audience around answers cell phone calls and text messages on there Blackberries.

Mr. Polanski, who has at times shown the most cynical view in cinema, was dismayed and apparently said something to the effect of people young and old just want to go to see a movie, and without a strong press gallery who were asking flimsy questions on clearly an important subject he urged his fellow filmmakers to walk out of the press conference.

"It's a shame to have such poor questions, such empty questions," Polanski said, "And I think that it's really the computer which has brought you down to this level. You're no longer interested in what's going on in the cinema.... Frankly, let's all go and have lunch," Mr. Polanski spoke and then left.

None of the other directors followed.

Such a shame.

[Edit: A bit of context - Cannes 1968


On May 19, 1968, Roman Polanksi, François Truffaut, Claude Berri, Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, Claude Lelouch, Roman Polanski and Jean-Luc Godard took over a noon screening at the Palais, and demanded that all film screenings cease at the festival.Louis Malle who was the president of the jury, and Roman Polanski who was a juror, resigned, and the dead lock caused the festival to end. This was in response to the ongoing riots, student uprising and nationwide strike in France.

Given that presently France is in the midst of upheaval with the recent election of conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, and that the war in Iraq is now in its fourth year, Roman Polanski may have looked back on a time when filmmakers made a difference.

Via the Toronto Star
Radicalism at Cannes? It's Unlikely - Guardian.co.uk The Blog Film

History of Cannes Film Festival]