Artistic director Thierry Fremaud recently announced the Official Selection for the 75th edition of the Cannes International Film Festival (17-28 May), which will open with the film “Z” by Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) and promises to have a pronounced Greek presence.
Cannes 2022 will present the work of several Greek film professionals as well as featuring several Greek locations. Among the films selected to have their world premiere at Cannes is “Dodo”, Greek filmmaker Panos Koutras’ (“Strella”, “Xenia”) fifth feature film, starring Smaragda Karydi, Akis Sakellariou and Angelos Papadimitriou and produced by Eleni Kossyfidou. The movie relates the whimsical tale of a dodo bird – a species that became extinct over 300 years ago – that suddenly appears in an Athenian apartment only days before a family is to marry off one of the daughters to a wealthy heir in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy. The other World Premiere section films are “Nightfall” by Marco Bellocchio, “Irma Vep” by Olivier Assayas and “Nos Frangins” by Rachid Buchareb.
Greek energy pervades two of the films appearing in the Competition section. David Cronenberg’s new film “Crimes of the Future” starring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Sedoux and Kristen Stewart, was shot entirely in Attica and Athens. The film is co-produced by Panos Papachatzis (Argonauts S.A.) and received funding from the Hellenic Film Centre (HCC).
“Triangle of Sadness” by Sweden’s Reuben Estlund – (winner of the Palme d’Or in 2017 with “The Square”), which stars, among others, Charleby Dean and Woody Harrelson, was shot in Chiliadou in Evia and in Katakolo, on Aristotle Onassis’ ‘Christina O’ yacht, and was co-produced by Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis (Heretic).
Meanwhile, the film “Burning Days” directed by Emin Alpes, which is competing in the Un Certain Regard programme, is co-produced by George Tsourgiannis (Horsefly Films) and also received financing from CySEC. The Board Chairman of CySE, Markos Cholevas commented that “the effort to strengthen the extroversion of Greek cinema is beginning to bear fruit, and more and more artists and producers are participating in important international co-productions”.
