Cannes, France – Paris-born director Emmanuelle Bercot’s gritty drama about the French justice system’s struggle to save a troubled young juvenile from a life of crime opens the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.
Legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve stars in Bercot’s film, La Tete Haute (Standing Tall), as a magistrate working to give Maloney a sense of hope about his life.
Deneuve is one of a slew of A-list celebrities slated to appear on Cannes’ red carpet this year, including Michael Fassbender, Benicio Del Toro, Gabriel Byrne, Marion Cotillard, Colin Farrell, Cate Blanchett, Rachel Weisz, Jesse Eisenberg, Harvey Keitel, Josh Brolin and Emily Blunt.
However, Cannes has banned red-carpet selfies this year with festival chief Thierry Fremaux describing it as “a practice that’s often extremely ridiculous and grotesque”.
Bercot’s film also marks a break from the flashy and often light-hearted fair that normally launch the world’s leading film festival, which is now in its 68th year.
La Tete haute is being screened out of competition and so is not in the running for any prizes.
undefinedHowever, the film will mark the first time in 28 years that a woman director has opened what has regularly been accused of being a male-dominated festival.
Of the 19 films vying for Cannes’ Palme d’Or prize this year, 11 are from Europe, and more than half of them are from France and Italy.
The festival’s main competition also includes three movies from North America as well as a solid lineup from Asia with three films from the region.
A nine-member jury presided over US filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen – themselves Palme d’Or winners – are to hand out the festival’s coveted prizes at a gala ceremony on May 24.
DPA