Quebec director Denis Villeneuve selected as a juror at Cannes Film Festival

By Caroline St-Pierre, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL – Quebec director Denis Villeneuve says he is thrilled at having been chosen as one of the nine jurors who will select the winner of the highest prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

The self-declared cinephile has had to curtail his movie-watching in recent years, particularly because of the time it took to make his latest film, “Blade Runner 2049.”

In an interview with The Canadian Press on Wednesday, the award-winning director said he didn’t hesitate a second when Thierry Fremaux, director of the prestigious Cannes event, invited him to sit on the jury for the Palme d’Or.

“I have been an absent cinephile all these years and when I finished ‘Blade Runner,’ I felt a major need to slow down, to return to writing and also to feed myself,” Villeneuve said.

“This spring I have time. I am writing (for the film ‘Dune’) so it’s possible for me to take 10 days, to completely stop working and to…see some of the best films of 2018. I’m going to have the privilege of discovering about 20 films with colleagues, so that will really be a pleasure.”

One of them will be Australian actress and producer Cate Blanchett, who will head the jury.

They will be joined by American actress Kristen Stewart, French actress Lea Seydoux, French director Robert Guediguian, Chinese actor Chang Chen, American scriptwriter Ava DuVernay, Burundian singer Khadja Nin and Russian director Andrei Zviaguintsev.

Villeneuve’s first feature-length film, “Un 32 aout sur Terre” (“August 32nd on Earth”), was invited to Cannes in 1998. “Next Floor” in 2008, “Polytechnique” in 2009 and “Sicario” in 2015 were also presented at the festival.

The festival, which begins May 8, will be the first at Cannes since the sex scandal involving Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the advent of the #MeToo movement.

Villeneuve said it likely wasn’t by chance that five of the nine Palme d’Or jurors are women, but he said he agrees with Fremaux, who refused to impose quotas to ensure parity when it comes to the selection of movies.

“Society must change,” Villeneuve said. “The cinema world needs to give women more room. There has to be an openness. But I don’t believe you’re doing anyone any favours with quotas at a festival like this one.

“I think the place of women in cinema will continue to grow and it’s important that we achieve equality one day. But the process will take time, it’s not going to happen in three months…But I’m convinced it will happen.”

Villeneuve, 50, was also asked about the decision by Cannes organizers to exclude Netflix films from official selection.

He said it is a complicated topic that requires nuanced thought.

“In France, cinema on the big screen is sacred, it’s important,” he reasoned. “Netflix should respect France on that score. So I think the Cannes festival, being a French festival and respecting the desire in the country to keep films on the big screen, was right to do that. Netflix should adapt to France, not the other way around.

“The screens are losing the war, meaning that film festivals are the last real bastions as defenders of a certain vision of cinema to have films shown on the big screen.”

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