Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters , a quiet, unassuming yet devastating peep into what constitutes a family, won the Palme D'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival this year.
The 'Me Too' movement, gender politics and Harvey Weinstein seemed to be the unofficial themes of this year's festival, with head of jury, actor Cate Blanchett giving out a feminist wake-up call at the beginning of the festival.
The world’s top film festival, which likes to think of itself as “the movie Olympics”, has long faced criticism for its “dismal” attitude to female directors.
Only three of the 21 films in competition for the Palme d’Or were directed by women, the same number as last year.
And the festival’s decision to lift its ban on controversial Danish director Lars Von Trier, who has faced sexual harassment claims from the singer Bjork and whose company has been hit by multiple accusations, further raised eyebrows.
Italian actor Asia Argento made a powerful speech during the closing ceremony, coming out to say that she had been raped by Weinstein in 1997. Blanchett too had earlier revealed, in an interview to Variety , that the disgraced media mogul had harassed her.
Weinstein was an “unwanted” producer on several of her films, including Carol and The Talented Mr. Ripley , she said.
Asked if he ever sexually harassed or acted inappropriately with her, she said, “Yes. I think he primarily preyed, like most predators, on the vulnerable. I mean I got a bad feeling from him.... He would often say to me, ‘We’re not friends’.”
(With inputs from AFP)
