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The Cannes Jury
The Cannes Jury met the media Wednesday, and I’m still not sure why I go each year. But I did, yet again.
Most of the questions are posed by TV reporters who want to prove to the folks back home, wherever that may be, that they really were there. They really don’t have anything of substance to ask, but they look good, and they want to gain what little prestige they can by posing questions like: “How do you feel about being on the jury? Are you comfortable being a judge?”
This question, regrettably, was passed around to each and every member of the jury. This year, they are: Isabelle Huppert, the French actress who’s the president; U.S. director James Gray (“Two Lovers”); U.S. actress Robin Wright Penn (looking pained and distant, as if she were worried that someone would ask about her impending divorce from Sean Penn. No worries. The airhead journalists asking questions wouldn’t dare to be so presumptuous); pan-European actress Asia Argento; Turkish director Nuri Ceylan; British director Hanif Kureishi (“My Beautiful Laundrette”); Taiwanese actress Shu Qi; Indian actress Sharmila Tagore; and South Korean director Lee Chang-Dong (“Oasis”).
All of them said basically the same thing about being a judge. No, no, the word judge has negative connotations. Or as Huppert said, “We’re not here to judge; we’re here to love film.”
Kureishi, at least, said he always thinks awards competitions are just awful and unnecessary, but that his mind always changes when he wins one.
Gray said he decided to say “yes” to being a judge, simply because he wanted to get away from stuff and watch a bunch of good movies over the course of two weeks. Fair enough.
Poor Lee Chang-Dong was asked whether he would be partial to South Korean entries in the competition since he’s South Korean. Another lame question. But at least he had a comeback. “While in Cannes, my nationality is movies,” he said.
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