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CANNES

Zulu set to close Cannes film festival

Jerome Salle's film "Zulu" starring Oscar winner Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom will close the 66th Cannes film festival next month, the organisers said on Friday.

Zulu set to close Cannes film festival
The red carpet at Les Palais des Festivals in Cannes. Photo: Wikimedia

The film, adapted from the eponymous novel by French author Caryl Ferey, was shot entirely on location in South Africa.

Cannes, widely regarded as the world's top film festival, opens on May 15th with Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," starring Leonardo di Caprio in a remake of the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic novel.

This year's jury will be headed by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg.

"Zulu" is set in Cape Town against the background of a country still overshadowed by apartheid and where affluent suburbs rub shoulders with dirt poor townships.

It tells story of two police officers played by Bloom and Whitaker caught up in a search described by organisers as combining "elements of political film noir and social study".

The movie was co-written by Julien Rappeneau with a score by Alexandre Desplat.

Whitaker in 2007 won the best actor Academy Award for his role as former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada in "The Last King of Scotland". He also won best actor at Cannes in 1988 for his role in Clint Eastwood's "Bird".

The 66th Festival de Cannes will close on May 26th.

The full list of films in the official selection will be announced next Thursday.

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FILM

Cannes Film Festival postponed to July due to Covid

The Cannes Film Festival has been rescheduled for July 6th to 17th - postponed by around two months due to the ongoing virus crisis, organisers said on Wednesday.

Cannes Film Festival postponed to July due to Covid
The 2018 Palme d'Or winner Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda posing for the cameras at the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual highlight for movie lovers in France. Photo: AFP

“As announced last autumn, the Festival de Cannes reserved the right to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed,” they said in a statement.

“Initially scheduled from 11th to 22nd May 2021, the Festival will therefore now take place from Tuesday 6th to Saturday 17th July 2021.”

The festival was cancelled last year, while rival European events in Berlin and Venice went ahead under strict health restrictions.

The Berlin Film Festival, which usually kicks off in February, said last month it would run this year's edition in two stages, an online offering for industry professionals in March and a public event in June.

France has closed all cinemas, theatres and show rooms alongside cafés, bars and restaurants as part of its Covid-19 health measures and the government has pushed back their reopening date until further notice due to rising levels of viral spread across the country.

The Cannes festival normally attracts some 45,000 people with official accreditations, of whom around 4,500 are journalists.

It had only been cancelled once before, due to the outbreak of war in 1939.

Its Film Market, held alongside the main competition, is the industry's biggest marketplace for producers, distributors, buyers and programmers.

Last year, the festival still made an official selection of 56 films – including the latest offerings from Wes Anderson, Francois Ozon and Steve McQueen – allowing them to use the “Cannes official selection” label.

 

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