The official poster for the 2012 Cannes Film Festival premiered earlier today marking the fest’s 65th anniversary, which begins on May 16 and will run through the 27th. The accompanying press release dubs Monroe as the “icon of the 2012 Festival” and also adds:
Fifty years after her death, Marilyn is still a major figure in world cinema, an eternal icon, whose grace, mystery and power of seduction remain resolutely contemporary.
Each of her screen appearances sparks the imagination. The Festival poster captures Marilyn by surprise in an intimate moment where myth meets reality – a moving tribute to the anniversary of her passing, which coincides with the Festival anniversary.
She enchants us with this promising gesture: a seductively blown kiss.
The Festival is a temple of glamour and Marilyn is its perfect incarnation. Their coming together symbolises the ideal of simplicity and elegance.
The poster keeps with last year’s black-and-white color theme from last year that featured Faye Dunaway as its muse.
I haven’t had much time to speculate on what films will be at the fest this year though if I wanted to take a stab in the dark I’d say the likeliest contenders would be Michael Haneke’s Love, Jacques Audiard’s Rust and Bone, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmasters, Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (May 25) and with a recently announced June 22 release date for Woody Allen’s Nero Fiddled that would seem like an obvious choice making a third year in a row for him at the fest.
I also think John Hillcoat‘s The Wettest County would be an obvious choice considering it was recently set to hit theaters on April 20 but was then moved to August 31, which puts it in theaters before Toronto so a Cannes debut seems likely.
There might be an outside chance for Andrew Dominik’s Cogan’s Trade (September 21), Walter Salles’ On the Road and David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis.
I would also expect Sundance standout Beasts of the Southern Wild to play the Un Certain Regard ahead of its June 29 release and I guess if we’re looking for a big summer film to arrive, I guess Pixar’s Brave could be a possibility or maybe… maybe Oliver Stone’s Savages, but that seems unlikely.
Last year three films that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival went on to be nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture with The Tree of Life, Midnight in Paris and the eventual winner, The Artist. Other 2011 features that premiered at the fest included Drive, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Melancholia, The Skin I Live In and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Here’s to hoping this year’s is as impressive.
Anyway, those are a few guesses. Here’s that poster.
