Cannes Film Festival 2014

Cannes Film Festival took place in May. As usual, a fair number of film stars gathered in Cannes for a few days to show us their latest works. This year there was some controversy due to the film: Grace of Monaco starring Nicole Kidman as Grace. Apparently, the princess´ family was not very happy with the film and Nicole Kidman also said in some interviews that their attitude was understandable. Nevertheless, this was just a storm in a teacup because the festival provided us with more news as more actors and film-makers arrived in Cannes; in fact, the cast of Pulp Fiction came to this year´s festival to commemorate its 20^th anniversary since Pulp Fiction was released in this French city 20 years ago. The film received the Palme d´Or and it was heavily criticized at the time. However, the film has proved that it has stood the test of time and it has become one of the most iconic films in the history of cinema.

 

One of the most famous scenes in the cult film features Uma Thurman and John Travolta dancing the twist.

 John Travolta, Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino reunited for the 20th anniversary of Pulp Fiction on 23^rd May 2014.

I wouldn´t like to finish this post without paying attention to two images; in my view, one of them summarises the essence of the festival: Marcello Mastroianni as the image of this year´s festival.

The other one has nothing to do with the glamour of the red carpet and some people may argue that there is something frivolous about it: the image of some actors such as Salma Hayek holding a sign where we can read “BRING BACK OUR GIRLS HOME”. Even if that may be true, we must be aware that the impact that celebrities have on the rest of the world is so significant that it can´t be ignored and if they can contribute to making influential people ad politicians conscious of the importance of the issue, we shouldn´t criticise it, should we? The sign calls for the release of the 200 schoolgirls being kept hostage in Nigeria and all of us must support this message: we cannot allow a group of girls to be kidnapped and we mustn´t feel unconcerned by this horrendous crime.

Do you feel like watching any of the films that were released in the Cannes Film Festival?  What do you think about Pulp Fiction? Do you enjoy watching films by Quentin Tarantino? Even if you aren´t keen on his films, could you describe his influence on contemporary cinema or culture?