CANNES RED CARPET LOOKS FROM CATE BLANCHETT GLAMOUR TO KRISTEN STEWART'S BARE FEET

Glamour reigns at the Cannes Film Festival, but this year's most memorable fashion moment might have been Kristen Stewart ditching her heels to go barefoot on the red carpet at the premiere of Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," in what many people speculate was an act of rebellion against the unofficial formalwear rules at Cannes.

Other celebrities made statements but more along the lines of fashion statements.  

Cate Blanchett wore a Givenchy black jumpsuit to the star-sudded "Capharnaum" premiere and a floor length tiered rainbow skirt with a black turtleneck open back top to another event.

Kristen Stewart, Michelle Rodgriquez and Bella Hadid, glimmered in silver but bright jewel tones also showed up against the red carpet. Model Winnie Harlow wore a bright apple green gown while jury member, Khadja Nin wore a boldly colored purple and gold print gown.

Feathers, sequins, lace, chiffon, beads and crystals embellished many of the outfits and of course diamonds adorned many of the stars as they walked the red carpet at the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival. The winner of the Palme d'Or will be announced Saturday and decided by a nine-person jury led by  Blanchett. There are 21 films competing.

Cannes, France, 17 May 2018

1. Various, Cate Blanchett

Cannes, France, 16 May 201

2. Various, Adriana Lima

3. Various, Cindy Bruna

4. Various, Isabel Goulart

5. Various of Milla Jovovich

6. Various of Khadja Nin

Cannes, France, 14 May 2018

7. Various, Sonam Kapoor

8. Various, Natasha Poly

9. Various, Ming Xi

10. Various, Winnie Harlow

11. Various, Nicole Scherzinger

12. Various, Jane Fonda

13. Various, Naomi Campbell

14. Kristen Stewart, as she takes off shoes to walk up stairs

15. Various, Cate Blanchett arrival

16. Bella Hadid arrival

Cannes, France, 15 May 2018

17. Various, Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly posing for photographers

18. Medium of Phoebe Waller-Bridge posing for photographers

Cannes, France, 13 May 2018

19. Various, Naomi Campbell

20. Various, Bella Hadid

21. Various, Michelle Rodriguez

22. Various, Winnie Harlow

Cannes, France, 16 May 2018

23. Various, Fan Bingbing

CATE BLANCHETT CALLS FOR EQUALITY AS CANNES FILM FESTIVAL PREPARES FOR OPENING NIGHT

The 71st Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday (8 MAY 2018) with the premiere of Asghar Farhadi's "Everybody Knows," but the spotlight at the first post-Harvey Weinstein edition of the glamorous French Rivera gathering is squarely focused on issues of gender equality.

Ahead of the premiere of the Iranian filmmaker's Spanish-language debut, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, jury president Cate Blanchett introduced the female-majority jury that will decide this year's Palme d'Or, among the most prestigious honors in cinema.

Blanchett, a prominent member of the Time's Up initiative, said that the #MeToo movement will play a role in this and every future Cannes, but will not factor into their deliberations.

"Would I like to see more women in competition? Absolutely. Do I expect and hope that that is going to happen in the future? I hope so. But we're dealing with what we have this year and our role is to, in this next almost two weeks, is to deal with what is in front of us.

Competing for the Palme d'Or are 21 films, including new releases from Spike Lee, Pawel Pawlikowski and Jean-Luc Godard. Three of the films in competition are directed by women: Nadine Labaki, Eva Husson and Alice Rohrwacher.

Blanchett noted the festival has improved the gender parity of its selection committees. Juries, she noted, have in recent years been split equally, with the president tilting the scales this year.

"It just happens that I tip the balance," said Blanchett, adding a mock "Sorry."

Only one female filmmaker, Jane Campion, has ever won the Palme d'Or.

Lasting change, Blanchett said, will only occur with time.

"Is it (#MeToo) going to have a direct impact upon the films in competition this year, six, nine months on? Not specifically. There are several women in competition but they're not there because of their gender, they're there because of the quality of their work and we'll be assessing them as filmmakers as we should be."

Asked if improving gender equality at the festival also means dialing down the red carpet glamor, Blanchett said no.

"Being attractive doesn't preclude being intelligent. I think that this is, by its very nature, a glamorous, fantastic, spectacular festival full of joie de vivre, you know, full of great, good humor, full of discord and disharmony... I think that those aspects of the festival are things to be enjoyed but, you know, in an equal, fair and equitable way."

Joining Blanchett on the jury this year are actresses Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart, actor Chang Chen, directors Andrey Zvyagintsev, Denis Villeneuve, and Robert Guediguian, and musician Khadja Nin.

The winner of the Palme d'Or will be announced on May 19 when the festival draws to a close.

Cannes, France, 8 May 2018

1. Wide, zoom in of Cate Blanchett arriving at press conference

2. Medium shot Kristen Stewart sitting down

3. Pan of press conference

4. Pan of jury (left-right) Lea Seydoux, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Ava DuVernay, Denis Villeneuve, Cate Blanchett and Robert Guediguian

5. Close-up Kristen Stewart and Chang Chen

6. Wide shot jury

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Cate Blanchett, jury president/actress:

"(It) was one of the first questions I said to Thierry (Fremaux - Cannes director), I said, you know, 'We really do have to have gender parity and racial diversity on the'… I don't chose the jury, but 'on the jury.' And he said, 'But we do.' And in Thierry's time there have always been, you know, there's a female head of jury, then there are four men and four women. So it just happens that I've tipped the balance. Sorry."

8. Cutaway camera operator

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Cate Blanchett, jury president/actress:

"For quality change to occur, for profound lasting change to occur it needs to take place through specific actions. Not through generalizations and not through pontification and it's, you know, it's addressing the gender gap and it's addressing the racial diversity and the equality and, you know, the way we make the work. And, of course, that's going on in our industry and I hope, you know, in many industries because the creative industries are no different from any other industry around the world in terms of those problems that they face. But, you know, is it going to have a direct impact upon the films in competition this year, six, nine months on? Not specifically. There are several women in competition but they're not there because of their gender, they're there because of the quality of their work and we'll be assessing them as filmmakers, as we should be."

10. Pan of presser

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Cate Blanchett, jury president/actress:

"Being attractive doesn't preclude being intelligent. I think that this is, by its very nature, a glamorous, fantastic, spectacular festival, full of joie de vivre, you know, full of great, good humor, full of discord and disharmony. Making art, making work is not always going to be harmonious and we are not always going to be in concord and agreement. The world would be terribly boring if it was, you know? I think that those aspects of the festival are things to be enjoyed but, you know, in an equal, fair and equitable way."

12. Wide of press conference

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Cate Blanchett, jury president/actress:

"Would I like to see more women in competition? Absolutely. Do I expect and hope that that is going to happen in the future? I hope so. But we're dealing with what we have this year and our role is to, in this next almost two weeks, is to deal with what is in front of us. And, as I said before, I'm not looking at the films as an Iranian filmmaker, or a Chilean, or a Korean, or a female, or a transgender - we don't have any transgender directors this year – oh, my God we failed already. But do you know what I mean? We're dealing with what we have in front of us and our job as industry members away from the festival is to keep working towards positive change."

14. Wide shot end of press conference

A LOOK AT THE FASHION FROM PREVIOUS CANNES FESTIVAL EDITIONS

The Croisette in Cannes is empty, there will be no red carpet rolled out onto the steps of the Palais this year.

The 73rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival - which was supposed to have started Tuesday (12 MAY 2020) - has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the past, stars from Cate Blanchett to Aishwarya Rai, Naomi Campbell to Zhang Ziyi and supermodels representing L'Oreal and Chopard have attended what is one of the most glamorous fixtures in the entertainment calendar.

Movies due to have been screened at Cannes in 2020 include Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch," starring Owen Wilson and Timothee Chalamet, and Pixar animation "Soul," featuring the voices of Tina Fey and Jamie Foxx. The festival jury was to have been led by Spike Lee.

Cannes, 20 May 2019

1. Various of Aishwarya Rai at "La Belle Epoque" premiere

Cannes, 19 May 2019

2. Medium of Aja Naomi King

3. Medium pull focus on Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Cannes, 20 May 2019

4. Various of Zhang Ziyi

5. Various of Isabelle Huppert at "Frankie" premiere

Cannes, 17 May 2019

6. Wide of Deepika Padukone going towards the stairs

7. Pan from photos to Amber Heard

8. Wide of Penelope Cruz

Cannes, 20 May 2019  

9. Medium tilt down on Elle Fanning at Chopard Trophee ceremony

Cannes, 22 May 2019

10. Medium tilt up on Marion Cotillard at "Matthieu et Maxime" premiere

Cannes, 23 May 2019

11. Medium of Kendall Jenner posing at amfAR gala

12. Medium of Dua Lipa walking by

13. Medium tilt up on Coco Rocha

Cannes, France, 16 May 2018

14. Various of Khadja Nin

Cannes, France, 14 May 2018

15 . Various, Natasha Poly

16. Various, Winnie Harlow

17. Various, Naomi Campbell

18. Kristen Stewart, as she takes off shoes to walk up stairs

19. Various, Cate Blanchett arrival

Cannes, France, 15 May 2018

20. Various, Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly posing for photographers

Cannes, France, 16 May 2018

21. Various, Fan Bingbing

Cannes, France, 15 May 2018

22. Various of Winnie Harlow at the top of the stairs

Cannes, 13 May 2018

23. Tilt up on Cate Blanchett at Women in Motion event

Cannes, 11 May 2018

24. Tilt up on Kendall Jenner at Chopard event

25. Wide of Lupita Nyong'o

Cannes, 26 May 2017

26. Tilt up on Jessica Chastain

27. Wide of Diane Kruger

Cannes, 23 May 2017

28. Rita Ora posing

29. Wide of Uma Thurman

30. Diane Kruger on the steps

31. Wide of Elle Fanning

32. Tilt up on Charlize Theron

33. Wide of Tilda Swinton

34. Nicole Kidman posing

Cannes, 17 May 2017

35. Tilt down Naomie Harris posing for photographers

Cannes, 9 May 2018

36. Wide of Julianne Moore at "Yomeddine" premiere

JAPANESE DRAMA 'SHOPLIFTERS' WINS CANNES' PALME D'OR

Japanese director Hizokazu Kore-eda's tender portrait of a poor, improvised family "Shoplifters" has won the Palme d'Or, the top award at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the Cannes closing ceremony Saturday (19 MAY 2018), the Cate Blanchett-led jury selected one of the festival's most acclaimed entries, one hailed as a modest masterpiece from a veteran filmmaker renowned for his delicate touch. "Shoplifters" is about a small-time thief who takes a young girl home to his family; after seeing scars from abuse, they decide to keep her and raise her as their own.

While many speculated that the Cate Blanchett-led jury might award only the second Palme d'Or to a film directed by a woman, the most likely contender — Lebanese director Nadine Labaki's "Capernaum" — was instead given Cannes' jury prize. The film drew a rousing standing ovation but less enthusiastic critic reviews for its tale of a 12-year-old boy living in poverty who sues his parents for neglect.

Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman," the highest profile American film in competition at Cannes, was awarded the grand prize. The film ignited the French Riviera festival with its true tale of a black police detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Lee connected the film to modern day with real footage from last year's violent white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The 12-day festival, the first since the downfall of film mogul Harvey Weinstein (for decades an annual fixture in Cannes), was shaken by debate over gender equality in the film industry and at Cannes. In a striking rally, 82 women — the same number of female filmmakers to ever be selected to Cannes competition lineup — stood on the Palais red-carpet steps, as Cate Blanchett said, "a symbol of our determination to change and progress."

Some changes were swift. Just days later, with Blanchett's jury looking on, Cannes' Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux signed a pledge to make the festival's selection process more transparent and promised other measures to improve the festival's record of including female filmmakers. Three of this year's 21 films in competition were directed by women.

It was also a part of Saturday's closing ceremony. With a fist raised high on the red carpet, Italian filmmaker and actress Asia Argento attended the ceremony. Argento has said Weinstein raped her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. (Weinstein has denied all accusations of non-consensual sex.)

"In 1997, I was raped by Harvey Weinstein here at Cannes. I was 21 years old. This festival was his hunting ground," said Argento at the ceremony. "I want to make a prediction: Harvey Weinstein will never be welcomed here ever again."

Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski took best director for his follow-up to the Oscar-winning "Ida," ?Cold War." Like "Ida," ?Cold War" is a black-and-white period film that delves into Polish history. It's about an up-and-down romance in post-war Poland and Paris, behind and outside the Soviet Iron Curtain.

Best actress went to Samal Yeslyamova for Kazakh writer-director Sergey Dvortsevoy's "Ayka." Taking best actor was Marcello Fonte for Matteo Garrone's "Dogman," an award that was presented by fellow Italian actor Roberto Benigni.

The prize for best screenplay was split between Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher's time-warped fable about a poor farm boy in rural Italy "Happy as Lazzaro" and Nader Saeivar and Jafar Panahi's script for "Three Faces."

Panahi has been banned from traveling outside Iran since he was arrested for participating in "propaganda against the regime" in 2010 after supporting mass protests over the country's disputed 2009 election. Both Panahi and Russia's Kirill Serebrennikov were unable to attend their Cannes premieres because both are barred from traveling out of their home countries. Seats were left empty for both, who received standing ovations in absentia.

A "Palme d'Or Speciale," a special award not previously awarded, was given to Jean-Luc Godard for "continually striving to define and refine what cinema can be," said Blanchett. Godard's "Image Book" is a film essay collage that contemplates the West's relationship to the Arab world. The 87-year-old French filmmaking legend called into his Cannes press conference via FaceTime.

The closing ceremony was held ahead of the premiere of Terry Gilliam's "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote." Famously victim to countless delays and debacles, the film took nearly 30 years for Gilliam to complete. And its Cannes premiere was still almost canceled because of an injunction sought by producer Paolo Branco, who insisted the festival needed his permission. French courts last week denied Branco's request, allowing the screening to move forward.

Last year's Palme d'Or winner was Ruben Ostlund's "The Square," which went on to be nominated for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards.

Cannes, France, 19 May 2018

1. Wide shot, pan red carpet

2. Pan from press to Asia Argento

3. Pan from press to Asia Argento raising fist

4. Medium Sting and Shaggy

5. Medium Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi

6. Tilt up Valery Kaufman

7. Medium John Savage

8. Medium shot Samal Yesyamova and Sergey Dvortsevoy

9. Pan from press to Un Certain Regard jury (L-R) Kantemir Balagov, Annemarie Jacri, Virginie Ledoyen, Benicio Del Toro

10. Pan of above

11. Pan from press to wide of "Cold War" arrivals

12. Medium Gary Oldman and Gisele Schmidt, tilt up to press

13. Medium Marcello Fonte and Matteo Garrone

14. Wide Marcello Fonte and Matteo Garrone

15. Pan from press to Adrien Brody and Caroline Scheufele

16. Wide Nadine Labaki and arrivals for "Capernaum"

17. Tilt up Behnaz Jafari, Mastaneh Mohajer and guest

18. Tilt up photographer to Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis, joined by Laure Harrier and Barry Alexander Brown

19. Cutaway press

20. Wide Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis, Laure Harrier and Barry Alexander Brown

21. Pan from press to Hirozaku Kore-Eda

22. Pan from photographer to wide of jury including Denis Villeneuve, Chang Chen, Ava DuVernay, Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Khadja Nin, Andrey Zvyagintsev and Robert Guediguian.

23. Cutaway photographers

24. Wide of jury pan to Cate Blanchett posing for photos

25. Various jury

26. Cutaway photographers

27. Pan of jury

28. Various jury

29. Medium Lea Seydoux

30. Various of jury on steps

31. Wide of arrivals "The Man That Killed Don Quixote" arrivals

32. Cutaway photographers

33. Wide of "The Man That Killed Don Quixote" arrivals including Jordi Molla, Sergi Lopez, Rossy De Palma, Olga Kurylenko, Adam Driver, Terry Gilliam, Joana Ribeiro, Jonathan Pryce.

34. Cutaway press

35. Various "The Man That Killed Don Quixote" arrivals

36. Wide of red carpets

36. Various of "The Man That Killed Don Quixote" arrivals on steps and entering theater