For its 30th edition the Rencontres de Cannes (Cannes Cinema Encounters) – November 20-26 2017 – has chosen to explore the sometimes painful but precious paths of freedom in all its forms: freedom recovered, freedom confiscated, furtive freedom, freedom of the artist, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, truth as freedom, the aspiration to freedom of a generation, … through thematic programming made up of retrospectives, recent films and previews.
A cinema festival with debates
Unlike its bigger sister, this is a cinema festival that focuses very much on getting people to debate what they have just seen. Through talks, encounters and workshop, it aims at making the audiences active participants. The festival is widely recognized for the high level of debate.
Guests this year include Marc Degain, Daniel Prévost, Laurent Delmas, Marie-Josée Nat, Serge Rezvani, Bernard de La Villardiere, Bob Swaim, Arthur Dupont, Gérard Pana and Tcheki Karyo.
Opening night: November 20 2017
Synopsis: In June 1944, the writer Robert Ahmed, a major figure of the resistance, is arrested and deported. His young wife Marguerite, a writer and resistant, suffers from not having any news, while nonetheless having a secret affair with her comrade Dyonis. She meets a French agent of the Gestapo.Full details can be found at the Cannes-Cinema website.
This year’s program seems to attract a lot of critics as well as movie lovers around the world.
The Rencontres are not the festival. Although movies are also shown, the Rencontres is more focused on debate and workshops than on the glamour of the Film Festival.