Cannes Burning Questions: Thierry Fremaux on Russian Boycott, Women Directors and Netflix
variety.comElsa Keslassy International CorrespondentA few hours after unveiling Cannes Film Festival’s 2022 Official Selection on the Champs Elysees, artistic director Thierry Fremaux sat down with Variety to discuss the festival’s drive to not give in to calls for a cultural boycott of Russian films and filmmakers, efforts to have more female directors in competition, discussions to bring back streamers in a near future and what those rumors about David Lynch in the lineup were about.
The all-star competition lineup of this upcoming 75th edition boasts no less than four Palme d’Or winning directors, including Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu (Japan) and Swedish helmer Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”), as well new films by David Cronenberg (“Crimes of the Future”), Kelly Reichardt (”Showing Up”), James Gray (“Armageddon Time”) and dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov (“Tchaïkovski’s Wife”). Congrats on putting together this wonderful lineup.
I think it’s the most exciting Cannes lineup I’ve seen on paper in a long time.And it’s not over! There are 49 films and there are always between 55 and 60 so we could still add about 10.What about the competition?We have about 18 films in competition so we have room.
20 titles would be good so that means there could be two more. We’re happy to have a diverse lineup with films from Egypt, Iran, Korea and Costa Rica.How do you feel about organizing this festival amid the current political turmoil and the war in Ukraine?
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