Spanish Auteur Victor Erice Pens Angry Open Letter Claiming Cannes Behaved Underhandedly in Excluding ‘Close Your Eyes’ From Competition

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Revered Spanish auteur Victor Erice has penned an angry open letter in newspaper El Pais claiming the Cannes Film Festival behaved underhandedly during the selection process resulting in his new work “Close Your Eyes” being relegated to the relatively low-profile Cannes Premiere section. “Close Your Eyes,” which marks Erice’s return to feature film direction 30 years after his Cannes Jury Prize winner “Dream of Light,” premiered on Tuesday in Cannes with the director notably absent.

The film turns on a famed actor who disappears while making a film. Although his body is never found, the police conclude that he’s been the victim of an accident by the sea.

Many years later, the mystery surrounding his disappearance is brought back into the spotlight when a TV program airs the beginning and the end of the movie directed by his close friend.

Erice, who is 83, in the El Pais letter, published on Wed., said he did not attend the Cannes premiere to protest a lack of “dialogue and consultation” with the fest and its artistic director Thierry Frémaux that caused his film to renounce to other opportunities for its launch.