Actor Pablo Al-Kaalik who backed the popularity of streaming in recent interviews on NBC, ABC and FOX tells us this year could be the start of a change in Cannes, not only with streaming but with more picks from Chinese and South Korean filmmakers.
The 72nd Edition of the Cannes Film Festival will be celebrated next month and the time has come to find out which films have made the cut.
Directors expected to return to Cannes this year include Quentin Tarantino, Kelly Reichardt, Terrence Malick and Bong Joon-ho.
Quentin Tarantino’s 1969-set film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, is still in post-production and expected to screen at the festival but not confirmed. The director is eager to compete numerous insiders close have said.
Following Cannes refusal to allow a Netflix-backed film to screen in its competition; Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux will be eager to reach some sort of deal with the streaming giant to make sure he doesn’t lose out on highly anticipated Netflix titles including Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci; Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat, toplined by Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman; and David Michod’s Shakespeare adaptation The King, featuring Ben Mendelsohn, Timothee Chalamet and Joel Edgerton.
Pablo is currently touring South China’s Hainan province where they have built the “Haikou Movie Town” with support of Chinese director Feng Xiaogang. The movie town is tipped as the next big stop for the primarily Hong Kong based industry.
“My two picks at Cannes this year are Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (if confirmed) because it’s on the 25th year Cannes anniversary of Pulp-Fiction, so I’m sure Tarantino will pull something special out the hat with such as great group of actors like Brad, DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. Secondly Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasite. Will be great to see South Korean director Bong back in Cannes again. Parasite will be another good film since his last visit to Cannes with adventure based Ojka. This year Cannes have also chosen two mainland Chinese titles for its official selection, Yinan’s “Wild Goose Lake” and Zu Feng’s “Summer of Changsha”
Pablo who is set to make his debut in a streaming production this year refused to say more on its genre, other than confirming it will be with one of the main streaming giants.
