Published 12 May, 2018 05:34pm

Is our fashion obsession with Cannes doing a disservice to film?

If somehow you haven't seen any updates from the 71st Cannes Film Festival 2018 then you've figured out how to avoid social media and we're impressed.

However, most of us mere mortals who can't escape it have been seeing lots of fodder for red carpet style spotting from Kangana Ranaut, multiple outfit changes in the span of hours by Deepika Padukone, Instagram selfies and basically just lots of fashion posts from the world's most prestigious film fest.

From L-R: Kangana Ranaut and Deepika Padukone

Phew and we thought we were going to get a breather after Sonam Kapoor's wedding.

Now doesn't that sound odd, that the main focus is on clothes rather than movies? Have we lost sight of the bigger picture? Adnan Malik seems to think so!

And we kind of agree. While glamour is and has always been a big part of the Cannes experience, it appears to have become ALL of it. The films, their content have taken a back seat and all anyone can think about it what Kim K or Deepika will wear for her 9438537th "look" of the day.

While there is nothing wrong in self-expression via fashion, the event shouldn't be treated as a mere social media excursion; it;s so much more than that!

So here's some fun facts about this year's Cannes fest, where some of the greatest films in history have premiered, that have nothing to do with who/what someone infleuential is wearing!

Cate Blanchett as president of the Cannes Competition Jury this year -- and she's got a female-majority squad!

The nine person panel is responsible for choosing which films will win the festival’s most prestigious awards. While in the past, it’s been predominantly male dominated, Blanchett made sure this year was different.

She said, ‘I said [to Cannes director Thierry Fremaux] we really need gender and racial parity [in the jury].’

The panel is majority women this year and includes actresses Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, director Ava DuVernay, artist Khadja Nin as well as male directors Robert Guediguian, Denis Villenueve, Andrewy Zvyagintsev and Taiwanese actor Chang Chen.

5 films people are really excited for this year

Other than some obvious choices such as Solo: A Star Wars Story and Whitney Houston's documentary, there's tons of buzzed about movies that are premiering at Cannes' line-up this year.

Here's a list of just five we're keeping our eyes peeled for:

1) The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a fantasy-adventure-comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam loosely based on the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. It has been a long time coming as the flick is widely recognized as one of the most infamous examples of development hell in film history, with Gilliam unsuccessfully attempting to make the film nine times over the span of twenty-nine years.

2) The House That Jack Built

Lars von Trier's The House That Jack Built is said to be a graphic serial-killer tale starring Matt Dillon as the murderer and Uma Thurman as one of his victims.

3) Under the Silver Lake

Our love for Andrew Garfield means we're including this L.A. noir by David Robert Mitchell (It Follows) on the list! Under the Silver Lake casts Garfield as a troubled young man searching for Riley Keough, who has gone missing.

4) Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury brougth the 1953 dystopian novel to life with some help from Michael B. Jordan, the protagonist Montag and Michael Shannon as Captain Beatty. Montag is a fireman whose role in the new world is to burn books but he begins to question his place in society and the rules in place when his neighbour goes missing.

5) BlacKkKlansman

Very possibly one of the most buzzed-about films of the festival, Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman tells the almost unbelievably true story of Ron Stallworth, a black police officer who went undercover to infiltrated his local Colorado Ku Klux Klan chapter along with his Jewish police partner.

Read the full list of movies here.

3) Jessica Chastain announced all-female cast of spy movie

While Cannes does have a reputation for not being very inclusive, it seems like some things are changing.

At last year’s festival, Chastain who was then a jury member expressed some concern about the representation of women in the competition films.

At the 71st edition, that popular actor has confirmed that she is fronting a thriller starring herself, Penélope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Lupita Nyong’o, and Fan Bingbing as operatives from agencies throughout the world.

The top secret project leaked out when the A-listers were spotted meeting potential backers in a five-star Cannes hotel. Chastain quickly went public, tweeting: "Top secret no more. Mission accepted". And she walked out in style with her co-stars to promote the project.


The Festival de Cannes kicked off on 8 May and will continue till Saturday, 19 May 2018.

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