Nandita Das' movie 'Manto' unveiled in Cannes 2017

Nandita Das' movie 'Manto' is making waves in Cannes 2017 - it had been announced last year and has triggered plenty of interest among buyers and festival programmers who are on the lookout for India-themed content. Nandita Das, the director, feels that 'Manto' is an extension of her first film Firaaq which she made in 2008.
This is reported in indianexpress.com dated 27 May 2017.

'Manto' was a politically engaged writer who gave a voice to the voiceless by focusing on factory workers, prostitutes and others who lived on the edge of society. She wanted to shoot portions of the movie in Pakistan but settled for Mumbai as the principal location.
The film 'Manto' is all about four years of the life of the iconic Urdu writer who presented brutally honest views of the turmoil and madness that had taken hold of the subcontinent in the late 1940s.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Lady Gaga to portray legendary singer Dionne Warwick in 'Dionne'

Singer-actress Lady Gaga is set to portray legendary singer Dionne Warwick in the upcoming biopic titltd 'Dionne'. 75-year-old Warwick has herself confirmed the involvement of 30-year-old Gaga in the project at the HFPA FilmAid party in Cannes.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 14 May 2016.

Warwick has clarified that there was a confusion about Gaga’s inclusion because her music reps were the ones that knew about the deal, and not her film reps. It is a simple matter of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. Incidentally, the biopic, titled “Dionne”, was announced during the ongoing Cannes International Film Festival.
Lady Gaga is will portray the role of Cilla Black — Warwick’s “musical nemesis”– in the project. It is slated to begin production late this year.


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High alert in Cannes for the film festival where 45000 people would attend

Authorities in France are on high alert ahead of the Cannes film festival in which nearly 45,000 people are expected to attend. Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has made a trip from Paris to the French Riviera to check on security firsthand before Woody Allen's Cafe Society opens the event. It will run until 22 May.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 10 May 2016.

France has been in a state of emergency ever since there were coordinated attacks apparently by the Islamic State on Paris in which 130 people were killed. Obviously, France is faced with a higher risk than ever because the enemy is poised and determined to strike at any moment. Hence, the police must be extremely vigilant at all times.
The minister also indicated that hundreds of police officers would be deployed, as well as special forces units ready to intervene. In April, the police had carried out a security exercise at the Palais des Festivals where films will be shown - that experience will help better coordination in between different police forces.
Cannes has seen a number of security breaches in the past - in 2014 two men were evacuated by security staff after they had gone onto the red carpet. Earlier, in 2013, the so-called Pink Panther gang were blamed for a £81m gem theft from the Carlton hotel where Alfred Hitchcock's classic film To Catch A Thief was set. And - last year robbers escaped with £13.8m worth of jewellery after holding up the Cartier boutique on the Croisette.


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'Money Monster' starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts to be screened at Cannes 2016

'Money Monster' starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts will be screened at Cannes Film Festival 2016. The film is directed by Jodie Foster and is a thriller about a financial talk show host held hostage by an irate viewer. This would mean that at least one major Hollywood studio, Sony, will have a presence at this year’s festival that will run May 11-22.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 16 March 2016.

It seems the lineup has been kept a closely guarded secret and under tight wraps as the festival director Thierry Fremaux and his team finish watching films and mull their options. However, "Money Monster” may not be the opening-night film on May 11. Rather, it could be screened the next day since it hits theaters in North America on May 13.
In terms of other films that could play at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, one possibility is Woody Allen’s untitled romantic comedy set in the 1930s, starring Jeannie Berlin, Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll and Ken Stott.


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