Martin Scorsese and Cate Blanchett declare the 71st Festival de Cannes open!

The Festival de Cannes opened this evening at the Grand Théâtre Lumière with an excerpt from Pierrot le fou by Jean-Luc Godard, from which the poster for this 71st edition was taken. The hallmark of this edition is inspiration, and the tone was set by the verve and enthusiasm of Edouard Baer, Master of Ceremonies, accompanied on piano by Gérard Daguerre. Thierry Frémaux welcomed and introduced the members of the Feature Film Jury, Chang Chen, Ava DuVernay, Robert Guédiguian, Khadja Nin, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, Denis Villeneuve, Andrey Zvyagintsev and their radiant President, Cate Blanchett. Pierre Lescure had the honour of ushering in the coming decade of cinema. After the screening of a montage of the films that will be vying for the 2018 Palme d’or, singer Juliette Armanet came on stage to perform Les Moulins de mon cœur, composed by Michel Legrand, and winner of the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1969. In unison, Martin Scorsese and Cate Blanchett announced that the 71st Festival de Cannes was open. The first film in Competition, Todos Lo Saben (Everybody Knows) by Asghar Farhadi was screened after the Opening Ceremony with the director and his leading actors, Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Ricardo Darín in attendance. The Ceremony was broadcast free-to-air by Canal +, as well as in partner cinemas. Everybody Knows will open tomorrow in cinemas in France.]]>