On this episode, we (Eliana & Patrick) catch up one week after the festivities to wrap up our Cannesversations coverage of the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

In this episode, we are joined by Öykü Sofuoğlu, independent film critic and podcast guest regular, to discuss:

• Post-festival impressions and the following films:
• Grand Tour by Miguel Gomes
  • (Competion) - Best Director Award
    • @ ~32 min 00
• All We Imagine As Light by Payal Kapadia
  • (Competion) - Grand Jury Prize
    • @ ~51 min 10
• Anora by Sean Baker
  • Palme d'or Competition Winner
    • @ ~ 51 min 25

You can find all of Öykü's trilingual work on Linktr.ee here!!

Follow us on X (Twitter):

• Öykü
• Patrick
• Cannesversations (in the works ;))

Thanks for listening!

Comments or suggestions or want to get in touch? -> cannesversations@proton.me

Credits:

Image: Cannes 77e poster © Shochiku Co., Ltd. – Rhapsody in August by Akira Kurosawa (1991) / Graphic creation © Hartland Villa + Official Anora Image

Sound:

Intro: EFF Open Audio License for Le Carnaval des Animaux (Saint-Saëns, Camille - Aquarium) by Neal O'Doan (Piano) Nancy O'Doan (Piano), and Seattle Youth Orchestra Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive.

Extro: Quinzaine des Cineastes Intro Extract Music: Cyril Moisson | Piano: Frédéric Fortuny

Welcome back to our coverage of the 77e of the Cannes Film Festival! Episode 4!

We (Eliana & Patrick) look forward to sharing our first reactions and giving a sneak peek at the festival's ongoing films and events.

In this episode, we are joined by Łukasz Manikowski, an independent film critic and programmer for the annual Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, which will take place this year between November 11-20 in Warsaw, Poland. Check it out!

We catch up on day nine of twelve to discuss the following films:

• Desert of Namibia |ナミビアの砂 by 山中瑶子 Yamanaka Yoko (Quinzaine des Cinéastes | Directors Fortnight)
• Caught by the Tides | 风流一代 by 賈樟柯 Jiǎ Zhāngkē (Competition)
• An Unfinished Film | 一部未完成的电影 by 婁燁 Lóu Yè (Cannes Special Screening Section)

and briefly :

• Black Dog | 狗阵 by 管虎 Guan Hu (Un Certain Regard)
• Viet and Nam by Truong Mihn Quý (Un Certain Regard)
• Blue Sun Palace by Constance Tsang |曾佩裕 (Semaine de la Critique | Critics Week)

Coming Soon... ?

• Anora by Sean Baker (Competition)
• All We Imagine As Light by Payal Kapadia (Competion)
• Miséricorde | Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie (Cannes Première)
• Grand Tour by Miguel Gomes (Competion)
• Parthenope by Paolo Sorrentino (Competition)
• and more...

You can find Łukasz's work on Senses of Cinema, Asian Movie Pulse, MUBI Notebook, etc!

For Polish speakers, you can read his recent Jia Zhang Ke Caught by the Tides review here!

You can also follow him on X.

Thanks for listening!

Comments or suggestions or want to get in touch? -> cannesversations@proton.me

Credits:

Image: Cannes 77e poster © Shochiku Co., Ltd. – Rhapsody in August by Akira Kurosawa (1991) / Graphic creation © Hartland Villa + Official Bird Poster

Sound:

Intro: EFF Open Audio License for Le Carnaval des Animaux (Saint-Saëns, Camille - Aquarium) by Neal O'Doan (Piano) Nancy O'Doan (Piano), and Seattle Youth Orchestra Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive.

Extro: Quinzaine des Cineastes Intro Extract Music: Cyril Moisson | Piano: Frédéric Fortuny

Welcome back to our coverage of the 77e of the Cannes Film Festival! Episode 3!

We (Eliana & Patrick) look forward to sharing our first reactions and giving a sneak peek at the festival's ongoing films and events.

In this episode, we catch up on day eight of twelve to discuss the following films:

• Une Langue Universelle | Universal Language by Matthew Rankin (Quinzaine des Cinéastes)
  • @ ~2 min 50
• It Doesn't Matter by Josh Mond (acid)
  • @ ~16 min 10
• The Other Way Around by Jonás Trueba
  • @ ~29 min
• Armand by Halfdan Olav Ullmann Tøndel (Un Certain Regard)
  • @ ~44 min 40
• Apprendre | Elementary by Claire Simon (Cannes Première)
  • @ ~ 51 min 40

Coming soon:

• Desert of Namibia |ナミビアの砂 by 山中瑶子 Yamanaka Yoko (Quinzaine des Cinéastes)
• Caught by the Tides | 风流一代 by 賈樟柯 Jiǎ Zhāngkē (Competition)
• An Unfinished Film | 一部未完成的电影 by 婁燁 Lóu Yè (Cannes Special Screening Section)
• Blue Sun Palace by Constance Tsang |曾佩裕 (Semaine de la Critique)
• and more...

Thanks for listening!

Comments or suggestions or want to get in touch? -> cannesversations@proton.me

Credits:

Image: Cannes 77e poster © Shochiku Co., Ltd. – Rhapsody in August by Akira Kurosawa (1991) / Graphic creation © Hartland Villa & Une Langue Universelle Press Image

Sound:

Intro: EFF Open Audio License for Le Carnaval des Animaux (Saint-Saëns, Camille - Aquarium) by Neal O'Doan (Piano) Nancy O'Doan (Piano), and Seattle Youth Orchestra Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive.

Extro: Quinzaine des Cineastes Intro Extract Music: Cyril Moisson | Piano: Frédéric Fortuny

Welcome back to our coverage of the Cannes Film Festival! Episode 2!

We (Patrick and Eliana) look forward to sharing our first reactions and giving a sneak peek at the festival's ongoing films and events.

In this episode, we talk on day four of twelve to discuss the festival's Quinzaine de Cinéastes opening film, Ma Vie Ma Gueule | This Life of Mine by Sophie Fillières & competition film Bird by Andrea Arnold.

Coming soon:

• Ma vie Ma gueule | This Life of Mine by Sophie Fillières (Quinzaine des Cinéastes)
• It Doesn't Matter by Josh Mond (acid)
• Une Langue Universelle by Matthew Rankin (Quinzaine des Cinéastes)
• Kinds of Kindness by Yorgos Lanthimos (Competition)
• and more...

Thanks for listening!

Comments or suggestions or want to get in touch? -> cannesversations@proton.me

Credits:

Image: Cannes 77e poster © Shochiku Co., Ltd. – Rhapsody in August by Akira Kurosawa (1991) / Graphic creation © Hartland Villa + Official Bird Poster

Sound:

Intro: EFF Open Audio License for Le Carnaval des Animaux (Saint-Saëns, Camille - Aquarium) by Neal O'Doan (Piano) Nancy O'Doan (Piano), and Seattle Youth Orchestra Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive.

Extro: Quinzaine des Cineastes Intro Extract Music: Cyril Moisson | Piano: Frédéric Fortuny

Welcome back to our coverage of the Cannes Film Festival!

We (Patrick and Eliana) look forward to sharing our first reactions and giving a sneak peek at the festival's ongoing films and events.

In this episode, Jakob Jurisch joins us on day two of twelve to discuss the festival's opening film, Le Deuxième Acte | The Second Act (Quentin Dupieux), other festival controversies, and film anticipations.

Coming soon:

• Ma vie Ma gueule | This Life of Mine by Sophie Fillières (Quinzaine des Cinéastes)
• Bird by Andrea Arnold (Competition)
• and more...

For those who are German speakers, you can also find Patrick and Jakob on moviebreak.de and can listen to their German-language podcast coverage here!

Thanks for listening!

Correction: Ma vie Ma gueule English title is This Life of Mine*

If you have any comments or suggestions or want to get in touch: cannesversations@proton.me

Credits:

Image: Cannes 77e poster © Shochiku Co., Ltd. – Rhapsody in August by Akira Kurosawa (1991) / Graphic creation © Hartland Villa

Sound:

Intro: EFF Open Audio License for Le Carnaval des Animaux (Saint-Saëns, Camille - Aquarium) by Neal O'Doan (Piano) Nancy O'Doan (Piano), and Seattle Youth Orchestra Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive.

Extro: Quinzaine des Cineastes Intro Extract Music: Cyril Moisson | Piano: Frédéric Fortuny

This week, Patrick and Eliana discuss Marcel Carné’s 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise), which appeared in the 2011 Cannes Classics section.

Filmed during the Nazi Occupation of France and released as the first film following its liberation, the film has continued to charm audiences in France and abroad with its gorgeous set design, iconic actors, and wit-infused characters, a result of the core collaboration between set designer Alexandre Trauner, screenwriter Jacques Prevert, and composer Joseph Kosma.

Spectatorship and performance are at the heart of this farcical and bittersweet film, where four men vie for the radiant yet fugacious Garance as she flits between them, and they amongst themselves on the grand Boulevard du ‘Crime.’ It is a film about action and re-action, the verbal and the non-verbal, in a city too small for undying dreams.

Resources:

Affron, Mirella Jona. "Les Enfants Du Paradis: Play of Genres." Cinema Journal, vol. 18, no. 1, 1978, pp. JSTOR.

Ebert, Roger. “Children of Paradise.” RogerEbert.com,

Forbes, Jill. Les Enfants Du Paradis, British Film Institute, 1997.

Mancini, Marc. "Prevert: Poetry in Motion Pictures." Film Comment, vol. 17, no. 6, 1981, pp. 34-37. JSTOR.

Nye, Edward. Deburau. Pierrot, Mime, and Culture, Routledge, 2022.

Picherit, Hervé. “A Strange Child of Paradise: The Artistry of Arletty’s “Self” in Les enfants du paradis.” Camera Obscura, Vol. 32, No. 1, Duke University Press, 2017.

Reid, Tina. “Marcel Carné on Children of Paradise: Forty-Five Years Later” The Criterion Collection, 20 Sept. 2012,

Sadoul, Georges. "The Postwar French Cinema."Hollywood Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 3, 1950, pp. JSTOR.

Sellier Geneviève. « Les Enfants du paradis dans le cinéma de l'Occupation.” 1895, revue d'histoire du cinéma, n° 22, 1997, pp. 55-66.

Turk, Edward Baron. Child of Paradise. Marcel Carné and the Golden Age of French Cinema, Harvard University Press, 1989.

Sound:

EFF Open Audio License for Le Carnaval des Animaux (Saint-Saëns, Camille - Aquarium) by Neal O'Doan (Piano) Nancy O'Doan (Piano), and Seattle Youth Orchestra Pandora Records/Al Goldstein Archive.

Excerpt

For the last episode of Cannesversations this year, Eliana, and Patrick are joined by critic friends Öykü Sofuoğlu (this marks Öykü’s second time on the podcast; check out our Cannes episode on About Dry Grasses and May December) and Lawrence Garcia to look back at their favorite films of 2023.

Follow Öykü & Lawrence on Twitter/X

Below, you'll find our Top 5 films.

Top 5

Öykü

• 5 The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo 'Teddy' Williams)
• 4 Afire (Christian Petzold)
• 3 Los delincuentes (Rodrigo Moreno)
• 2 May December (Todd Haynes)
• 1 Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Radu Jude)

Lawrence

• 5 Here (Bas Devos)
• 4 This Closeness (Kit Zauhar)
• 3 Un Prince (Pierre Creton)
• 2 May December
• 1 Arturo a los 30 (Martín Shanly)

Eliana

• 5 Our Body (Claire Simon)
• 4 Un Prince
• 3 Sobre todo de noche (Victor Iriarte)
• 2 A Wild Roomer (Lee Jeong-Hong)
• 1 About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

Patrick

• 5 About Dry Grasses
• 4 The Human Surge 3
• 3 Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
• 2 Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Phạm Thiên Ân)
• 1 The Shadowless Tower (Zhang Lü)

At the end of the second episode, we asked Öykü and Lawrence about writings they are proud of or happy with. Öykü interviewed Radu Jude for Mubi’s Notebook, which you can find here, and Lawrence referred to his 15,000-word deep dive into David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return. Make sure to check both of them out!

We wish all of you a happy year of 2024 and are hopeful for many more episodes to come in the new year!

For the last episode of Cannesversations this year, Eliana, and Patrick are joined by critic friends Öykü Sofuoğlu (this marks Öykü’s second time on the podcast; check out our Cannes episode on About Dry Grasses and May December) and Lawrence Garcia to look back at their favorite films of 2023.

Follow Öykü & Lawrence on Twitter/X

Below, you first find all our honorable mentions, followed by our individual Top 10-6 films.

Honorable Mentions

Öykü

• Evil Does Not Exist (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)
• Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorcese)
• Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)
• About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
• Here (Bas Devos)

Lawrence

• Music (Angela Schanalec)
• The Human Surge 3 (Eduardo Williams)
• Notre Corps (Claire Simon)
• In Water (Hong Sang-soo)
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)

Eliana

• Amiko (Yusuke Morii)
• Music
• Sparta (Ulrich Seidl)
• Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Radu Jude)
• The Human Surge 3

Patrick

• Forms of Forgetting (Burak Çevik)
• A Wild Roomer (Lee Jeong-hong)
• Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (Elene Naveriani)
• Music
• Eureka (Lisandro Alonso)
• De Facto (Selma Doborac)
• There Is a Stone (Tatsunari Ota)
• Remembering Every Night (Yui Kiyohara)
• This Closeness (Kit Zauhar)
• May December (Todd Haynes)
• Fallen Leaves (Aki Kaurismäki)

Top 10

Öykü

• 10 Yannick (Quentin Dupieux)
• 9 Orlando, My Political Biography
• 8 Riddle of Fire (Weston Razooli)
• 7 Notre Corps
• 6 La bête (Bertrand Bonello)

Lawrence

• 10 Totem (Lila Avilés)
• 9 Cerrar los ojos (Víctor Erice)
• 8 In Our Day (Hong Sang-soo)
• 7 The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (Joanna Arnow)
• 6 Forms of Forgetting

Eliana

• 10 Passages
• 9 Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
• 8 Yannick
• 7 The Delinquents
• 6 May December

Patrick

• 10 Concrete Valley (Antoine Bouge)
• 9 Notre Corps
• 8 Cerrar los ojos
• 7 Here
• 6 La bête

At the end of the second episode, we asked Öykü and Lawrence about writings they are proud of or happy with. Öykü interviewed Radu Jude for Mubi’s Notebook, which you can find here, and Lawrence referred to his 15,000-word deep dive into David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return. Make sure to check both of them out!

We wish all of you a happy year of 2024 and are hopeful for many more episodes to come in the new year!