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Golden Globes, Variety host joint party in Cannes; Filipinos represent at the festival
Cate Blanchett kicked her high heels off onstage and went barefoot during the joint Variety and Golden Globes party held at the 76th Cannes Film Festival to show solidarity with the women of Iran.
The award-winning actress was on hand to present the Breakthrough Artist award to Iranian French actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi of "Holy Spider." The latter, who was a big fan of Blanchett, even kissed the hands of the actress on the red carpet when she saw her. Blanchett, for her part, immediately looked for Ebrahimi as soon as she arrived at the event.
After getting the award to be presented to Ebrahimi, Blanchett joked, "This is to stab everyone who stands in the way of women's rights. Up the vajayjay!"
Ebrahimi, on the other hand, got emotional onstage not only because Blanchett presented her with the award but also pointed out that unfortunately, her home country is "executing innocent people. She continued, "I always thought being an actress was a paradox: serving the emotions of your own and being a flag or mirror or light. This award celebrates this paradox."
The event, held at the Barriere Beach at The Majestic Cannes, also handed out awards to other Breakthrough Artists that included actors Charles Melton of "May December," Shaunette Renee Wilson of "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," and Tye Sheridan of "Black Flies."
In the meantime, Filipinos represented at the Croisette's popular festival as the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) consultant, film-TV-stage director Jose Javier Reyes, welcomed movie aficionados, filmmakers, collaborators, partners and delegates from all over the world to their Philippine Cinema Night event held at the Ma Nolan's Irish Pub.
The award-winning director led a toast to Philippine cinema and Filipino filmmakers as the boisterous and cheerful crowd showed their support.
At another event, Daphne O. Chiu, President and COO of TBA Studios, one of the leading players in film production and distribution in the Philippines and Cindy Sison, CEO and President of Cinema Independent, a Los Angeles-based company specialized in the acquisition, licensing, and distribution of films featuring Asian talents on a global scale, hosted a prestigious press luncheon at Chateau de la Tour in Cannes.
The event, which was attended by cinema experts and international film journalists, marked the launch of the global partnership between TBA Studios and the new Cinema Independent headed by Sison.
The sumptuous luncheon was prepared by no less than two Michelin stars chef Didier Anies, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France and former head chef of the Grand Hotel du Cap Ferrat.
Also launching her new production outfit, Maison ZBZ, which is based in Switzerland, is the daughter of actress-producer-consultant Evelyn Vargas-Knaebel, Bianca Zialcita.
The soft launch was held at their booth at the Palais and was attended by director Adolfo Borinaga Alix, Jr., writer-filmmaker-actor Bela Padilla and other film delegates. Maison ZBZ also screened at the Croisette such movies as Vince Tanada's musical "I Am Ninoy" and "The Embalmer."
Then there is the screening of the first 20 minutes of the restored version of the legendary award-winning director, the late Lino Brocka's film, "Bona," which stars National Artist and Filipino superstar Nora Aunor courtesy of Carlotta Films.
Screened at the Olympia 4 theater in Cannes, "Bona" is one of the major films of Brocka which many even believed was lost.
In 2023, Carlotta Films acquired the rights of the film from its producer-actress Aunor and recovered the original negative. For the sake of preservation and distribution, one of the greatest lovers of Filipino cinema, Pierre Rissient, had the original negative of the film deposited in France at the laboratory LTC.
Thanks to the combined efforts of Carlotta Films, Cite de Memoire and the American distributor-publisher Kani, the "Bona" adventure continues to live.
—MGP, GMA Integrated News
