Cannes You Feel It?

Cannes Away from the Competition

When people say Cannes isn’t the be-all and end-all, they’re lying. In a healthy film ecosystem, other festivals should generate similar buzz. Perhaps, caught up in the fever of Oscar season, Venice and Toronto do (although no one seems to rhapsodise about the rainy streets of the Canadian capital).

Journey Into Cinema understands Cannes hype. A good rule of thumb is to knock a star and a half off every review you read, unless, like Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019) or Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994), the film really is that good. You’ll only really know until you see it for yourself. The good news is that if a film plays in Competition or Un Certain Regard at Cannes, it’ll probably get distribution or play at a local festival where you live (unless of course, you’re reading from some remote island in the Pacific, then lmk, and I’ll give you my VPN referral code).

In the meantime, it never hurts to know what’s going on. And to see what’s going on away from the fortified inner circle of the Main Competition. Like, what’s going on in ACID, or the special screenings at Critic’s Week…

For reviews, dispatches and deep analysis, look no further than Journey Into Cinema. You can subscribe today for free for Cannestastic stuff every day of the festival.

Cannes Competition is surely priceless. But for everything else, there is Journey Into Cinema.