Cannes 2012 Day Two: Sexism and Arab spring (video)

  May 17, 2012 - 22:20 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The second day of the 65th Cannes film festival was slightly marred by an unpleasant letter disclosing sexism claims. The sexism row broke out after a group of prominent female filmmakers wrote an open letter to the French newspaper Le Monde criticizing the lack of women being showcased.

Ripe with sarcasm, the letter was signed by directors Fanny Cottencon and Virginie Despentes - who made the sexually explicit Baise Moi in 2000 - among others.

“sexism” claims denied at Cannes Film Fest

The jury for the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or responded to sexism claims.

British director Andrea Arnold said: "I would absolutely hate it if my film was selected because I was a woman. I would only want my film to be selected for the right reasons."

Arnold - director of the recent screen adaptation of Wuthering Heights - said the lack of women in competition this year reflected the industry as a whole, according to BBC news.

"Last year was obviously a good year," she said. "I was asked this earlier and it's true the world over - in the world of film there are just not many woman film directors. I guess Cannes is a small pocket that represents how it is out there in the world and that's a great pity, a great disappointment."

“Arab Spring” featured at Cannes

Cannes day two featured Egyptian director Yousry Nasrallah's film "After the Battle”. It depicts the aftermath of last year's overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak — filmed while the uprising and its uncertain aftermath were still unfolding, and with a cast that includes non-actors, according to the Associated Press.

The movie depicts the relationship between wealthy Tahrir Square revolutionary Reem and Mahmoud, a poor horseman from the Pyramids who has been involved in an attack on protesters.

The characters on both sides are more complicated than they initially appear. Veteran director Nasrallah said his goal was to make them all human.

Romance and killer whale attack in "Rust and Bone"

"Rust and Bone", a strange and surprising love story starring Academy Award-winning French actress Marion Cotillard ("http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809698390/infoLa Vie En Rose") and Belgium's Matthias Schoenaerts, ("Bullhead") is one of the most hotly anticipated entries at the Cannes Film Festival, but sharply divided its first audience of journalists on the second day of Cannes.

Jacques Audiard's new movie portrays poverty, bare-knuckle fighting and a killer whale attack. The French director says it's a sunny romance, AP reported.

Cannes 2012 Day Three

Cannes day three will feature Paradise: Love by Austrian film director Ulrich Seidl. It tells the story of a 50-year-old woman who travels to Kenya as a sex tourist.The project is an Austrian production with co-producers in Germany and France. It is the first installment in Seidl's Paradise trilogy, a project first conceived as one film with three parallel stories.

It tells the story of a 50-year-old woman who travels to Kenya as a sex tourist. The project is an Austrian production with co-producers in Germany and France. It is the first installment in Seidl's Paradise trilogy, a project first conceived as one film with three parallel stories.