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The 2024 global film festival circuit featured something for every taste – from celebrated Lithuanian arthouse fare, such as Locarno winner Toxic and Drowning Dry, to such audience favorites as Sean Baker’s Anora and Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, from the highs to the lows, all garnished, of course, with a big serving of star power.
Some film events, such as Poland’s Camerimage, were hit by controversy, while others boosted their prominence, with Switzerland’s Locarno, for example, cementing its role as a top-tier global fest, and Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic showed once again why it is known as Central Europe’s biggest film party of the summer.
Here’s a look at The Hollywood Reporter highlights of the 2024 film festival season.
Female power at Cannes.
Anora, Emilia Pérez, and body horror The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, were among the revelations of the world premieres on the Croisette. Anora took the Palme d’Or as the film about a young Brooklyn sex worker, played by Mikey Madison, who impulsively marries an oligarch’s son charmed the fest.
The stars of Emilia Pérez, Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez, sang and danced their way into the hearts of viewers, Netflix executives and the French academy. As a result, the trans crime musical was acquired by the streamer and became France’s international Oscar hopeful. And Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance put not only the director, Qualley and Dennis Quaid into the spotlight, but also saw Moore enjoy a career renaissance.
Other cinematic highlights from Cannes 2024 included Payal Kapadia’s melancholic dramedy All We Imagine as Light, the first Indian movie to play in the competition on the Croisette since 1994, Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, Brazil’s Oscar contender, that won the best screenplay prize at Cannes, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness, Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis’ 3D animated survival adventure Flow, Magnus von Horn’s post-World War I social drama The Girl With the Needle, Guy Maddin’s Rumours about clueless world leaders at a G7 summit, and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig
about an unraveling family in Iran.
Karlovy Vary keeps it offbeat, fun, … and full of party vibes.
When late June arrives in the Czech Republic, the annual Karlovy Vary International; Film Festival (KVIFF) is near. Its 2024 edition, the 30th under the leadership of its president Jirí Bartoska, once again showed off its trademark atmosphere that has led people to call it the biggest summer movie party in Central Europe.
First, it featured a lineup of edgy, genre-bending, yes, outlandish-sounding movies, from a Czech film about pig slaughter, a movie revolving around a possible devil baby, a documentary on rocks, as well as its eventual top award winner A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, Mark Cousins‘ film about Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, known for her abstract paintings, narrated by none other than Tilda Swinton.
Music, including an opening night concert by electronic music band Kosheen, and party vibes provided additional entertainment. Plus, as is Karlovy Vary tradition, the stars came out to the Czech spa town. Among the bold names in attendance this year were Viggo Mortensen, Daniel Brühl, and Clive Owen, while Benicio del Toro starred in this year’s KVIFF trailer, which every year features a big star.
Shah Rukh Khan and Lithuanian auteurs rule Locarno.
“King Khan,” Bollywood mega-star Shah Rukh Khan, or simply SRK, ruled the Piazza Grande, the iconic big square in the center of the picturesque Swiss Locarno when he brought his global star power to the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival and was honored with a lifetime achievement award, the so-called Career Leopard. Fans were screaming, shouting “I love you,” cheering and taking pictures, giving the icon a thunderous ovation. SRK entertained them with jokes, shared anecdotes, and displayed his charm. The result: people were heard calling his name around the town center well into the late evening.
Lithuania could celebrate two arthouse entries in Locarno’s main competition, with Saulė Bliuvaitė winning the best film honor for her feature debut Toxic which explores the human body and mysterious model agencies, and Laurynas Bareiša‘s Drowning Dry getting the best director honor and a performance award for its ensemble cast.
The special jury prize went to Iraq-born Austrian auteur Kurdwin Ayub for her sophomore fiction feature Mond (Moon). The film follows former martial artist Sarah, portrayed by Florentina Holzinger, who leaves Austria to train three sisters from a wealthy Jordanian family.
Erotic movies turn on Venice, but stars’ snubs turn off the press.
Sizzling, not sizzle reels got a big spotlight during the 2024 Venice film festival as sex and passion were front and center. Among the erotic fare, Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson got hot and heavy in Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, while Daniel Craig dove into obsessive gay desire in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer. Plus, fans of sex on the beach scenes were enticed by Alfonso Cuarón’s series Disclaimer.
At the end of Venice, however, Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language feature debut The Room Next Door, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, was named the hot film of the fest, earning the venerable Golden Lion for best movie, with Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, starring Adrian Brody and Felicity Jones, being honored with the Silver Lion.
For some members of the international press though, excitement turned to annoyance when they were kept from interviewing such stars as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney a year after the dual Hollywood strikes had left the Lido nearly celebrity-less. They and other A-listers did not take part in so-called “junkets” that see the cast of a movie doing sit-down interviews with journalists from international outlets.
Camerimage courts controversy.
Poland’s EnergaCamerimage in Toruń took place under a cloud of controversy amid criticism of festival founder Marek Żydowicz’s controversial statements that caused an industry backlash, resulting in high-profile guests, Oscar winner Steve McQueen and The Substance director Coralie Fargeat, pulling out in protest.
He ignited a firestorm about a week before the fest kicked off with an editorial published in Cinematography World magazine, in which he seemed to suggest that pushing for greater representation by women cinematographers at Camerimage could result in a film selection of diminished artistic quality. Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, the president of the festival’s main competition jury, put out a joint statement with her fellow jurors that emphasized: “We welcome debate regarding gender representation,” and “we wholeheartedly support the necessary shift towards genuine inclusivity.”
The charged atmosphere was only heightened by the festival’s decision to screen the world premiere of Rust, the Alec Baldwin-starring indie Western that resulted in the accidental on-set shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Some DPs took to social media to argue that the decision was a promotional move undertaken in poor taste. The fact that the demand for Rust tickets crashed the fest ticketing system seemed like a smaller issue compared to all the other debate. Amid all the controversy, you may have missed the fact that von Horn’s earlier-mentioned The Girl With the Needle won the Golden Frog at Camerimage.
Stars galore come out for Red Sea Film Fest in Saudi Arabia.
The fourth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in December featured the year’s final parade of A-listers at a fest. Spotted on the opening-night red carpet were the likes of Wicked‘s Cynthia Erivo and Michelle Yeoh, Emily Blunt, Vin Diesel, jury president Spike Lee, Michael Dougla, Eva Longoria, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Will Smith, to name only a few.
In fact, the opening night was so jam-packed with talent that Diesel, who received a surprise honor, joked on stage: “There might be more familiar faces here than in some awards shows in America.” The festival later also brought out such stars as Benedict Cumberbatch, Viola Davis, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas, and Jeremy Renner.
Davis and Chopra Jonas were honored during the closing ceremony along with the awards winners, led by Red Path
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