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Netflix acquires Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix winner
Netflix isn't done pushing back against Cannes for rejecting its movies -- if anything, it's escalating the fight. The company has acquired international rights for two winners at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, with its crown jewel being Mati Diop's Atlantics. The tale of a perilous love in Dakar won Cannes' Grand Prix, the second most prestigious award at the festival. It also stands out as Diop's first feature-length movie as well as the first movie helmed by a black woman to be in the running for the Palme d'Or.
'Too Old to Die Young' is the first streaming series to make it to Cannes
It's been one year since Netflix stirred up controversy around the Cannes Film Festival. For those who don't remember, when a new rule banned any movie from competition that didn't have a theatrical run, Netflix decided not to screen anything at all. Netflix won't return this year either, but it looks like Amazon may fill its shoes. According to Deadline, Amazon's new TV series Too Old to Die Young is expected at Cannes next month. That makes it only the third episodic series to screen at the high-brow festival and the very first streaming show to be invited.
Netflix snaps up two Cannes award winners despite feud
Just because Netflix couldn't compete at Cannes doesn't mean it's leaving the film festival empty-handed. The streaming video service has acquired the North American and Latin American rights to two Cannes award winners, Alice Rohrwacher's Happy as Lazzaro (that's Rohrwacher pictured above) and Lukas Dhont's Girl. Lazzaro took home a Best Screenplay award for its story of a naively good man roped into faking someone's kidnapping, while Girl won the Camera d'Or (best first film), Best Actor and Queer Palm awards for its story of a transgender teen ballerina struggling to fit in.
Netflix won’t be going to Cannes after all
Netflix won't be screening anything at Cannes this year, either in or out of competition. Despite debuting two titles last year, the first streaming provider to do so at the prestigious film festival, the backlash has been significant. The new rule banning any movie from competition that didn't have a theatrical run was a clear message: Streaming content creators weren't welcome.
HP debuts a tablet for artists at Cannes for some reason
HP chose the Cannes festival as a way to draw attention to its latest creativity-oriented high-end laptops and hybrid tablets. The most interesting device is the Spectre x2, a Surface Pro-like tablet with a detachable keyboard and stainless steel kickstand. HP is targeting Windows Ink users and other graphics pros with the 2.5-pound tablet, which has been significantly updated from the last model with an Ink-certified, pressure sensitive stylus, 3,000 x 2,000 pixel 12.3-inch touchscreen and detachable, full-size keyboard.
Manufactured controversy puts Netflix's future at Cannes in doubt
This year, Netflix original movies will be shown at Cannes Film Festival for the very first time. Yet, thanks to pressure from the French government, 2017 could also be the last time we see Netflix original films at the event. In France, the law dictates that movies which enjoy theatrical releases can't be shown on streaming services until three years later. Due to these strict regulations, Cannes exhibitors strongly opposed the inclusion of this year's Netflix entries Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories, demanding that they at least be shown nationwide across French theaters. While exhibitors calls for Netflix's entries to be removed from the competition were dismissed by the festival, the organizers have now caved under pressure.
Netflix will premiere movies at Cannes for the first time
After years of ignoring streaming services, Cannes is finally recognizing both Netflix and Amazon's original work. With several Amazon funded-movies debuting at last year's event, Cannes' 2017 programme reveals that Netflix original movies will also finally be joining the festival. Netflix will be premiering The Meyerowitz Stories at the festival, starring Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller. It will also be debuting Okja for the first time, Netflix's new Korean-directed monster movie featuring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal. Amazon movies will be featured for a second year, with Wonderstuck and You Were Never Really Here getting first screenings.
Amazon films make it to Cannes' 2016 lineup
Among all the titles that Cannes is screening at this year's film festival, five aren't like the rest. They're Amazon movies, see, and Cannes is known for refusing to showcase films made for screens smaller than a cinema's. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon will release the festival's opener, Woody Allen's Cafe Society, in the US. It also has rights to three films vying for Palme d'Or, namely The Neon Demon by Nicolas Winding Refn, Paterson by Jim Jarmusch and The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook, who also directed Oldboy. The fifth title is Jarmusch's Gimme Danger, which documents the life and music of Iggy Pop.
Uber's offering private jets for the rich kids of Cannes
It's already the hate-figure for taxi drivers, but now Uber wants to alienate the rest of the 99 percent. The smartphone-based cab service is launching UberJET, a private airline service that'll operate during the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival. Between May 12th and May 18th, users can book an Uber Black car to take them to Paris' Bourget airport, where a jet, operated by Goodwill Airlines, will fly you to Nice, and then a second car will drive you down the road to Cannes. The price for the service is €6,490 ($8,930), and you're able to split that between three other passengers during the journey. Assuming, that is, that you haven't just decided to get the train -- it may be five hours long, but it'll only set you back $200.
Apple wins Grand Prix for Press award for iPad mini print ads
Apple and its advertising firm TBWA Media Arts Lab have won the prestigious Grand Prix for Press award for a recent print campaign advertising the iPad mini. The ad's clever images depicted a life-sized iPad mini on the back cover of several magazines, which itself bore the cover of said magazine. The result gave readers an idea of what their magazine would look like on Apple's handheld device. The award was given at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France. The critically acclaimed print campaign ran last year on The New Yorker, Time and others. One of the jurors, Marcello Serpa, told Ad Age that Apple and TBWA won because the campaign "...has a kind of guerrilla feeling. It's a product that goes inside the media and says I'm going to kill you, [then] I'm going to save you. Let's embrace. It's redemption."
Samsung, LG join forces with Korean cable companies to push UHDTV content
No matter how many 4K TVs hit shelves, without native content their appeal will likely remain limited. Samsung and LG are working to change that, at least in their home country, by announcing a memorandum of understanding with five Korean cable operators (Hyundai HCN, CJ HelloVision, C&M, CMB and T-Broad) to boost 4K TV broadcasts. We could see both live and on-demand 4K programming by the end of this year or early next year, made available via apps on smart TVs and streamed through South Korea's abundant high speed internet connections. Still not enough resolution for you? Just last week, Japan's NHK showed off the first 8K Super Hi-Vision narrative film at the Cannes Film Festival. We'll let you know when all of these developments add up to Ultra HDTV content viewable in your neck of the woods, but for now early adopters will have to make do with mostly upscaled content like Sony's Mastered in 4K 1080p Blu-ray discs.
Robotic quadrotors' training now complete, proven with razzle-dazzle Cannes show (video)
We've watched our potential quad-mech overlords from KMel Robotics evolve from agile solo acrobats to worker bees to deft synchronized performers. It seemed only a matter of time before they would hunt down Sarah Connor en masse -- or take the show-biz world by storm. Fortunately for us, the tricky flyers chose to embrace their flamboyant side at a tour-de-force 16-quad lightshow in Cannes, where they opened the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors' Showcase. The soaring automatons pulled all their past tricks out of the bag, flying precisely with mirrors to bounce lights from below, all timed to dramatic music --which they also had a hand in controlling. The sparkly treat awaits right after the break.
HP thinks the TouchPad will be 'better than number one,' if that's even possible
HP's expectations for its new TouchPad tablet are running pretty high -- so high, in fact, that they can only be expressed with a make-believe number. During a recent press conference in Cannes, HP's Eric Cador boldly declared that his company's new slate won't just be the best on the market, it'll be the bestest. Cador explained: "In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP's products from our competitors, we became number one; in the tablet world we're going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus." A spokesman later confirmed that the device will launch in the UK with apps from the Guardian, Sky and Last.fm, but promised that "thousands" of other apps are on the way. The metrics might sound a bit optimistic, but the message is clear: HP thinks the TouchPad will annihilate the iPad and blow our minds to smithereens. We'll just have to wait and see whether it's as explosive as advertised.
Kane & Lynch movie poster seen at Cannes
The Kane & Lynch movie project appears to be moving smoothly -- it's to the "poster" stage already. Proving beyond a doubt that the casting is a "done deal"(as tweeted by writer Kyle Ward), Empire spotted a Kane & Lynch movie poster with billing for both Bruce Willis and Jamie Foxx at the Cannes Film Festival. This poster covers the entrance to the Majestic Hotel, making it look a bit more like the Tacky Hotel. According to Empire, the poster gives the film a 2011 date, but we don't see it. Perhaps it's behind that inconsiderately placed luggage cart. [Via Collider; thanks, Gimpygoat!]
Schematic's Cannes touchwall identifies users via RFID, almost escapes gimmick status
We love us a good multitouch wall experience, sizing up and rotating irrelevant bits of media like the Tom Cruise wannabes we are, but this new multitouch wall unveiled by Schematic at the Cannes Lions advertising festival almost brings the tech into the realm of relevance. The main innovation is the identification of specific users through the swipe of an RFID badge, allowing multiple users to operate the display simultaneously with personalized data and "social" functionality. Schematic's dream really is a Minority Report-style world of advertising, but until that chilling future is fully realized, we suppose we can handle a few gimmicky multitouch walls and half-developed socializing functionality in the near term. Hit up the read link for video.
Akamai delivers HD trailers to the Cannes Film Festival website
Some of the Engadget HD crew religiously plug their ears and shut their eyes tight during movie trailers, in hopes of avoiding any spoilers. The beautiful people at the Cannes Film Festival can't really follow this strategy for two reasons. First, it would end up as National Enquirer cover material; second, they actually rely on trailers to help them decide which flicks to sit in on. Nothing spoils the director's intent -- or gets viewers to click away -- faster than stuttering, pixelated video, so Akamai is promising to deliver the trailers to the festival website in 720p that flows as smoothly as the french Riviera; our own visits to the site seem to confirm that Akamai is holding true to its word. The festival is almost over, but you can still access content from throughout the festival on the website.
Harman scores hat trick at Cannes
We know the Cannes Film Festival is all about the celebs, but we're pretty big fans of the gear, too. And in that department, it looks like Harman International has scored again this year. Four screening rooms in the Hotel Gray d'Albion will be graced by JBL Synthesis SK2-1000 speakers and S1S-EX subs; a fifth screening room will be treated with JBL Project Array 1000 speakers and a 1500 Array sub. Rounding out the hat trick, Harman Kardon electronics and AKG headphones will be used in screening rooms and VOD booths at the festival. If you're going to Cannes (lucky dog), check out the Synthesis systems; if you're suitably impressed that you want to get a setup of your own (now we're drooling), you'll have to contact your regional Synthesis rep. Be prepared to give them the approximate volume of your listening room -- it'll help them point you towards a system.
Samsung brings 50- and 58-inch PAVV Cannes 650 plasmas to Korea
Yeah, Samsung already had your heart with the 40-, 46- and 52-inch versions of the PAVV Cannes 650 plasma, but for folks relegated to a 50- or 58-inch model, you were left high and dry -- until now. Sammy has just dropped off two new members of the family in South Korea, both featuring Cell Light Control, DNIepro (Digital Natural Image engine-pro), a purported 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, USB port and four HDMI sockets. As for the small(er) guy, you can grab it now in Korea for ???3,000,000 ($2,970), while the 58-inch monolith will set you back ???4,900,000 ($4,851). Per usual, mum's the word on these coming Stateside.[Via AVING]
Off the Grid: Le Festival des Jeux
Every other week Scott Jon Siegel contributes Off the Grid, a column about card games, board games, and everything else non-digital.Every May, the French Mediterranean city of Cannes hosts the world-famous Cannes Film Festival, centered around the beautiful ocean-side Palais des Festivals building. In February however, the Palais is home to another type of event: Le Festival international des Jeux, or the International Games Festival. As in non-digital games.I had the good fortune to be living in France during this year's event, and took a day to walk the floors, snap some photos, and take in the atmosphere of a major event dedicated almost entirely to gaming off the grid. %Gallery-17077%
Samsung rolls out Bluetooth-equipped "PAVV Cannes" plasma TV
It looks like Samsung has managed to squeeze a bit more than buzzwords into its "Cannes" line of plasma TVs, with the company adding some Bluetooth functionality to its new 50-inch model (the SPD-50P91FHD). According to Samsung, that makes this the world's first Bluetooth certified TV, letting you getting some additional use out of your wireless headset and printer (among other peripherals). The TV itself also looks to be impressive enough, boasting a full 1080p resolution and packing ACAP support for some two-way data broadcasting. Like the other sets in the line, this one's exclusive to the Korean market for the time being, where it'll set you back 4,300,000 won, or about $4,640.[Via AVING]
