Cannes, France – Members of the jury for the 54th Cannes film festival said on Wednesday awards would favour emotional films as opposed to intellectual ones.
”We don’t have to make movies for the intellect. I would like us to choose films that talk with talent, emotion and professionalism,” Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann told a packed news conference on the festival’s opening day.
Twenty-three films are competing for the top prize, the Golden Palm, as well as other awards.
During the light-hearted media briefing by judges, US director Terry Gilliam, hinted at other criteria with his choice of T-shirt. Emblazoned across his chest was the cheeky message: ”I can be bribed.”
”I’m willing to take large sums of money to vote for your film. I will choose the film whose producer gives me the largest amount of money,” he joked.
French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, also on the 10-member panel, was more serious, expounding on the philosophy of this year’s jury.
”What’s important is the emotion I feel when I watch a film. And I’ll get that across in our meetings, even though people say I tend to keep quiet,” she said.
Another juror, English actress Julia Ormond, said going to the cinema should be a complete experience.
”I think the movie experience is a very complete one as it touches you on all sorts of levels. It’s a very emotional one,” she said.
However, there will be very little opportunity this year at Cannes for British feature films to engage any sort of audience, because there are no British films formally entered in the competition – a rarity in the festival’s history.
Gilliam, who is based in London and shot to fame as a member of Britain’s Monty Python comedy team, was not too disheartened.
”Maybe they’re crap,” he quipped.