Cannes : Pedro Almodóvar, is shunned by the Palm, adored by the Festival – The Figaro

The director of Julieta will be the president of the 70th edition of the ceremony. While he has never won the supreme award, awarded by the official jury, the filmmaker is still very popular on the Croisette as their work is appreciated since the late 1980s.

The cinema of Pedro Almodóvar, one knows the color pops, family dramas and women. It also retains its many appearances at Cannes. Specifically, for its 70th edition, the director will be the chairman of the jury of the international Festival of Cinema. Yet this pillar of the Spanish cinema has never won the Palme d’or. He has received both the award for best director for All about my mother in 1999 and won the award for the best screenplay for Volver. Almodovar does not attract the rewards, but he has invitations.

The first time he made it to the Croisette, it was in 1992, as a member of the jury, under the direction of Gérard Depardieu who presided over the assembled artists. This incursion is going to be open to his films the doors of the ceremony. Four will be competing at the Palm, for up to six presented for all categories.

Pedro Almodovar in 1999 at the Cannes film Festival photo Credits : Thierry Carpico/©Rue des Archives/BCA

67-year-Old with 42 years behind the camera, Pedro Almodóvar remains modest, according to Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Festival. “It is quite touching ; moreover, it is said: ‘but are you sure?’. It’s pretty great to see a man of his rank to think that he might not be able to function while, in addition, not only is it a great filmmaker, a great personality, but it is also a very big movie buff. Pedro Amoldóvar is someone whose work demonstrates a certain openness to the world, a certain generosity.” has been entrusted by the mic of RTL. The one who is also the director of the institut Lumière of Lyon.

And he never even won a reward majeure in Cannes, the Spanish filmmaker has been awarded across the world: two Baftas, five EFA (european film Prize) and two Oscars during his career.

The american academy has an award for the best foreign film, with All about my mother and the best original screenplay with Talk to her.

Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suárez, Pedro Almodóvar at the Cannes film Festival photo Credits : BESTIMAGE;BESTIMAGE/BORDE-MOREAU / BESTIMAGE

Very often it highlights female roles in which he admits to identify. Pedro Almodóvar has grown up surrounded by women and he does not hide that this has fundamentally influenced his works. In addition, it remains very faithful to his actresses. It is found five times Penelope Cruz, seven times Rossy De Palma, or even seven times Carmen Maura in its cinematography. As for the men, it did find Antonio Banderas with the Matador and The Labyrinth of passion.

Behind his dark glasses and his hair was expertly put into battle, the director with the look of the baroque contrasts with his past particularly harsh. After an education that is authoritarian in the fransiscains and then he was going to start the movie, the president Franco, who ruled Spain as a dictator, closes the Official School of the Cinema . There followed a period of odd jobs that allow him to buy a Super 8 camera. These events will be at the centre of his future directorial work, the color, the kitsch, and a need for rebellion, especially in women. Themes become of the qualities that have made his film a reference on the Spanish and won him the seat of president of the jury of the Cannes film Festival.