There's nothing quite like the glitz and glamour of the Cannes Film Festival, with its exotic locale, fancy red-carpet ensembles and first look at some of the world's most exciting upcoming movies. In honor of the 2015 edition, which kicks off this week, here are 10 ways you can prepare for the 68th Festival du Cannes.
1. First up, check out this year's festival poster, featuring celebrated actress Ingrid Bergman.
2. Writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen -- whose movies have won a whopping seven of their eight nominations for awards at the Cannes Film Festival over the years -- will act as this year's presidents, which means they oversee the awarding of prizes to the 19 movies in competition.
Joel and Ethan Coen first won awards at Cannes for their 1991 film Barton Fink, which took home three honors for Best Actor (John Turturro), Best Director (Joel Coen) and the Palme d'Or.
3. The Palme d'Or is the festival's most prestigious prize -- think of it along the lines of awarding a Best Picture at the Oscars. Here's what the Palme d'Or trophy looks like. Schmancy, huh?
4. And about those films competing for the Palme this year, here's our Alicia Malone with a rundown of our five most anticipated movies premiering in the south of France this week and next.
5. The festival is also known to host the world premieres of big Hollywood films, too. This year it will screen Pixar's Inside Out (in theaters June 19), Mad Max: Fury Road (in theaters May 15), and Woody Allen's Irrational Man (in theaters July 24), though all will be screening out of competition.
6. The most talked-about film? It's definitely still early to make a definitive call, but look for folks to be buzzing about Gaspar Noe's Love, a movie that has already debuted its fair share of provocative posters while promising a sexually charged 3D melodrama about two girls, a boy and their body parts. Remember last year's Nymphomaniac? Think along those lines.
Color us pinkishly intrigued...
7. One of the documentaries folks are looking forward to may also be one of the festival's most controversial selections. Amy documents the life (and eventual death) of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. Here's the teaser trailer.
Ahead of the film's premiere, however, Winehouse's family has "disassociated" itself from the film claiming it's misleading and biased against the family. Expect Amy to be a hot topic during this year's fest.
8. The weirdest-sounding movie playing at this year's festival is one called The Lobster, starring John C. Reilly, Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz. It's being billed as a futuristic black comedy about a society where everyone has a certain amount of time to find a mate, and if they don't find a mate they're turned into an animal and set loose in the wild.
That just sounds too bizarre to pass up. Here's the film's funky poster featuring Weisz hugging someone... or something?
9. And speaking of John C. Reilly, he might be one of the festival's biggest stars this year. Not only is Reilly front and center in The Lobster, but he'll also be among the ensemble cast of another loopy-lookin' film called The Tale of Tales.
This time he stars opposite Salma Hayek (in addition to Vincent Cassel and Toby Jones) in a film based on a book of fairy tales from a 17th century Italian author. Look for this one to be dark, weird and perhaps a little whimsical -- and in case you're interested, there's a trailer online where we see Salma Hayek chomping down on the large heart of some animal. So there's that.
10. Finally, no Cannes Film Festival is complete without some photos of the Croisette.
What's the Croisette? Well, think of it as Cannes' Main Street, or the Broadway of the Cannes Film Festival.
This strip is home to fancy hotels, priceless automobiles, and unbelievably beautiful scenery -- and amidst it all is the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès (aka the Palais), the historic theater that houses all of the festival's big red-carpet premieres.
The Palais is so fancy that there are strict rules when it comes to attending a premiere there. Just to get in the door, men are required to wear a tuxedo and black shoes. This is mandatory, and occasionally you will find ticket holders who accidentally wore brown shoes anxiously coloring them with a black marker in order to gain entry to the theater.
The 2015 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 13-24. We'll be back at the end to tell you about all the big Cannes movies heading to a theater near you in the coming months.
