Retrospective 2017 – A Year in Film

May

Come What May

Image sources: Warner Bros., Paramount, 20th Century Fox & Artificial Eye

As the year began to heat up so did box-office expectations, only to be dashed by a string of underperforming blockbuster releases of varying quality and commercial success—led by Guy Ritchie’s fantasy flop ‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword‘ and the Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson-led ‘Baywatch‘ movie, plus the latest chapter in the evolving Ridley Scott ‘Alien’ prequel franchise ‘Alien: Covenant‘. May also provided some more subtle fare in the form of Franco-German war drama ‘Frantz‘, American gun-control political drama ‘Miss Sloane‘ and uniquely quirky monster-mayhem character drama ‘Colossal‘.

And the Award Goes To…

Return to the Riviera

As usual May brought us the glitz and the glamour of the world’s biggest and most prestigious film festival, as the great and the good of world cinema converged on the French riviera for the 70th Cannes Film Festival. As per tradition the world’s media got a first glimpse at a slew of much anticipated releases from all corners of the world, and a international jury of industry players (pictured below) bestowed some prestigious prizes on a selection of in-competition films, as summarised below—and you can also check out our full festival recap here.

Image source: Getty Images

This year the main competition jury was presided over by Spanish writer/director and Cannes veteran Pedro Almodóvar and included French actress Agnès Jaoui, American actor Will Smith, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, German writer/director Maren Ade, French-Lebanese composer Gabriel Yared, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, South Korean director Park Chan-wook and American actress Jessica Chastain. Here are their choices for this year’s big winners;

Competition 2017

Palme d’Or

‘The Square’ by Ruben Östlund (Sweden, Germany, France & Denmark)

Grand Prix

‘120 Beats Per Minute’ (120 Battements Par Minute) by Robin Campillo (France)

Best Director

Sofia Coppola for ‘The Beguiled’ (USA)

Best Screenplay

A tie between ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’ by Yorgos Lanthimos (UK, Ireland) and ‘You Were Never Really Here’ by Lynne Ramsay (USA)

Best Actress Ex-aequo

Diane Kruger for ‘In the Fade’ (Germany)

Best Actor

Joaquin Phoenix for ‘You Were Never Really Here’ (USA)

Jury Prize

‘Loveless’ (Nelyubov) by Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russia)

Those We Lost

Buena Vista & MGM

May signalled the passing of versatile American character actor Michael Parks (77) (From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill: Vol. 2) and commanding veteran American actor Powers Boothe (68) (Southern Comfort, Tombstone), as well as debonair British legend Sir Roger Moore (89) (The Saint, Live and Let Die) and former Bond girl British actress Molly Peters (75) (Thunderball, Target for Killing).

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