Gilles Jacob to premiere A Special Day

by Fabien Lemercier

30/03/2012 - While film selection for the 65th Cannes Film Festival (from May 16 to 27) continues in utmost secrecy, one filmmaker does already have his ticket for the event. On May 20, the festival’s president Gilles Jacob will screen his film A Special Day.

The 52-minute film, for which Jacob was screenwriter, director, and then editor with Samuel Faure, is to take us back to the heart of Cannes 2007, the festival’s 60th anniversary. Using his own footage as well as the official footage of the festival, in A Special Day Jacob recounts the visit of 35 famous directors to Cannes that year, from their arrival in town to the festival’s firework-lit diners, via the photo calls, the glamourous walks on the Croisette, and the press conferences.

Produced by Pyramide and the Cannes Film Festival, A Special Day will premiere internationally on Sunday, May 20, and be simultaneously broadcast on Canal+. Films Distribution will be in charge of international sales.

In 2007, the Cannes Film Festival crowned Roumanian director Cristian Mungiu. The official selection that year included Wong Kar-wai, Emir Kusturica, Fatih Akin, Gus Van Sant, Quentin Tarantino, Joel et Ethan Coen, James Gray, David Fincher, Lee Chang-dong, Carlos Reygadas, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexandre Sokourov, Béla Tarr, Ulrich Seidl, Julian Schnabel, Marjane Satrapi, Michael Moore, Steven Soderbergh, Olivier Assayas, and Michael Winterbottom.

(Translated from French)