00:00 Time now for some culture news on the programme and the 49th Deauville American Film Festival
00:04 is kicking off this evening. We can go across to France 24's culture editor Eve Jackson,
00:09 who's covering the event for us. Good afternoon to you, Eve. Now, some of the biggest stars in
00:14 Hollywood have attended this gathering in the past, but how is the ongoing actors and
00:20 writer strike affecting things where you are? Well, this year, Natalie Portman, Peter Dinklage,
00:28 Jude Law and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are all getting tributes in their absence. For close to two
00:33 months, the actors union SAG-AFTRA has been on strike along with the writers union. The festival's
00:39 director Bruno Bard says he understands the actors position and their need to protect themselves
00:44 against the dangers of things like artificial intelligence. But he also says he wants to give
00:48 audience here a chance to discover these actors and their films. So he decided to maintain the
00:54 tributes. Here is. I'm for the strike. I understand it and I'm in solidarity, especially on the
01:04 concerns with artificial intelligence. It's a dead end that tries to make it seem like we can
01:09 replace humans. And the truth is, no, it's like replacing Mozart with a computer. Creation is
01:15 above all human. So, yes, I understand their concerns. But of course, I would have preferred
01:20 that Natalie Portman, Peter Dinklage, Jude Law and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were able to come
01:25 because we worked for six months to get them to attend and we had made agreements. We had the
01:31 films. Yes, there's four less people, but it's not a massive deal. Attendance has increased by 20
01:37 percent. That means the audience that is here loves cinema and they are invested.
01:47 Now, Eve, Jude Law was supposed to be there with his film Firebrand, which opens a festival.
01:53 Well, in Firebrand, Jude Law plays King Henry VIII. The movie is about the king's relationship
02:01 with his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr, who's played by Oscar winner Alicia Vikander.
02:07 Now, the English actor is said to have done such a big transformation for this role that he wore
02:12 perfume on the set that smelled like blood, poo and sweat, saying he thought it would have more
02:18 of an impact if he smelt horrendous. Once I put sort of everything on,
02:24 we didn't want to use prosthetics, but there was a sort of process to getting to him and
02:28 we changed my hairline and I obviously had this beard and there were certain things I put in my
02:35 mouth and certain things I did, the costume and the layers, multiple layers of the costumes
02:41 and taking on this war. Once I was sort of in Henry mode, there was no sort of turning back.
02:47 Henry.
02:55 Henry.
03:03 Henry.
03:04 And Jude Law will also receive a Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
03:22 And some big names will still be in attendance, won't they?
03:25 They will indeed. Emilia Clarke, who you might know better as the Mother of Dragons
03:33 in the series The Game of Thrones, she's screening her new film The Pod Generation.
03:37 Now here she plays a tech executive torn between her successful career and her desire to start a
03:44 family. Take a look. Everything seems to be revolving around the pod. The baby.
03:55 Baby, I'm sorry. I don't see a pod. I see a baby. Everyone in the family needs to make adjustments
04:04 to welcome this new addition. Your family dynamics are about to undergo tremendous changes
04:10 and these changes directly affect you. Yes, thanks for that, Eliza.
04:16 Emilia Clarke is also getting the Rising Star Award here at Deauville and I'll be sitting down
04:24 with her for an interview over the weekend that you can watch next week. The French director Luc
04:27 Besson, who gave us The Big Blue, Nikita and The Fifth Element, he'll also be back with his latest
04:35 film Dogma. Now he was recently cleared of sexual assault class charges in June and it's thought
04:41 this will be some sort of a comeback for him in this movie. And the indie actor who everyone loves,
04:47 Caleb Landry-Jones, plays a man who was abused by his father growing up as a boy and who grows up
04:53 to use his beloved dogs as weapons of revenge. Take a look.
04:57 Now you love dogs, huh? More than you love your own family? I do.
05:03 You love dogs? You piece of shit!
05:10 Did you know anyone else? Somebody that could show you some attention or affection?
05:21 A child takes affection where you can get it. They're my babies.
05:26 As far as I can tell, they only have one flaw.
05:31 They trust humans.
05:36 We're also in Deauville this week, the revered French actor Carole Bouquet. She'll be giving
05:45 a Masterclass. She's starred in more than 60 films. For international viewers, though,
05:49 you might know her as a Bond girl or as the face of the perfume Chanel No. 5.
05:53 Anib, talk us through some of the highlights of this year's festival.
05:58 Well, a real highlight of Deauville is always the competition. There have been some incredible
06:05 independent films discovered here over the years, Little Miss Sunshine being John Malkovich and
06:10 Whiplash. Now this year, there are 14 films competing, nine first films and eight of them
06:15 directed by women. Now one film that caught my eye is called Fremont by Iranian director Bavak
06:22 Jalai. That was a huge hit at Sundance. It features an incredible breakout performance
06:27 from real life Afghan refugee, Anaita Wali Zarda. Join me later from the red carpet on opening
06:34 night. I'll be back here. Hopefully the sun will be back out because it's raining now. See you then.
06:40 I can hear the seagulls in the distance. Thank you very much for that, Eve Jackson.
06:45 They're reporting from the Deauville American Film Festival.
Comments