The Year of the Heavyweights大腕儿云集的一年
The 62nd Cannes Film Festival opened with an animated movie called Up. This light-hearted and popular Disney movie about an elderly global explorer showcases cutting edge animation techniques but it has been viewed as a surprising choice to open the festival.
2009 is being hailed as the year of the heavyweights. With classic filmmakers such as Coppola, Tarantino, Ang Lee and Von Trier showing films, few expected the festival to kick off with an animated movie.
Up may have been chosen in an attempt to show the broad reach and mass appeal of animation. After all, animated movies have proved to be some of the most popular and best selling in recent times.
This year’s festival appears to have a cross-cultural theme. Asia and Europe are well represented with films such as Looking for Eric, a British movie featuring the French football hero Eric Cantona. Other cross-cultural examples include Map of the Sounds of Tokyo which is a Spanish thriller set in Japan, and a movie about a French chef set in Hong Kong called Vengeance.
Asia and Europe also dominate the judging panel for the coveted Palme d’Or for best film. Actress Shu Qi will be one of a six-strong jury who decides which of the twenty nominated feature films merits this prestigious award.
Although there has been much speculation and not a lot of agreement on who will win, one thing is for certain.
The media attention that can be gained from participation in the festival provides enough of a draw for the industry heavyweights – not to mention the typical Cannes glitterati.
So, it looks as though the celebrities and media will still be out in force even though many thought the festival would be lower key than usual due to the current economic climate.
GLOSSARY 词汇表
animated
动画的
showcases
展示
hailed as
被誉为
broad reach
触及广博
cross-cultural
跨文化的
dominate
主导
coveted
梦寐以求的
merits
值得/应受
media attention
媒体的关注
out in force
兴师动众
light-hearted
轻松的
cutting edge
前沿的，领新的
heavyweights
重量级人物
mass appeal
广泛吸引力
thriller
惊险影片
judging panel
评选委员会
jury
评委
speculation
揣测
glitterati
影视名流
lower key
比较低调的
