The 23rd edition turned out to be one of excessiveness, determined by the off-the-wall characters of Paul Verhoeven’s first films, the complete screening of works by Yousry Nasrallah, and a Transversale session named ‘Pourvu qu’on ait l’ivresse’ (‘As long as we have the drunkenness’), which explored excess and pleasures in all their forms.
Furthermore, Entrevues celebrated the forty years of the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight, notably by paying a crossed tribute to Edith Scob and Michael Lonsdale, two major actors who have worked with some of the greatest filmmakers of all time (Franju, Truffaut, Buñuel, Eustache, Costa, Ruiz, Breillat...).
The competition welcomed back several filmmakers, such as Tariq Teguia (Grand Prize laureate in 2007, who returned with Inland), Albert Serra (Birdsong [El cant dels ocells], who received a second Grand Prize for a fiction feature after Honor de Cavalleria in 2006), Josh Safdie (The Pleasure Of Being Robbed, for which Eleonore Hendricks was awarded the Janine Bazin performance Award), Jean-Charles Fitoussi (I Did Not Die [Je ne suis pas morte], recipient of the French film Award), Antoine d’Agata (Aka Ana, Grand Prize for a feature documentary film), as well as Yann Gonzalez (Je vous hais petites filles) and Frank Beauvais (Je flotterai sans envie, Grand Prize for a short documentary film and special mention for the One + One Award).
Alain Della Negra & Kaori Kinoshita
That year, other talents took their first steps at Entrevues: Damien Manivel (Sois sage, ô ma douleur), Davy Chou (Expired), Shanti Masud (But We Have The Music), Alain Della Negra and Kaori Kinoshita (La Tanière), Sam Taylor-Wood (Love You More, recipient of the Grand Prize for a foreign short film and of the Audience Award for a short film), and Sean Baker (Prince of Broadway, Audience Award for a feature film).
Rodolphe Burger sponsored the One + One Award, which was given that year to Pink, by Alexander Voulgaris (Greece).