Cannes Podcast #1: Festival preview with guest Aaron Locke
In this very first AwardsWatch Cannes Podcast, I am joined by Aaron Locke, who will be attending the festival for the first time. This will be my third but first as press under my own moniker. We both of a slew of films we’re looking forward to and why.
A truly international festival, Aaron and I chat about the new Lee Chang-Dong (Burning), Kore-eda (Shoplifters) and Knife + Heart from Yann Gonzalez. On the American side, two films are represented – Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman with John David Washington, Adam Driver and a very buzzed about Topher Grace and Under the Silver Lake from David Robert Mitchell starring Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough and again, Topher Grace.
We also talk the interesting choice of Cannes and Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi’s Everybody Knows as the the festival opener and about potential controversies with the new Lars von Trier (The House That Jack Built) and Terry Gilliam (The Man Who Killed Don Quixote) in the age of #MeToo. Both films, and their directors, are likely to be under tremendous scrutiny this year, especially during the press conferences.
This is a brisk podcast, coming in at just over 45m with music. Keep your ears open for a mid-festival podcast too.
Opening music: Cannes Film Festival opening theme
Closing music: “New York City By Day” by Thomas Newman from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of Desperately Seeking Susan
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He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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