This Wednesday, May 24, the Cannes festival experienced a disagreement between its director, Thierry Frémaux, and Víctor Erice on account of the section in which the new film by the Spanish filmmaker, ‘Cerrar los ojos’, finally participated, and which has led the filmmaker to not be present at the contest.
The reason is the selection of the film to participate in the Filmmakers’ Fortnight and not in the competition, as expected by Erice himself, who in an open letter sent to the newspaper ‘El País’ explained that he tried to talk to Frémaux about it. something that was impossible.
In this letter, Erice explains that after receiving the Fortnight proposal, “immediately” she wrote to Thierry Frémaux to tell him that if Closing Your Eyes was not going to be selected in the competition for the Palme d’Or, “she would communicate it in sufficient time.” . “It is something that is customary to do, in order to be able to consider the other options that the film was offered,” she remarked.
Those proposals were from Cannes itself for the Filmmakers’ Fortnight and outside of Cannes (Locarno Festival or Venice Mostra). “But in that waiting time, Frémaux never gave signs of life. The Fortnight committee kept up its offer for weeks, until its protocols ran out of time,” lamented Erice, who finally did not go last Monday to present his film with the team.
In addition, he has defended that at no time did his film arrive after the deadline for the competition section and that a final cut with a “reliable account of the film” in QuickTime format had been sent to Cannes in March. “If the film was ready to be screened at Cannes Premiere, why not to be presented in competition?”, He has questioned her.
For its part, the festival has responded to the open letter with a statement ensuring that it is “surprised” by these statements and remarking that the selection of ‘Close your eyes’ “was carried out under the usual conditions”.
“The director was notified of the invitation to the Official Section of his film on April 12. From the beginning there was a continuous dialogue between Thierry Frémaux and Christian Jeune with the Spanish producer and the French distributor, also having an exchange between the Frémaux themselves and Erice”, affirms the contest.
“The Cannes Film Festival is the first to be surprised by the suggestions that are being made regarding the selection of the film because, above all, it is proud and happy to have welcomed ‘Close Your Eyes’ in its 76th edition” , it is finished.