Closing evening of the Cabourg Festival
A blue sky for the celestial vault of the red carpet that connects the Grand Hotel to the Grand Casino. This endless unroll of vermilion felt runs along the beach of the small seaside resort for more than 100 meters, length that makes the promenade one of the folklore festival. And its crossing, the first stop on the big closing night, which brings together the teams of the selected films, the professionals of the profession, and a whole bunch of officials with a well-hung tongue – including Gonzague Saint Bris, Jean-Paul Henriet (the mayor), Nicole Partouche, and the worrying Suzel Pietri. The onlookers hurry there, Reflex of hiring with the fist, to try to see the slow strolling of the stars – even to draw some clichés for the most fitted.
At the end, the Grand Casino à la mine surannée hosts the Swann d’or award ceremony during which the jury awards the strange golden trophies to the actors, directors and favourites of the year. Rebecca Zlotowski and her “Grand Central”, already selected in Cannes, received the Grand Prize at the 27th Cabourg Romantic Film Festival. Performances also dedicated to Lola Créton (Après Mai), Félix Moati (Télé Gaucho), Emmanuelle Devos (Le temps de l’aventure), and Pierre Niney (20 years apart). The Swann d’or for best film/director goes to Jérôme Bonnell for’Le temps de l’aventure’, while the’Coup de coeur’ goes to Catherine Deneuve for her role as a fleeing 60-year-old in’Elle s’en va’, Emmanuelle Bercot’s latest feature. The cocktail of the winners will follow in the Moët&Chandon area, the endless gala dinner, and the Baron’s Day.
The ability of this small festival undoubtedly lies in its ability to juggle between art and showbiz, through the prism of love and a selection that invokes the great French (and rare international) stars as much as the fresh flesh of French acting. The proof by three: the passage of Natalia Vodianova and Jonathan Rhys Meyer, who came to promote Belle du Seigneur on the margins of the official selection, in front of the new sacred faces of the “First date” prize; Victoire Belesy and François Civil.
Cabourg highlights romantic cinema in all its states, without taking a stand, and makes its festival a resolutely family event that leaves no one behind. B.B.
