Cannes changes opening movie title to Coupe from Z in support of Ukrainians
The title for Z, a zombie comedy which is going to open this week's Cannes Film Festival has been changed in support of the Ukrainian people.
Michel Hazanavicius's latest work, Z, which will open the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, will now be titled Coupe. This change comes after Ukrainians felt that the letter Z symbolises support for Russian aggression. (Also read: Deepika Padukone is now on Cannes Film Festival jury, to join Rebecca Hall, Jeff Nichols and others)
The movie's international name remains Final Cut, which is a Zombie comedy, the reason why it was called Z. It is a remake of the 2017 Japanese zombie comedy, One Cut of the Dead, starring Romain Duris and Bérénice Bejo. She was also part of the director's most celebrated work, The Artist, which got him an Oscar for direction.
The Festival, which runs from May 17 to 28, will not invite Russian delegations, as a show of support for the struggling Ukrainians in the face of what has been largely seen as an unjust war. In a statement, the Festival said: “As the world has fallen into a grave crisis and sees part of Europe in a state of war, the Cannes Film Festival would like to express its support for the Ukrainian people and all those who are currently in Ukraine.
“As modest as it can be, we are joining all those who are opposing this unacceptable situation and are denouncing the stance of Russia and its leaders. We have a particular thought for the artists and professionals within the Ukrainian movie world, as with their families whose lives are now in danger.”
Therefore, the Festival averred it would not welcome official Russian delegations and “will not accept even the smallest presence of any institution linked to the Russian Government.”
The statement added, “Cannes will always serve artists and industry professionals who raise their voices to denounce violence, repression, and injustices for the main purpose of defending peace and liberty."
In recent years, the Festival has made it a point to include films of those new generation of moviemakers who had voiced their opinions on political issues. Politically charged Kirill Serebrennikov from Russia has been one among the several such directors. His last two works, Petrov’s Flu and Leto, competed at the Festival.
In fact, the Festival’s history and origin are linked to dissent and dissatisfaction. Once, it played Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi’s This is Not a Film by having it smuggled from the country in a pen drive, which was buried inside a cake! He has been banned from making cinema for 20 years, but still manages to make movies on the sly.
Incredible as it may sound, he once disguised himself as a taxi driver, steering his vehicle across the length and breadth of Tehran, picking passengers and talking to them. He had placed a small camera on his dashboard that recorded the conversations, which were compiled into a film, Taxi. It premiered at Berlin in 2015, and clinched the top Golden Bear.
In fact, Cannes Film Festival began in 1939 (though it had to wound up in three days because Hitler’s forces marched into Poland heralding World War II) as a protest against German and Italian domination of titles at the Venice Film Festival. It took many years – till 1946 – before the Festival kick-started again. Today, Cannes is renowned for celebrating and promoting established moviemakers and newcomers.