The Cannes Film Festival has revealed its official poster for the 74th edition, putting jury president Spike Lee front and center (check it out above and scroll down for the vertical version). Lee re-upped this year after having been due to preside over the jury for the festival that was canceled in 2020. Cannes runs from July 6-17 on the Riviera.
Cannes’ posters annually are tributes to artists and the 7th art in general, often becoming collectibles.
The festival (or rather the “People’s Republic of the World of Cinéma” as Cannes billed itself today) said it dedicated the affiche to Lee “for that curious look he is going to put on the work of his fellow filmmakers who bring us news of the World — of theirs and surely a little bit of ours too… For this personal view that he has shared with us since his very first feature: Shot in black and white in the heat of summer 1985, he was already shaking up cinema by imposing, even back then, his ground-breaking style, imbedded in urban and pop culture… For this tender take he embodies as Mars Blackmon, the B-Boy in She’s Gotta Have It — a stereotypical representation of the Afro-American community that the film blows apart… For his mischievous eye which, despite constantly questioning and incessantly rebelling for nearly four decades, never neglects entertainment.”
The team also cited its “immense impatience to finally find ourselves again in the Cannes setting: the seaside, the palm trees and the silver screen, just like a blank page, that will welcome the films of the Official Selection.”
Lee was last in Cannes with Focus’ BlacKkKlansman which won the 2018 Grand Jury Prize (and threw one of the best beach parties in recent memory).
Here’s another look at this year’s poster:
