One of the most famous scenes of the musical “Grace”, which achieved wide popularity in 1978, was shown on the screen of the Deauville International Center, where the festival opened, in which Olivia Newton-John appears in her leather jacket as “Sandy” with the film’s hero, John Travolta.
And the phrase “Greetings to Olivia Newton-John” appeared on the screen, amid the audience’s welcome and applause. The actress passed away on her ranch in Southern California at the beginning of August following a 30-year battle with breast cancer. Minutes later, the city’s mayor, Philippe Ogier, and the US ambassador to France, Denise Campbell-Boyer, announced the opening of the 48th edition of the festival.
Tribute to Olivia Newton-John before the start of the ceremony @DeauvilleUS #Deauville #FestivalDeauville pic.twitter.com/v1FqU7Icyg
– West-France 14 (@OuestFrance14) September 2, 2022
The opening ceremony also witnessed Lucy Boynton, who starred in the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody”, receiving the “New Hollywood” honorary award from French actress Elodie Bouches. Created in 2011, the award is dedicated to the faces of tomorrow and has previously been awarded to Jessica Chastain, Ryan Gosling or Robert Pattinson.
Feature Films at the Festival
Thirteen feature films will compete during the nine days of the festival, with the winners to be announced next Saturday evening. Among these films, which were previously shown in various sections of the Cannes Festival, such as “War Pony” by Gina Gammel and Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough, and “After Sun” by Charlotte Wells.
Among the highlights of the Deauville Festival is the screening of the film “Blond”, which deals with the life story of Marilyn Monroe. The screening will be attended by director Andrew Dominic (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coord Robert Ford”, 2007) and Cuban actress Ana de Armas, who played Marilyn Monroe, following her “James Bond girl”.
“Blond”, available from September 28 on Netflix, will compete for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, which will be shown on September 8.
Documentaries at the festival
With regard to documentaries that the Deauville Festival has devoted a very large section to, attention is directed to a film regarding Canadian musician Leonard Cohen, who died in 2016 at the age of 82.
The film is titled “Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Sung” (“Hallelujah” is the title of Cohen’s most famous song), and was directed by Dan Geller and Dina Goldvine. The festival’s audience is waiting for the actor-turned-director Jesse Eisenberg to attend the screening of his movie “When You Finish Saving the World”.
Another highlight of the festival is the closing screening of American actress Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” starring Florence Pugh and pop star Harry Styles.
