Cannes taps epitome of 1960s cool for poster

PARIS (AFP) ― An image of Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni peering over his dark glasses taken from Federico Fellini’s classic “8 1/2” has been chosen for this year’s Cannes Film Festival poster.

The sepia-tinted poster is the latest in a series that has featured some of the biggest names in cinema such as Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Marilyn Monroe and Faye Dunaway.

In a long career, the celebrated Italian actor, who died in 1996, was nominated for three best actor Academy Awards and starred in dozens of films including “La Dolce Vita,” in which he played opposite Anita Ekberg.

Mastroianni played a filmmaker suffering from “director’s block” in the comedy-drama which was presented in competition at Cannes in 1963.

Reacting to the tribute, Mastroianni’s daughter with French actress Catherine Deneuve, Chiara, said she was “very proud and touched.”

“I find it (the poster) very beautiful and modern, with a sweet irony and a classy sense of detachment. It’s really him through and through,” she said.

Unveiling the poster for next month’s 67th festival, Cannes organizers praised Mastroianni as an actor who throughout his life “continued to encapsulate everything that was most innovative, nonconformist and poetic about cinema.”

Cannes, one of the world’s biggest film festivals, opens on May 14 with around 20 films expected to compete for the coveted Palme d’Or prize.

The lineup for the Riviera movie extravaganza, at which New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion will head the jury, is to be announced in Paris on Thursday.