Jeremy Strong is reflecting on his previous 11 days as a member of the Cannes Film Festival competitors jury, evaluating it to the method of selecting a brand new pope as depicted within the Oscar-nominated movie “Conclave.”
“I feel immeasurably inspired by what I’ve seen here,” Strong mentioned throughout a press convention after the jury awarded Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” with the Palme d’Or. “It’s been so invigorating, and this sort of cumulative tally of the work I’ll carry with me.”
Strong continued: “This has been a really wonderful experience, a really connected experience with these people — it’s like ‘Conclave’ with champagne. It’s really great.”
Strong served below president Juliette Binoche together with Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sansoo, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi and Carlos Reygadas. During the presser, the group defined their determination to present the highest prize to “It Was Just an Accident,” which follows a bunch of former prisoners in Iran who should resolve whether or not or to not enact revenge on a person they assume was their torturous guard. The movie marked Panahi’s first venture since being imprisoned for a number of months in 2023 for criticizing the Iranian authorities.
“It’s very human and political at the same time because he comes from a complicated country, politically speaking,” Binoche mentioned. “When we watched the film, it really stood out. The film springs from a feeling of resistance, survival, which is absolutely necessary today. So we thought it was important to give this film the paramount award.”
She continued: “Art will always win. What is human will always win. Our creative urge can transform the world.”
Strong chimed in to say that the jury “wanted to recognize films that we felt were transcendent intrinsically as pieces of work,” aligning with how Robert De Niro kicked off the competition throughout its opening ceremony by saying that “fascists should fear art.” Speaking about “It Was Just an Accident” and the opposite movies awarded, Strong quoted the playwright Henrik Ibsen.
“Ibsen talked about, ‘Deep inside, there’s a poem in a poem. And when you hear that, when you grasp that, you will understand my song,’” he mentioned. “And I feel that this film and the other films have these poems within the poem that allow us to grasp something ineffable that have changed me.”
