Cannes Film Festival 2018: On Day 3, Jessica Chastain unveils all-female spy thriller; Russian movie Leto shines

After an eventful  Wednesday night at the Cannes Film Festival 2018, more movie industry professionals and cinema stars headed from all over the world to the French Riviera on Thursday. Here’s a roundup of all that transpired on Day 3 of the most celebrated film festival of the year: An all female James Bond-esque spy thriller in the works [caption id=“attachment_4465997” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Fan Bingbing, Marion Cottilard, Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o/Image from Twitter.[/caption] At 2018 Cannes Film Festival, actress Jessica Chastain reveled to the press the plans for her upcoming spy movie 355. The movie, which is being directed/written by Simon Kinberg, is supposed to be a James Bond-like spy thriller led by female stars. Along with Chastain, the film is to star powerhouse actresses Marion Cotillard, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz and Fan Bingbing. The quintet touted the project at a presentation in Cannes. Cruz called Chastain “Santa Claus” for assembling the film, which she called “very emotional to be part of.” 355, which has franchise aspirations, is one of the hottest properties at Cannes, the world’s largest film market. Russian movie Leto steal the spotlight [caption id=“attachment_4466001” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Cast of Leto protesting on behalf of Kirill Serebrennikov/Image from Twitter.[/caption]

Russia made headlines in Cannes for more than one reason. Russian stage and screen director Kirill Serebrennikov, who was detained in 2017 and accused of fraud and embezzlement, was not allowed to travel to France for the premiere of his movie Leto. Many of his allies in the artistic community contend that the charges against him are phony and politically motivated. Cate Blanchett, the president of this year’s Cannes competition jury, is among the artists who called for the charges against Serebrennikov to be dropped.

When Serebrennikov’s Leto premiered, the movie’s director was represented only by a sign bearing his name carried by his collaborators as they walked up the red carpet and made their way into the Grand Théâtre Lumière. Leto is in competition for the Palme d’Or.

Female led movies show the way at Cannes [caption id=“attachment_4466003” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  A still from Girls of the Sun/Image from Twitter.[/caption] Girls of the Sun, with Iranian star Golshifteh Farahani heading a brigade of Yazidi women out for revenge on jihadists, is only one of a number of estrogen-fueled films where women go well beyond the cinematic stereotypes.

Another contender in the running for the Palme d’Or top prize — Jia Zhangke’s Ash is the Purest White — has a young dancer pick up a pistol to defend her man from rival Chinese mobsters. And among the festival’s most praised films so far is One Day, which follows a Hungarian working mother through a grueling 36 hours as she tries to juggle her job with the demands of her three children and a husband who may be about to stray. The Hollywood Reporter raved about how it makes “painfully visible how much self-effacing effort goes into… the least appreciated job on the planet: being a mother. No one thanks her but everyone expects her to remember and do a million little things every day”.