Woody Allen & Cannes
From Manhattan to this year’s Midnight in Paris: A look back at the iconic films that made their debut at the legendary film festival.
In one of his most iconic films, against the backdrop of the title city shot in black and white, a twice-divorced man (Allen) falls for the mistress of his best friend (Keaton) rather than his current 17-year-old girlfriend (Hemingway). The film earned Hemingway an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and took home the BAFTA Award for Best Film.
Featuring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep
Told through flashbacks over lunch at New York’s Carnegie Deli, talent manager Danny Rose (Allen) recalls trying to reconnect one of his clients with his long-lost mistress (Farrow) only to be dragged into a love triangle involving the mafia.
Featuring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow
An actor (Daniels) literally walks off of the silver screen and into real-life Depression-era New Jersey where he falls in love with a woman (Farrow) stuck in a loveless marriage. The film has been widely recognized: it won the BAFTA for best film, the screenplay was nominated for several awards and it won the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.
Featuring: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels
Beginning and ending over Thanksgiving dinner, in a whirlwind of characteristically Allen-esque complicated relationships, Farrow’s husband (Caine) falls in love with her sister (Hershey) while Farrow’s ex-husband (Allen) also falls for her other sister (West). One of the highest-grossing movies in Allen’s repertoire, it was also nominated for seven Academy Awards (winning Best Supporting Actor and Actress—Caine and Wiest), and won two BAFTAs.
Featuring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Diane Wiest, Michael Caine, Carrie Fisher, Barbara Hershey and a cameo by Soon-Yi Previn
A look back at American families during the golden age of radio: the narrator (Allen) introduces the audience to a Queens-based Jewish-American family that finds escape through different radio programs. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards and won two BAFTA awards.
Featuring: Mia Farrow, Woody Allen (narrator) and a young Seth Green
This series of three short films directed by Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola (written with Sofia Coppola), and Woody Allen are unified by a central New York City theme.
Featuring: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Kirsten Dunst, Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, cameo by Larry David
A washed-up director (Allen) is given one last shot, but is forced to partner with his ex-wife (Leoni) and the studio head she left him for. When the first day of shooting comes around, Allen develops a case of psychosomatic blindness but decides the show must go on.
Featuring: Woody Allen, Tea Leoni, Debra Messing, George Harrison
In a dangerous tangle of relationships, a former tennis pro (Rhys Meyers) marries an heiress (Mortimer) and finds himself enjoying the benefits of his new social and financial standing, until he begins an affair with an American actress (Johansson) that could have disastrous consequences. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Featuring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Matthew Goode, Emily Mortimer, Scarlett Johansson
In this sexually-charged film, Johansson and Hall take a summer holiday to Spain and both fall for the same dashing artist (Bardem)—further complicated when his fiery ex-wife (Cruz) returns. The movie, one of Allen’s most profitable, won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture-Musical of Comedy, garnered Woody Allen his first Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay, and Penelope Cruz took home several Best Supporting Actress awards including the Oscar and BAFTA.
Featuring: Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Penelope Cruz
In a signature series of romantic twists and turns, two couples veer off course with a dizzying mix of entertaining indiscretions like divorce, re-marriage to a prostitute, and fortune-teller induced affairs.
Featuring: Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin, Antonio Bandears, Frida Pinto
In Allen’s latest film, Paris is just as much a character as any one of the star-studded cast. Stuffy engaged man Gil, (Wilson) finds himself falling in love with the city rather than his fiancée while she (McAdams) finds herself drawn to the debonair Paul (Sheen).
Featuring: Adrien Brody, Lea Seydoux, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Marion Cotillard, Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Carla Bruni
