Writer-director Kelly Reichardt has a lot riding on the premiere for The Mastermind, her Vietnam War-era Massachusetts art theft drama filmed in Cincinnati last fall, which screens at the 78th Cannes Film Festival Friday, May 23.
The Mastermind, starring Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim and Gaby Hoffmann, is one of 22 films nominated for the Palme d'Or, the highest prize awarded to the best feature film director at Cannes.
The Mastermind will be the last of the 22 to be screened due to the late arrival of O’Connor, who has been working on Steven Spielberg’s science-fiction film about a UFO, reports Indiewire.com.
In The Mastermind, O’Connor plays James Blaine Mooney who, with two friends, “wander into a museum in broad daylight and steal four paintings” in 1970, according to the Internet Movie Database. “When holding onto the art proves more difficult than stealing them, Mooney is relegated to a life on the run.”
The Cannes website describes the plot, written by Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy, Certain Women), this way: “In a sedate corner of Massachusetts circa 1970, JB Mooney (Josh O’Connor) an unemployed carpenter turned amateur art thief, plans his first big heist. When things go haywire, his life unravels.”
Last November, Reichardt shot scenes in downtown Cincinnati around City Hall and the Red Fox Grill at Sixth and Sycamore streets, and in downtown Hamilton on Third Street.
“Being chosen to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival — especially in competition for the Palme d'Or — is an extraordinary achievement for filmmakers," said Kristen Schlotman, Film Cincinnati president and CEO, in a media release. "Cannes stands as one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, and we are absolutely thrilled for Kelly Reichardt and the entire team to be recognized with this remarkable honor.”
Schlotman, while in France for the premiere, participated in an Association of Film Commissioners International panel discussion on “Driving Production for 50 Years — Celebrating a Legacy” on the main stage at the Palais des Festivals May 17.
She also announced that Film Cincinnati will host the AFCI’s 50th anniversary Cineposium Sept. 15-18, immediately following the Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 4-14. The Cineposium will bring together film commissioners, studio executives and entertainment industry leaders from around the globe for four days of presentations, panel discussions and hands-on training.
For the first time in Cineposium history, “the event will be open to non-members . . . ensuring our local community has access to the insights and opportunities this event provides,” Schlotman said in a media release Wednesday. "It’s not just about hosting the conversation—it’s about participating in it, and empowering our region to grow with it."
O’Connor (The Crown, Emma) also stars in a second film up for the Palme — History of Sound from director Oliver Hermanus.
The other nominees are:
- The Phoenician Scheme by Wes Anderson
- The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonca-Filho
- It Was Just An Accident by Jafar Panahi
- Renoir by Chie Hayakawa
- Sirat by Oliver Laxe
- Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski
- Romeria by Carla Simon
- The Young Mother’s Home by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- Ressurection by BI Gan
- Alpha by Julia Ducoumau;
- Dossier 137 by Dominik Moll
- Die My Love by Lynne Ramsay
- Fuori by Mario Martone
- Woman and Child by Saeed Roustaee
- New Wave by Richard Linklater
- Two Prosecutors by Sergei Loznitsa
- Eagles of the Republic by Tarik Saleh
- Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier
- Eddington by Ari Aster
- La Petite Derniere by Hafsia Herzi
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