The Jury’s In for the Next 10 Days

CANNES — The 52nd Cannes International Film Festival is irrelevant, director David Cronenberg was saying. And that’s why it matters.

“The very irrelevancy of Cannes makes it valuable,” the eclectic Canadian said at a Wednesday news conference introducing the festival’s 10-person jury, on which Cronenberg serves as president. “We feel we can vote without destroying a career. The Oscars--popularity is what it’s all about. This is a different ballgame.”

Cronenberg said he had implored his fellow jurors--who include American actors Jeff Goldblum and Holly Hunter and the Australian director George Miller--”not to worry whether the films will be popular outside our [deliberation] room.”

Assessing the relevance of the Cannes Film Festival, which runs through May 23, to the movie industry is a common pursuit this time of year. Much has been made, for example, of the limited presence here of movies made by major studios. (20th Century Fox has “Entrapment,” New Line Cinema has “Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” and Universal Pictures has “EdTV,” but these are being screened out of competition. Only two studios have films in the race: Disney (with Tim Robbins’ “The Cradle Will Rock” and David Lynch’s “The Straight Story”) and Sony Classics (John Sayles’ “Limbo”).

But this year, as every year, a chorus of artistes is defending the importance of pushing the cinematic envelope, even if it means risking obscurity. And not surprisingly, Cronenberg is leading the choir.

Best known for films such as “Scanners” and “Dead Ringers,” the director clearly values originality at least as much as box-office receipts. His movie “Crash,” which starred Hunter, won a special jury prize for its audacity at Cannes in 1996.

Leave it to Cronenberg, therefore, to bemoan that the “downside of the democratic process” was that it might tend to favor less controversial films.

“Does the democratic process lead to the bland middle?” he asked, speaking as much to the other jurors at the podium as to the hundreds of reporters in the audience. “I hope that we’re here to prove it does not.”

Miller, meanwhile, said he saw Cannes as a launching pad for ideas that affect all of cinema, including Hollywood. The director of the “Babe” and “Mad Max” movies noted that even George Lucas--whose “Star Wars” prequel opens next week--got his start in Cannes.

“Lucas’ first film, ‘THX 1138’ was here . . . when Hollywood had rejected it. The ideas exposed here will find themselves eventually in mainstream Hollywood movies,” said Miller.

In preparation for being jury president, Cronenberg did his homework. He called past jurors Martin Scorsese and Atom Egoyan, for example, to ask their advice. And to get to know his panel--which also includes American-born opera singer Barbara Hendricks, French actress Dominique Blanc, writer Yasmina Reza and directors Andre Techine (France), Doris Dorrie (Germany) and Maurizio Nichetti (Italy)--he made sure to watch all of their films.

But, he added, there was one thing he intentionally did not do: bone up on the filmmakers who have movies in competition.

“I want to walk in and see the films without knowing what I’m seeing,” said Cronenberg.

Asked whether the jury would be visible at the many grand parties that are planned over the next 10 days, Cronenberg declared himself “not a party animal.” But when the question was posed to the entire panel, Miller pointed animatedly to Goldblum, who feigned surprise, then smiled guiltily and shrugged his shoulders.

And so it begins.