Cate Blanchett: The New Boy in Cannes
The formidable Cate Blanchett will take centre stage later today at Cannes Film Festival 2023, as she joins Australian director Warwick Thornton for the screening of The New Boy, part of Cannes’s line up of films under the “Un Certain Regard” category. This would mark Blanchett’s ninth time at the festival, which includes her time as president of the Grand Prix jury in 2022.
The film, set in 1940s Australia, tells the story of a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery, run by a renegade nun (Blanchett), where his presence disturbs the delicately balanced world in this story of spiritual struggle and the cost of survival.
The film marks the second time Warwick Thornton has screened at Cannes Film Festival, but he already has established himself as a festival favourite; in 2009 he premiered his film Samson and Delilah which earned him the Caméra d’Or Award – a distinction Cannes hands out to first-time directors with a jury solely dedicated to this prize.
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).
