"When the revolution comes—will the people live like you, or like me?"
- Neruda
Self-coronated it may be, the Cannes International Film Festival remains the world's most important festival insofar as it celebrates cinema as a lens into contemporary zeitgeist. Indeed, this particular fortnight in the Côte d'Azur is especially festooned with celebrities and red carpets and galas and it's all a bit much. Cannes ends, however, with awards—informing how we reflect upon the festival not as extravaganza, but as cultural artifact.
The accolades of Cannes 2016 propose economic disparity as the most universally resonant topic in the world today. From champagne communists to the guilty elite, whether auteurs lived or fell by their swords depended principally on how authentic their portraits were. I, Daniel Blake marks the apotheosis of the unique brand of social-realist cinema Ken Loach has been making for decades. His Palme d'Or is well deserved.
Below are Filmatique's Top Films of the 2016 Cannes International Film Festival: