Lumière has made a very strategic decision to have notable individuals introduce the films, sometimes it’s the filmmaker themself, as Jerry Schatzberg (Scarecrow, Panic in Needle Park) presented his rediscovered work, Puzzle of a Downfall Child on Tuesday night.

Benicio Del Toro has been extremely involved and supportive of the festival. He introduced one of the most lauded films screened so far, The Naked Island, a Japanese film from director Kineto Shindo.

Bertrand Tavernier discussed silent films with historian/preservationist Kevin Brownlow at the Lumiere Institute, reeling off funny and insightful anecdotes about the early era filmmakers (Cecil B. DeMille, who lasted for ages in Hollywood creating sword and sandal epics, always with a moralistic motive, was quite the libertine in his private life. Milton Berle erroneously claimed he was essentially the child actor in every Charlie Chaplin film).

The Lumière Grand Lyon Film Festival got off to a spectacular start last night. The Artist, by director Michel Hazavanicius, worked the same magic on the crowd as it did in Cannes and Toronto. The director’s two stars were there including his wife, the effervescent Bérénice Bejo (who just gave birth to the couple’s daughter ten days ago) and Jean Dujardin, who is disgustingly suave and handsome.

Looking over the proceedings was the truly inspiring Bertrand Tavernier, the director, writer and film scholar who is the President of the Lumière Institute and the equally impressive Thierry Frémaux, the Institute’s Director and Master of Ceremonies.

Also in attendance for the opening was Stephen Frears, Benicio Del Toro, Irène Jacob, Jean-Paul Rappeneau and many other lions of French cinema.

“Wild Bill” Wellman was a foul-mouthed, good-looking director with a hair-trigger temper who started out as an aviator in World War I where he’d had his back broken in two places and palette shattered in a plane crash. He survived and his considerable charisma and drive got him the assignment to direct Wings, which became the first film (and only silent) to win an Academy Award for Best Picture (referred to at the time as “Best Production”). He worked for almost 40 years directing pictures which also included The Public Enemy (which turned hoofer James Cagney into a tough guy), the first incarnation of A Star is Born (for which he won his only Academy Award, for screenwriting), Roxie Hart (an inspiration for Chicago), the best-known version of Beau Geste, The Ox-Bow Incident, and The Story of G.I. Joe, the director’s personal favorite.
Lumiere will focus on some of  Wellman’s lesser-known films too  including Beggars of Life, Safe in Hell, Night Nurse and Westward the Women. Theatrical presentations of Wings, The Public Enemy, A Star Is Born and the Ox-Bow Incident look to be particular treats.

Jacques Becker’s retrospective also promises some glorious screenings. His still-luminous and earthy Casque d’Or, the world-weary gangster film, Touchez pas au Grisbi, Montparnasse 19, one of the greatest break-out films of all time, Le Trou and many others will all be unveiled.

I’m a bit heart-broken as not only will I not be here long enough to see the special screening of Wings as well as the showing of Bernardo Bertolluci’s 1900 but with all of the riches in front of me, I can’t complain.

by Keith Simanton

Looking forward Lumière embraces the new film from director Michel Hazavanicius, the Cannes and Toronto favorite, The Artist, as it opens the proceedings on the 3rd.

Looking back Lumière programs thematically or around the filmographies of particular individuals, much like Turner Classic Movies’ spring festival of classic films. The larger-than-life Gerard Depardieu receives the Lumière Award for this year and select films from his long and illustrious career will be shown including The Last Metro, The Woman Next Door, 1900, and the Asterix and Obelix series (okay, just kidding there).

Meanwhile, special guests will be on hand to present films:

Director Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity or The Queen) will be presenting Jacques Becker’s Casque d’Or (1952), part of a Becker retrospective that takes place during the entire festival.

Charlotte Rampling will be on hand to present a preview of Angelina Maccarone’s documentary tribute to her The Look. Rampling’s already a French favorite so her reception should be glowing, to say the least.

Fanny Ardant, one of the muses of French post-Wave cinema, will present the 2011 Lumière Prize to Gérard Depardieu, her co-star in François Truffaut’s The Woman Next Door (La Femme d’à côté).

Look for more updates here as we discover the world of Lumière 2011: The Grand Lyon Film Festival.

Keith Simanton