Cannes 1998

No film deserved the Golden Palm -- and the Ecumenical Prize -- more than Theo Angelopoulos's Eternity and a Day (Greece-France). Ever since Angelopoulos's Travelling Players was awarded the International Critics Prize in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 1975 Cannes festival (he was to receive the FIPRESCI award a half-dozen times more over the next two decades), the Greek filmmaker has been generally referred to as a "critic's director."The cinema of Theo Angelopoulos is the result of meticulous preparation and teamwork in collaboration with a closely knit production crew. Yorgos Arvanitis, his cameraman from the very beginning, is internationally renown for his long-take sequences, powerful rhythmic movements, and deliberately orchestrated zooms timed with the changing positions of the protagonists. Italian screenwriter Tonino Guerra has been with Angelopoulos for the last six films, ever since Voyage to Cythera (Cannes, 1984). Yannis Tsitsopoulos has edited his last four films, for which...