‘Z (Comme Z)’ is opening film of  Cannes Film Festival, and it is about zombies!

The 75th Cannes Drama Festival will go off next month with the screening of Michel Hazanavicius’ zombie film “Z (Comme Z),” directed by the Oscar winner “The Artist.”

“It’s a zombie comedy that awakens excitement for cinema,” festival director Thierry Fremaux said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that the 2019 event had started with a film on the same topic by Jim Jarmusch.

The festival will take place from May 17 to 28 and will include blockbusters such as Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” sequel and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biography starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.

The competition will feature James Gray’s drama “Armageddon Time,” starring Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Anthony Hopkins, as well as a showing of George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.

The festival, which stated in March that official Russian delegations would be barred from attending until the situation in Ukraine is resolved, will screen “Tchaikovski’s Wife,” a film directed by exiled Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, who has been vocal about the conflict.

In the category of first-time projects, the festival will screen Maksim Nakonechnyi’s debut film, which was recently shot in Ukraine.

It’s called “Butterfly Vision,” and it tells the story of a young Ukrainian lady who returns home after being kidnapped and then released as part of a prisoner swap.

Fremaux expressed interest in platforms like Netflix, but acknowledged that he still needed to persuade others who disagreed with him.

“It’s apparent that we must recognise the presence of these new methods of distribution and creation,” he added. “I believe we must keep a conversation with them.”

In 2017, Fremaux faced fire from the French film industry for letting Netflix films into the Cannes competition, which are considered as a threat to the industry because they are streamed to subscribers rather being displayed in theatres.

Meanwhile, movie theatres all across the world are struggling to re-engage their audiences.

“I’m hoping the Cannes Film Festival will start a return of viewers to the cinema,” he remarked, “but there hasn’t been a significant comeback yet, and certain nations are suffering from a lack of interest.” ….Reuters