EXCLUSIVE: To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Columbia Pictures, the municipality of Cannes will present a free photographic exhibition titled “Lighting the Way: From the Torch Lady to Leading Ladies.” The photos will be on display for the general public on Cours Félix Faure in Cannes from May 13 to June 10.
Led by Columbia Pictures’ iconic Lady with the Torch, the exhibition will consist of over 30 rare photographs from Columbia’s archive and highlighting legendary actresses from Hollywood’s Golden Age and beyond, including Katherine Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, Claudette Colbert, Ann-Margret, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Julia Roberts, Michelle Yeoh and Rita Hayworth. A restored version of Hayworth’s Gilda is screening as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Cannes Classics program this year.
Said Tom Rothman, Chairman & CEO of Sony Pictures’ Motion Picture Group, “Columbia Pictures may have been founded by men, but women have always been vital to its growth and impact. We are grateful to Mayor Lisnard and Cannes, the first city of cinema, for helping us celebrate the female icons of our studio’s history. We hope the public will enjoy seeing the exhibition as much as we have enjoyed assembling it.”
Commented Cannes mayorDavid Lisnard, “Through this exhibition, the municipality of Cannes has partnered with one of the most iconic film studios – Columbia Pictures – to celebrate the legendary talents that have had a strong impact on film history and dazzled us on screen. I would like to thank everyone on the Sony Pictures team. It’s also the opportunity to present, through a series of photographs on display during the International Cannes Film Festival, an outstanding film legacy to Cannes residents and festival-goers alike. The Festival awarded the studio several Palme d’Or prizes for films including 1971’s The Go-Between, 1973’s The Hireling, 1976’s Taxi Driver or 1980’s All That Jazz.”
Columbia Pictures was founded by brothers Harry and Jack Cohn and best friend Joe Brandt on January 10, 1924. After Frank Capra’s 1934 classic It Happened One Night swept the Oscars, Columbia established itself as an elite studio, responsible for numerous films from trailblazers that boldly reflected societal issues of the times, to award-winners and timeless classics to pop-culture phenomena including: It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, You Can’t Take it With You, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, From Here to Eternity, On The Waterfront, Lawrence of Arabia, To Sir With Love, Funny Girl, Taxi Driver, Tootsie, The Karate Kid, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Men In Black, Ghostbusters, Boyz n the Hood, Groundhog Day, A League Of Their Own, The Social Network, Jumanji, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Little Women and Spider-Man.