When 22 year old Richard Blanshard arrived at the 30th Cannes Film Festival in 1976, he could not have imagined that he would become the official photographer for the UK and US film industry at Cannes for the next two decades.
His first assignment at Cannes in 1976 was photographing Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, as they promoted their movie That’s Entertainment, Part II, the first of many.
In his new book, Cannes Uncut: The Golden Years, to be released in September with The History Press, Blanshard shares the images he captured with his unfettered access to the stars from through the 70s, 80s, and 90s. His photographs of celebrities at Cannes were designed to capture both candid, personal moments, together with the intense glamour of the film industry.
Born in Essex and growing up in Pinner, UK, Blanshard is what you would call an allrounder.
Cinematography, photography, writing, producing and directing are only a few of the many strings to his bow.
As a young boy, his father owned a pharmacy where Blanshard would help him develop film. He began taking photographs at seven years old, and at the, began shooting 8mm films. Leaving school at 15 to go and work for Kodak in the Motion Picture Division, he was tasked with printing film and other tasks, including projection. Studying at Harrow Photographic School, he then went on to work as an assistant for commercial and industrial photographers in Uxbridge.
Moving next to a company called PIC Photos, Blanshard shot film publicity, including premieres and press launches, including several Royal premieres. This all led to his long and intimate relationship with the Cannes Film Festival.
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Founded in 1946, the illustrious invitation-only festival is held annually, usually in May, in the south of France, and previews films from all genres, including documentaries.
Arguably the reputation of the festival has been marred in recent years by accusations of racism, sexism, and the speech by Asia Argento (on the festival stage) calling it disgraced director Harvey Weinstein’s “hunting ground.”
Despite the controversy which is not unique to recent decades, Blanchard’s photographs capture the glamour and mystique of the ‘Golden Years’, before social media, and before celebrities rightly feared anything with a lens. We'll never see another collection like it.
His photographs of the madness of Cannes, and celebrities such as Johnny Depp enjoying a cigarette, and a now rare shot of Hugh Grant smiling offer an incredibly off-red carpet glimpse behind the scenes of one of the most talked about media events of the calendar year.
Accompanied by extensive captions, which offer the reader an uncensored and revealing insight into the stories behind each image, this book is a must for all cinephiles.
Cannes Uncut: The Golden Years will be available in hardback from 12 September, £45 ($58.89). You can preorder now from Amazon for a preorder price of £41.40 ($54.18).
Want to recapture the magic? Take a look at our guides to the best film cameras, the best retro cameras, and the best 35mm film.
