Kanye West to Debut Film at Cannes

May 18, 2012


Next Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France, Kanye West and DONDA, the creative firm he introduced in a January Twitter rant, will premiere Cruel Summer, a new "7 Screen Experience" short film/art installation. It will be open to the public for a couple days, RSVP here for tickets, which are free. Earlier this year, West said the film was "semi sci-fi" and set in the year 2016, but according to a press release, it is "inspired by the new G.O.O.D Music album," which we also be called Cruel Summer.

In April, West was spotted filming with Kid Cudi in Doha, Qatar. It's not clear whether he was working on Cruel Summer or a different project while there, but a poster for Cruel Summer, seen above, depicts Middle Eastern-style architecture.

Update 5/23/2012: Senior GQ editor Logan Hill attended the Cruel Summer premiere, and shares these details:

* Kid Cudi stars as a Lamborghini thief who falls in love with a blind woman.
* The film was co-produced by the Doha Film Institute. It was shot in four days, features 20 camels and 100 extras, and was screened inside a pop-up pryamid.
* West plans to take the short around the world. It will be shown at a festival in Qatar in Novemeber.
* Artist Vanessa Beecroft, who previously collaborated with West on a listening event for his album 808s & Heartbreak, did the production design.

Kanye West to Debut Film at Cannes