There will be a breath of fresh talent at the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25), whose official selection was unveiled at midday today in Paris by festival president Gilles Jacob and delegate general Thierry Frémeaux.

Of the 20 directors competing for the 2008 Palme d’Or, eight of them are in fact making their official competition debut.

A total of eight European features will be in the line-up (including an as yet unnamed French film, and unconfirmed opening and closing films) headed by Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, who will vie for a third Palme d’Or with The Silence of Lorna.

Italian films take pride of place with two contenders (Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra and Paolo Sorrentino’s Il divo), alongside the French titles that had already been named: Arnaud Desplechin’s Conte de Noël (“Christmas Tale”) and Philippe Garrel’s La frontière de l’aube (“The Edge of Dawn”).

Festival regular Wim Wenders will represent Germany with The Palermo Shooting but the surprise contender is Hungarian title Delta by Kornél Mundruczó (success predicted by Cineuropa – news).

The 12 other competition titles are dominated by four US features (including films by Steven Soderbergh and Clint Eastwood), three South American films (including Walter Salles’ latest) and three Asian titles (including Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s 24 City).

The Middle East will be represented by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Israel’s Ari Folman (with an animated documentary).

Limited to 49 features for the moment, the Official Selection programme will also include out-of-competition screenings of the latest works by Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen, as well as special screenings of Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana’s Sangue pazzo (“Mad Blood”) and Wong Kar Wai’s The Ashes of Time Redux.

Competition

Le Silence de Lorna - Luc et Jean-Pierre Dardenne (BE)
Gomorra - Matteo Garrone (IT)
Il divo - Paolo Sorrentino (IT)
The Palermo Shooting - Wim Wenders (DE)
Delta - Kornél Mundruczó (HU)
Conte de Noël - Arnaud Desplechin (FR)
La frontière de l’aube - Philippe Garrel (FR)
Leonera - Pablo Trapero (AR)
Synecdoche, New York - Charlie Kaufman (US)
Changeling - Clint Eastwood (US)
Adoration - Atom Egoyan (CA)
Three Monkeys - Nuri Bilge Ceylan (TR)
My Magic - Eric Khoo (ID)
Linha de Passe - Walter Salles (BR)
Che - Steven Soderbergh (US)
24 City - Jia Zhangke (CN)
Serbis - Brillante Mendoza (PH)
Waltz With Bashir - Ari Folman (doc - IL)
La mujer sin cabeza - - Lucrecia Martel (AR)

Out of Competition

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Woody Allen(US -ES)
Indiana Jones et le Royaume du Crâne de Cristal - Steven Spielberg(US)
The Good, the Bad, the Weird - Jee-woon (KR)
Kung Fu Panda - Mark Osborne & John Stevenson (US)

Special Screenings

Sangue pazzo - Marco Tullio Giordana (IT)
The Ashes of Time Redux - Wong Kar Wai (CN)
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired - Marina Zenovich (US)
C’est dur d’être aimé par des cons - Daniel Leconte (FR)
Chelsea Hotel - Abel Ferrara
Of Time and the City - Terence Davies (UK)

Midnight Screenings

Maradona - Emir Kusturica
Surveillance - Jennifer Lynch
The Chaser - Hong-Jin Na

Special Jury President’s Screening

The Third Wave - Alison Thompson

(Fabien Lemercier forCineuropa)

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Email/Bookmark  Print This Post

Recommended...

Cannes 2008 Selection: Mundruczó’s Delta Edges Closer to Competition

Cannes 2008: Official Secelction to be announced on April 23

Cannes 2008 Competition: Cantet, Mereilles and Gray join Palme d’Or contenders

Cannes 2008: Golden Coach Award to Jim Jarmush

7 films from the NDTV Lumière Library are part of Cannes 2008