Eyes turn to Cannes news
Now that the curtain has fallen on the Oscars and Berlinale attention is turning to the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25) and rumours are already starting to circulate.
French titles vying for selection in the official competition - whose jury will be presided by Sean Penn- include favourites Let It Rain by Agnès Jaoui, Laurent Cantet’s Entre les murs (“Between the Walls”) and Arnaud Desplechin’s Un conte de Noël (“A Christmas Tale”).
Foreign contenders include Bertrand Tavernier’s In the Electric Mist; Claire Denis’ 35 Rhums and White Material; Rithy Panh’s Un barrage contre le pacifique (“A Dam Against the Pacific”); Barbet Schroeder’s Inju; Bertrand Bonello’s De la guerre (“Of War”); and the Larrieu brothers’ Le Voyage aux Pyrénées (“Journey to the Pyrenees”).
Surprise successes could include Bancs publics (“Public Stands”) by Bruno Podalydes (Versailles rive droite); Agnès Merlet’s Dorothy Mills; Michel Houellebecq’s Possibility of an Island and Philippe Garrel’s La frontière de l’aube (“Border of Dawn”).
Mathieu Kassovitz’s Babylon A.D. is an impressive candidate for opening film (set to screen out of competition). The race has now begun.
Other potential European titles include Belgian film Le silence de Lorna (“Lorna’s Silence”) by the Dardenne brothers. Italy is also well represented with three contenders: Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo (“The Star”); Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra and Marco Tullio Giordana’s Sangue pazzo (“Mad Blood”).
Germany will be pinning its hopes on Wim Wenders’ The Palermo Shooting but Oscar winner Caroline Link’s Aftermath is also a strong contender. The UK will be hoping for success with Michael Winterbottom’s Genova and Saul Dibb’s The Duchess.
Other noteworthy contenders include The County Teacher by Czech director Bohdan Sláma (prize-winner at San Sebastian Film Festival in 2005) and Delta by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó.
The Cannes selection could also comprise Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Daydreams, Walter Salles’ Linha de Passe, Tran Anh Hung’s I Come with the Rain, Fernando Meirelles’ L’aveuglement (“The Blinding”), Lucrecia Martel’s La Femme sans tête (“The Headless Woman”), Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Even If You Walk and Walk, Naomi Kawase’s If Only the Whole World Loved Me, Kim Ki-duk’s Bi-mong, Samira Makmalbaf’s Two-Legged Horse, Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and Atom Egoyan’s Adoration.
US contenders are numerous and include out-of-competition titles Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by Steven Spielberg and Speed Racer by the Wachowski brothers. Vying for competition selection are Steven Soderbergh’s The Argentine, David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, James Gray’s Two Lovers, the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading and Clint Eastwood’s The Changeling.
(Fabien Lemercier for Cineuropa)
