Cannes 2006

[Astrostic]

I thought I'd start a seperate thread for news and rumors specifically related to the 06 Cannes Festival.  So far I know that Wong Kar Wai is the jury president, that Da Vinci Code is opening the festival, and that Lynch's Inland Empire is pretty much set to preimere there. 

I've heard rumors so far on The Fountain and Black Dahlia getting screentime too. 

Anyone else have anything juicy?

[MacGuffin]

Cannes list taking shape

PARIS -- With a month to go before the Festival de Cannes lineup is unveiled, dozens of films have yet to be seen by selectors, but some certainties about what will be screening on the Croisette have emerged.

Already, a good quarter of the 20-plus Competition titles are in place. After rumors that Sofia Coppola was leaning toward a Venice premiere, her French-shot period drama "Marie-Antoinette," starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role, is now a lock for the Cannes Competition. French distributor Pathe has slated the film for a May 24 release.

The final installment of Aki Kaurismaki's Finnish trilogy, "Lights in the Dusk," also is assured a Competition slot. Kaurismaki scooped up the runner-up Grand Prix at Cannes in 2002 for "The Man Without a Past." And, as expected, Pedro Almodovar's epic comedy "Volver," starring Penelope Cruz, also will take a Competition berth.

French titles are traditionally selected last, but a strong consensus has formed around Nicole Garcia's ensemble piece "Selon Charlie" for a Competition slot.

Nanni Moretti's "The Caiman," a skewering of Italian media mogul and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has yet to be screened by selectors, but those who have seen the movie ahead of its release in Italy on Friday said its strengths should guarantee it a place in Competition. Moretti won the Palme d'Or in 2001 for "The Son's Room."

"Babel," a story told in three parts from Mexican helmer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, is thought very likely for Competition.

Meanwhile, rumors are growing that one-time Competition shoo-in David Lynch might not have his experimental non-narrative film "Inland Empire" completed in time. Others think this is bluff. "I think the film will be ready in time. David will be going to Cannes even if he pretends he's not. It's 99% certain," one Lynch associate said.

Another raft of titles look certain for inclusion, though for which section of the festival's various options remains in the balance. Among these are "Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo del Toro's chilling fantastical story set against the backdrop of a fascist regime in 1944 rural Spain, and "The Climate," from Turkish helmer Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose film "Distant" won the Grand Prix in 2003. "Shortbus," John Cameron Mitchell's follow-up to his acclaimed debut "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," also falls into this category. Set in contemporary New York, the film is a steamy exploration of relationships as seen through gender, sexuality, art and music.

The tear-jerking World War II drama "Indigenes" (Days of Glory), a Franco-Morrocan-Algerian co-production directed by Rachid Bouchareb and starring a quartet of France's top talent of North African origin, is a Cannes certainty, though not necessarily for Competition. Some involved with the film are keen on a high-profile, out-of-Competition screening similar to that for Christian Carion's WWI-set "Merry Christmas" last year, which helped that movie secure a U.S. deal with Sony Pictures Classics and a subsequent Oscar nomination.

A slew of further movies are scrambling to present a finished cut. These include Richard Linklater's "Fast Food Nation" and Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain."

Of the old British hands, Ken Loach looks the safest bet for Competition with "The Wind That Shakes the Barley." With its sympathetic look at Republicans in early 20th century Ireland, the movie already is attracting controversy in the U.K. Stephen Frears' "The Queen," made for TV in the U.K. but destined for theatrical release elsewhere, may yet secure some sort of Cannes slot, but Competition looks increasingly unlikely.

The only titles so far announced by organizers are Columbia Pictures' Tom Hanks starrer "The Da Vinci Code," which opens the festival on May 17, and the multidirector composite film "Paris, je t'aime" (Paris, I Love You), which will kick off the sidebar Un Certain Regard the following day. The full lineup will be announced April 20 in Paris.

With Cannes running a week later than usual, selectors are making full use of the extra time before sending out official offers to films. Dozens of major titles are scheduled to be screened in the coming weeks, so many producers are waiting to hear if they have made the cut.

"On paper, it looks good," Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux said during a recent visit to Berlin. "Last year, it was a fairly classic lineup. This year, I want to create some surprises."

Animated films are expected to be represented at the festival, with possible contenders including Michel Ocelot's medieval Arabian tale "Azur and Asmar" and the satirical teen/adult cartoon "Snow White, the Sequel" from Belgian director Picha. Picha's "The Missing Link" unspooled In Competition at Cannes in 1980. Disney/Pixar's "Cars" will not be previewed in Cannes because the European junket will take place the weekend before the fest kicks off at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

Anders Morgenthaler's X-rated "Princess," billed as the first Danish Manga film, looks likely for the sidebar Un Certain Regard. Produced by Zentropa, the film tells the story of ex-priest August and Mia, the 5-year-old daughter of former porn-star the Princess, who go on a mission to destroy all pornographic material with her in it.

Among titles that can now be ruled out of Croisette contention are the psychological drama "I Am the Other Woman" from German veteran Margarethe von Trotta, which now seems likely for a Venice premiere, and two-time Palme d'Or winner Emir Kusturica's documentary on Argentine soccer legend Maradona, which won't be completed in time. Woody Allen's "Scoop" also will not be ready for Cannes.

If soccer fan Fremaux wants to include a soccer-themed film ahead of the World Cup Finals in June, a likely one is "Zidane," a 90-minute real-time portrait of French star Zinedine Zidane directed by contemporary artists Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno.

Asian titles remain hard to predict. Most likely to appear somewhere is horror/sci-fi picture "The Host" from Korean helmer Joon-ho Bong, its subject matter of a mutant rising from Seoul's Han river suggesting it may play well as a midnight screening. Jong-bin Yoon's "Unforgiven," which premiered at South Korea's Pusan Film Festival, is expected to resurface in Un Certain Regard.

Chinese hopefuls include "Luxury Car," the third film by Wang Chao, which has yet to be screened by selectors; Lou Ye's as-yet-unfinished "Summer Palace"; and helmer Jia Zhangke's "Still Life," also in postproduction.

Elsewhere, German veteran and Palme d'Or winner Volker Schloendorff is being tipped for a slot in Un Certain Regard with "The Heroine," the story of the female dock worker at the shipyard in Gdansk who triggered the strike that lead to the creation of the Solidarity movement.

Also on the Un Certain Regard short list is Maria Speth's mother-daughter relationship drama "Madonnas," which Pandora is producing and the Match Factory is selling worldwide. And Frenchman Jean-Claude Brisseau's "Exterminating Angel," the tale of erotic casting sessions that has some crossover with the director's recent true-life travails, is said to be assured of a place in one of the sidebars.

Cannes' Critics' Week sidebar has yet to lock down a single title. The only title so far confirmed is a special screening of "Return to Kigali," a documentary about the genocide in Rwanda by French journalist-turned-filmmaker Jean-Christophe Klotz, organizers said.

Directors' Fortnight has only locked down a handful of titles so far, among them Julian Goldberger's Sundance Film Festival entry "The Hawk Is Dying" starring Paul Giamatti, and a as-yet-unannounced drama by a first-time French director. Also tipped for a Directors' Fortnight slot is near-future satire "How to Get Rid of Others" from Danish director Anders Ronnow Klarlund.

Among strong documentary contenders are IFC TV's "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" directed by Kirby Dick, a critical look at the MPAA ratings board, and "The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl," an HBO-commissioned film tracking the parallel lives of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl and the man convicted of killing him, Omar Sheikh.

[Astrostic]

from Joblo.com

"I know our head honcho JoBlo himself was debating his return trip to the Cannes Film Festival this year but that was before this latest announcement. Cannes '06 will have a line-up that will be as impressive as any I've seen in recent years including recent additions X3, THE FOUNTAIN, OVER THE HEDGE, BABEL and PAN'S LABYRINTH in addition to the previously announced DA VINCI CODE and MARIE ANTOINETTE. Not to shabby, eh? Sadly, you'll also have to sit through 20-minutes of Oliver Stone's WORLD TRADE CENTER but don't let that ruin your good time. As you might expect, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND (God, I hate that title) will be screening out of competition though Darren Aronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN will play as part of the "official selection." Director Wong Kar Wai (2046) is the Cannes jury president this year, which has a decidedly more mainstream feel. There are still more titles to announce though it seems that films once considered shoe-ins like Steven Soderbergh's THE GOOD GERMAN, FUR with Nicole Kidman and THE BLACK DAHLIA won't be ready in time to premiere at the festival. One film still looking for a slot is CLERKS 2, which The Weinstein Co. is trying to align for director Kevin Smith. All-in-all sounds like a good time in the south of France this May."

surprisingly mainstream and American.  I'll be sure to try and get into the Marie Antoinette and The Fountain screenings, and John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus will play, too, so I'll try and check that out.  But seriously, X-Men 3?  It's already coming out in theatres in May, so it's totally unnecessary for it to be taking up a screen at this festival. Clerks 2? Over the Hedge, the remake of the already bad Madagascar? I just hope they save room for, say, a few non-Hollywood or, perhaps, even some INTERNATIONAL films.

[MacGuffin]

"Platoon" gets second shot at Cannes fest

Twenty years after it was turned down for selection by the Cannes organizers, Oliver Stone's Vietnam drama "Platoon" will screen at the 2006 edition of the festival next month to coincide with a DVD re-release.

At the same time, festival organizers announced in Paris that French actor Vincent Cassel will serve as master of ceremonies for the 59th annual event, and will host the opening and closing ceremonies on May 17 and May 28.

Stone will attend the festival for the May 21 screening along with most of the major cast members of "Platoon," which won four Oscars in 1986, including best picture and best director. The announcement was made by MGM, which is releasing the DVD.

"It's been digitally re-mastered, so it's the cleanest version of the film there's ever been," said MGM vp communications Jeff Pryor.

Cannes organizers declined to give further details, but it is expected that "Platoon" will unspool in the Cannes Classics section reserved for restored and re-mastered cinema classics.

While in Cannes, Stone will also talk up his upcoming movie "World Trade Center," with Paramount showcasing some early footage from the picture.

Cassel, best known internationally for his role as the charming French crook in "Ocean's Twelve," first attended Cannes in 1995, with "Hate," directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. He returned to Cannes 2002, with Gaspard Noe's "Irreversible."

[©brad]

cool.

[pete]

wow, this year's fest looks a bit more hefty than last year hollywoodfest.

[grand theft sparrow]

BREAKING: Cannes Competition Slate Announced

The big cheeses at Cannes just revealed the competition slate for this year's festival, and it turns out that most of the rumors were true. Among the high-profile films competing for top honors will be Pedro Almodovar's Volver, Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation, Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette, Guillermo Del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, and Nanni Moretti The Caiman.

Screening out of competition (in addition to the previously-announced titles) will be Johnnie To's Election 2, which just had its premiere at the Hong Kong International Festival and was very well received.

The full list is after the jump.
Opening film
The Da Vinci Code (Ron Howard)

Closing film
Transylvania (Tony Gatlif)

In competition
Flandres (Bruno Dumont)
Selon Charlie (Nicole Garcia)
Quand j'etais Chaunteur (When I was a Singer) (Xavier Giannoli)
Volver (Pedro Almodovar)
Red Road (Andrea Arnold)
La Raison Du Plus Faible (The Weakest Is Always Right) (Lucas Belvaux)
Indegenes (Days Of Glory) (Rachid Bouchareb)
Iklimer (Climates) (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
Juventude em Marcha (Pedro Costa)
Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
Babel (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
Lights In The Dusk (Aki Kaurismaki)
Southland Tales (Richard Kelly)
Fast Food Nation (Richard Linklater)
The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Ken Loach)
Summer Palace (Lou Ye)
The Caiman (Nanni Moretti)
L'Amico del Famiglia (Friend Of The Family) (Paolo Sorrentino)

Official selection - Out Of Competition special screenings
United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
X-Men 3: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner)
Over The Hedge (Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick)

Official selection: Midnight screenings
Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell)
Election 2 (Johnnie To)
Guisi (Silk) (Su Chao-pin)
__________________________________________________________


Southland Tales is 2 1/2 hours long?!!

[Astrostic]

Totally awesome line-up, but WHERE is the FOUNTAIN??? such a disappointing absence, I was looking forward to seeing it there.

[MacGuffin]

The stars who will shine over Cannes
Wong Kar Wai has proved an intriguing choice as president of the jury at Cannes this year, picking a panel that includes both stars and cutting-edge directors. Jason Solomons casts his eye over this year's films and asks: who will walk away with the Palme d'Or?
Source: The Observer

Wong Kar Wai will be the man to watch when the Cannes Film Festival opens this week. If you're looking for elegance, style and cool on the French Riviera, the Hong Kong director is the best bet. He may even take his mirror shades off.

Although he doesn't have a film to show this year, he is president of the jury and has assembled a panel boasting a cast any film would envy: Monica Bellucci, Helena Bonham Carter and Zhang Ziyi are his leading ladies; Samuel L Jackson and Tim Roth his leading men; his assistant directors are Lucrecia Martel (the Argentinian woman behind Cannes successes La Niña Santa and La Ciénaga), Palestine's Elia Suleiman and Patrice Leconte (the French stylist behind such varied works as Ridicule, Monsieur Hire and L'homme du train.

Indeed, the jury will be starrier than most of the film casts heading up the steps. Usually, the jury consists of one or two well-known figures, a couple of world cinema directors and two or three writers, intellectuals and maybe a wild card (last year Toni Morrison, a few years back French rapper MC Solaar) but never has there been such wattage as this year.

Wong's team have unusually strong Cannes links, too: Bellucci is married to French star Vincent Cassel, who is hosting the opening ceremony; Zhang made her European splash here in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Jackson and Roth boast the Tarantino connection, Quentin having been Jury president two years ago and Pulp Fiction, in which they both starred, having won the Palme d'Or in 1994.

Let's hope such glamour-heavy jurors do not divert focus from the talent they are judging. The jury remain (or are supposed to remain) tight-lipped throughout the competition's 10 days but they're always around, either climbing the famous red-carpeted steps, dining on the Carlton Beach, partying in VIP rooms, or lurking at the back of press screenings.

At this 59th edition of the festival, the jury have 20 films from 13 countries to consider. As usual, it's impossible to tell what themes will emerge or what trends will be uncovered, but the line-up has a tantalising mix of old faces, new talents and varied subjects.

Glitziest entry is perhaps Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette, sure to bring with it a retinue even more glamorous than the one retained by the queen herself: Kirsten Dunst, Judy Davis, Asia Argento, Marianne Faithfull, Danny Huston are stars attending. Advance rumours suggest it retells French history in a manner that may mint a new genre - the ba-rock opera.

Alejandro González Iñárritu's new film Babel is the one I'm looking forward to most. The director of Amores Perros and 21 Grams returns with another fractured narrative (he calls his approach 'cubist') set in Morocco, Mexico and Japan, beginning with a tragedy striking a holidaying couple. It's written with his usual collaborator Guillermo Arriaga- who helped Tommy Lee Jones to glory here last year by writing Three Burials. Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Gael García Bernal are the stars, and who knows what pandemonium may ensue should 'Brangelina' make a red carpet appearance.

At 30 years old, Richard Kelly, who directed Donnie Darko, is the youngest competitor in this auteur's World Cup, with perhaps the riskiest entry: Southland Tales, an offbeat, musical/sci-fi vision of America in the near-future, in which Sarah Michelle Gellar is a porn star, wrestler-turned-actor The Rock is married to Mandy Moore and Justin Timberlake is a pilot. The music has been composed by Moby.

Old favourites include: that infuriating Finn, Aki Kaurismäki, with Lights in the Dusk; Italy's Nanni Moretti, with his Berlusconi-baiting The Caiman; our own Ken Loach with The Wind that Shakes the Barley (hot insider tip: Cillian Murphy for Best Actor); and Pedro Almodóvar, back with Volver, starring Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura and Lola Dueñas.

The French will be hoping for a first home win since, incredibly, Maurice Pialat's Sous le soleil de Satan in 1987 (last year's winners the Dardenne brothers are Belgian, so don't count). Their regular clutch of entries includes: Bruno Dumont's Flandres, Nicole Garcia's Selon Charlie and Lucas Belvaux, creator of the extraordinary Trilogy, with a film called La raison du plus faible in which he also stars.

At this stage, it is difficult to seek thematic trends but it does look as though, in a reflection of our turbulent times, civil and religious wars mixed with ensuing social upheaval will be at the forefront - Loach (Irish independence), Rachid Bouchareb (Days of Glory depicts Algerian soldiers in French army), Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth set during Spanish Civil War), Lou Ye (Summer Palace is a romance set against a backdrop of Tiananmen Square).

One contender for whom Cannes is certain to be a star-making occasion is indie director Richard Linklater, who has two films based on books in the Official Selection. Fast Food Nation is in the main competition, produced by Jeremy Thomas from Eric Schlosser's book and starring Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke among many others, examining whether we are what we eat. A Scanner Darkly, a part-animated, more experimental piece is in the Un Certain Regard sidebar, starring Keanu Reeves and based on Philip K Dick's drug experiences.

Who will win? It's up to the jury, and what may meet with Wong Kar Wai's particular taste. Lou Ye is Asia's only entry and if his last film, Suzhou River is any indicator, could chime with Wong's preferences. Dartford's Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold has already achieved plenty, getting her first feature, Red Road, into the fray.

It's hard to imagine anything being better than Paul Greengrass's United 93, but this superb film from a world class British director is, disappointingly, showing Out of Competition - presumably because it was felt awarding a prize to a film about so many people dying, people whose families are still grieving, might be seen as distasteful.

Personally, I can't see a more fitting tribute, both to the victims and to the marvellous, thrilling, scary, shocking, moving work the director has done on the topic of our times. But if you're asking me to take a punt, then I'm going for the combination of Iñárritu, Arriaga and Pitt, a mix of thrills, philosophy and glamour, three key ingredients to a great Cannes.

[Pubrick]

Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinette,
[...]
the ba-rock opera.

awesome description. promote whoever coined it.

A Scanner Darkly,
[...]
based on Philip K Dick's drug experiences.

crap description. fire that man.

Who will win?

i dunno, let's say.. moe.

[MacGuffin]

Loach wins top Cannes prize

British director Ken Loach won the "Palme d'Or" at the Cannes film festival on Sunday with "The Wind That Shakes The Barley," a drama about the Irish struggle for independence in 1920.

The Golden Palm, the highest cinema award outside the Oscars, went to one of Britain's most respected left-wing film makers, and was a fitting choice for a festival where movies about and war and politics stole the limelight.

The 69-year-old Cannes veteran told Reuters in an interview this month that the Irish fight for independence against an empire imposing its will on a foreign people had resonances with the U.S. occupation of Iraq today.

After receiving the award at a star-studded ceremony in Cannes, Loach said:

"Our film is about, we hope, a little step, a very little step in the British confronting their imperialist history. And maybe, if we tell the truth about the past, maybe we tell the truth about the present."

Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney star as two brothers who join the guerrilla war against British forces. But the men face harrowing choices when they end up on opposite sides of the conflict.

Chinese director Wong Kar Wai, president of the nine-member jury, said the decision on the Palme d'Or was unanimous.

WAR FILM TAKES RUNNER-UP AWARD

The Grand Prix, or runner up prize, was awarded to "Flanders," directed by France's Bruno Dumont.

The film is an examination of war and its effect on those who fight and those who are left behind. It is told through the story of the young and taciturn farmhand Demester, who is called up to fight a war in an unspecified country.

While Dumont does not define the cause of the conflict, brutal images of desert landscapes, troops under fire from Arab snipers and executions of soldiers caught by the enemy will be seen by audiences as a clear reference to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ensemble female cast of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's "Volver," including Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura, won the best actress prize.

"This prize really belongs to Pedro," said Cruz, wearing a long red dress. "You are the greatest, the bravest. You put so much magic into our lives. Thanks for what you do for women all over the world."

The best actor category also went to a cast as opposed to an individual, in this case that of "Indigenes," screening as "Days of Glory" in English, about the role North African troops played in defending France during World War Two.

The cast includes Jamel Debbouze, Samy Naceri and Sami Bouajila.

Almodovar won best screenplay for Volver, his bitter-sweet tale of abuse, abandonment and reconciliation which was the critics' favorite to take the Palme d'Or before the awards were announced.

Best director went to Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel," a sweeping portrayal of barriers -- personal, cultural and national -- which was shot on three continents and stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

The Jury Prize went to Britain's Andrea Arnold, who was in Cannes with her first feature film "Red Road," about a woman whose job is to monitor the grim streets of Glasgow through security cameras that seem to be on every corner.

She embarks on a dangerous quest for revenge when she comes across a dark figure from her past.

[cron]

sweet