Cannes 2005

[rustinglass]

THE FESTIVAL DE CANNES LAUNCHES A NEW INITIATIVE TO ENCOURAGE CREATION
Press Release, March 7th 2005

In 2005, the Festival de Cannes is to inaugurate the Atelier du Festival, a programme that aims to help young filmmakers realize their film project.

The Festival has entrusted the Cinéfondation to organise the Atelier du Festival, to choose projects submitted from the world over and to bring them to the attention of producers within the unique context of the Festival.
18 filmmakers have been selected: Fatmir Koçi, Albania - Ulricke Von Ribbeck, Germany - Lissandro Alonso, Argentina - Joaquim Lafosse, Belgium - Aïda Bejic, Bosnia - Yang Tchao, China - Celia Galan Julve, Spain - David Lambert, France - Imunga Ivanga, Gabon - Nariman Turebaev, Kazakhstan - Som Ock Southonh, Laos - Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico - Tawfik Abu Wael, Palestine - Encina Paz, Paraguay - Josué Mendez, Peru - Vladimir Perisic, Serbia - Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Chad - Ryan Eslinger, United States.

The complete potential of the Festival will be placed at the disposal of these filmmakers to enable them to meet with the film professionals who may be able to help them bring their project to fruition. They will be given a personalised programme combining participation in the daily life of the Festival, meetings with professionals and screenings of their films.

The Atelier programme is a flexible initiative that proposes the solutions and means best suited to each creator to bring their project to production.
Producers will be able to consult the "Project Brochure" from the end of March and familiarise themselves with the proposed works in order to plan ahead for meetings with the artists at Cannes. An online meeting schedule will be available on the Festival website.

The Atelier is a new initiative to encourage creation projects from young professionals and as such it extends the scope of action of the Festival, already represented by the Cinéfondation, and is a continuation of the work undertaken by the Résidence du Festival which hosts directors in Paris and helps them in the writing of their film.

[rustinglass]

nothing official..... just rumours (source: kustu.com)

Almost certain...
. MANDERLAY by Lars Von Trier, the follow up of Dogville.
. LAST DAYS by Gus Van Sant
. L'ENFANT by brothers Dardenne.
. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE by David Cronenberg. Already a big favourite...
. L'ENFER by Denis Tanovic. An adaptation of a Krysztof Kieslowski story with a gorgeous French casting. We know Tanovic and Kusturica not to be the best friends in the world, but who knows...
. HIDDEN by Michael Haneke.
. LEMMING by Dominik Moll.

Possible...
. TIDELAND by Terry Gilliam.
. DEAR WENDY by Thomas Vinterberg.
. WHERE THE TRUTH LIES by Atom Egoyan.
. THE TULSE LUPPER SUITCASES by Peter Greenaway.
. ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES by John Turturro.
. QUANDO SEI NATO NON PUOI PIU NASCONDERTI by Marco Tullio Giordana.
. L'AVION by Cédric Kahn.
. LE PETIT LIEUTENANT by Xavier Beauvois.
. LA MOUSTACHE by Emmanuel Carrère.
. LE DOMAINE PERDU by Raoul Ruiz.
. LA PROMISE by Chen Kaige.
. BURNT BY THE SUN 2 by Nikita Mikhalkov (if the film is finished).
. BLOOD AND BONES by Yoichi Sai.
. SEVEN SWORDS by Tsui Hark.
. THE MAN FROM LONDON by Bela Tarr
. GO WEST by Ahmed Imamovic

Out of competition
. SIN CITY by Robert Rodriguez.
. MADAGASCAR by Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath.
. WALLACE & GROMIT, LE MYSTERE DU LAPIN-GAROU by Nick Park.
. STAR WARS EPISODE 3 - REVENGE OF THE SITH by George Lucas.
. OLIVER TWIST by Roman Polanski.
. KIRIKOU ET LES BETES SAUVAGES by Michel Ocelot.

[Gold Trumpet]

. L'ENFANT by brothers Dardenne.

I'm keyed. Hopefully the release of this in the United States is sooner than it took The Son to hit our shores.

[rustinglass]

The 58th Cannes Film Festival will take place May 11th to 22nd, 2005



LES FILMS DE LA SÉLECTION OFFICIELLE

FEATURE FILMS COMPETITION

Opening film:

Dominik MOLL LEMMING 2h09




David CRONENBERG A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE 1h30
Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE L'ENFANT 1h35
Atom EGOYAN WHERE THE TRUTH LIES 1h42
Amos GITAÏ FREE ZONE 1h33
Michael HANEKE CACHÉ 1h57
HOU Hsiao-Hsien THE BEST OF OUR TIMES 2h
Jim JARMUSCH BROKEN FLOWERS 1h45
Tommy Lee JONES 1st film THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA 1h54
Masahiro KOBAYASHI BASHING 1h22
Arnaud et Jean-Marie LARRIEU PEINDRE OU FAIRE L'AMOUR 1h38
Frank MILLER, Robert RODRIGUEZ SIN CITY 2h03
Carlos REYGADAS BATALLA EN EL CIELO (Battle in heaven) 1h41
Hiner SALEEM KILOMÈTRE ZÉRO 1h31
Johnny TO ELECTION 1h38
Marco TULLIO GIORDANA QUANDO SEI NATO NON PUOI PIÙ NASCONDERTI 1h58
Gus VAN SANT LAST DAYS 1h37
Lars VON TRIER MANDERLAY 2h19
WANG Xiaoshuai SHANGHAI DREAMS 2h03
Wim WENDERS DON'T COME KNOCKIN' 2h02

[Pubrick]

..are there usually more than that?

[rustinglass]

yes, there are more, these are the only the ones who are in competition.
visit www.festival-cannes.org for more information.

[Weak2ndAct]

Tommy Lee JONES 1st film THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA 1h54

Weird.  I've never even heard of this.  Some research turned up that it's a western w/ Jones and Barry Pepper-- most interesting thing is that it's written by Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams, Amores Perros).

[rustinglass]

yeah, this was a total surprise, when I saw this i was like: "what the f..?"
Let's all hope it's a good surprise.

[MacGuffin]

Cannes puts the focus back on filmmakers
Unlike the glamorous and controversial films of last year, this year's picks are 'a return to a sort of classicism.'

PARIS — Although the four American films selected for competition at next month's Cannes International Film Festival represent the most from an individual country, selections reflect a shift back to auteurs with less of the glitz and controversy of 2004.

After a grueling selection process that involved screening more than 1,500 entries from 97 countries, "there were two bits of white smoke today," festival artistic director Thierry Fremaux joked Tuesday. "A new pope was announced, and we announced the Cannes selection."
 
"The more we look at nationality, the more complicated it is," Fremaux said. "Overall, we hope to take a journey through the history and geography of cinema."

Many Cannes habitues will mark return engagements, including Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch, Lars von Trier, Wim Wenders, David Cronenberg and Amos Gitai. In all, nine films are English-language.

The 58th edition of the festival unfolds May 11 to May 22 in the French Riviera town. At the concurrent market, films are bought and sold, and financing comes together for movies that are only a gleam in filmmakers' eyes.

George Lucas' final "Star Wars" installment, "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," will screen out of competition on May 15, four days before it opens in the U.S. Shane Black's "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang," starring Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr., will get an out-of-competition midnight showing. Another midnight event will screen 20 minutes of George Romero's "Land of the Dead." The closing film, Martha Fiennes' "Chromophobia," re-teams her brother Ralph with his "English Patient" costar, Kristin Scott Thomas. Woody Allen's British-backed "Match Point" also screens out of competition.

Actor Tommy Lee Jones' feature directorial debut, "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," will screen in competition and is the sole first effort among the batch, which makes Jones eligible for the Golden Camera award for first-time filmmakers. The film, produced by Luc Besson's EuropaCorp., was written by Guillermo Arriaga of "Amores Perros" and "21 Grams" fame and costars Dwight Yoakam and Barry Pepper.

Three other American films to make the cut are Van Sant's "Last Days," Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers" and Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's "Sin City." Van Sant's musical drama "Last Days" stars Michael Pitt as Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.

The director is no stranger to Cannes, having picked up the Golden Palm (the festival's top prize) in 2003 for "Elephant." Jarmusch has been to Cannes six times. "Broken Flowers" is a comedy from Focus Features and France's Bac Films starring Bill Murray, Chloë Sevigny and Tilda Swinton.

Bosnian director Emir Kusturica will preside over the main competition jury, and U.S. writer-director Alexander Payne heads the jury for the Un Certain Regard sidebar, but in a departure from tradition, organizers said they would not announce jury members until next week. Although last year's American films included "Troy," "Kill Bill Vol. 2," "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Shrek 2," Fremaux said, "This year is a return to a sort of classicism. Last year allowed us to show the importance of documentaries and animation; this year there are more genre films."

Canadian auteurs Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan have in competition "A History of Violence" and "Where the Truth Lies," respectively. "History" stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris and William Hurt, who also has a film in the Un Certain Regard sidebar, James Marsh's "The King." Egoyan's "Where the Truth Lies" stars Kevin Bacon, Colin Firth and Alison Lohman in a look into the world of showbiz journalism.

Mexico's Carlos Reygadas will wear two hats at Cannes. His "Battle in Heaven" is in the main competition, and he is a producer on "Sangre" in Un Certain Regard.

Dominik Moll's "Lemming" will open the competition. The French film starring Charlotte Rampling is the highly anticipated third effort from Moll, who last directed "With a Friend Like Harry," a Cannes 2000 entry.

Danish filmmaker Von Trier, who is so afraid of flying that he drives all the way to Cannes, returns with the English-language "Manderlay" starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Lauren Bacall, Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe.

German filmmaker Wenders makes his eighth appearance at Cannes with "Don't Come Knockin'," a film shot in English and starring Jessica Lange, Sam Shepard and Tim Roth.

Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Cannes darlings following wins for "Rosetta" and "The Son," are in competition again with "The Child."

Michael Haneke will be on hand with "Hidden," starring Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory. The third French film in competition is "Peindre ou Faire L'Amour" from Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu.

Rounding out the European contenders is Marco Tullio Giordana's "Once You're Born You Can No Longer Hide," a loose take on Rudyard Kipling's "Captains Courageous."

Israeli filmmaker Gitai's "Free Zone" has secured a spot in the competition and stars Natalie Portman in a film that stirred up controversy earlier this year when a love scene was shot in front of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall.

A film from Iraq, "Kilometre Zero," also made the grade. Director Hiner Saleem's previous effort, "Vodka Lemon," was a festival favorite last year.

Four Asian films make up the rest of the pack: "The Best of Our Times" from Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Johnny To's "Election" and Wang Xiaoshuai's "Shanghai Dreams" from China, and "Bashing" from Japan's Masahiro Kobayashi.

Michael Moore's win for "Fahrenheit 9/11" wasn't last year's only controversy. The festival was also plagued with disruptions by striking show business workers. This year tempers appear to have calmed.

[MacGuffin]

Cannes delivers verdict on '05 competition jury

PARIS -- Salma Hayek, John Woo and Javier Bardem will sit on the Cannes competition jury, festival organizers have announced.

They will be joined by U.S. writer Toni Morrison, Indian actress Nandita Das, French directors Agnes Varda and Benoit Jacquot, and German director Fatih Akin, winner of the 2004 Golden Bear for "Head On," organizers said late Friday.
 
They will join previously announced president Emir Kusturica in judgment on the 20 competition titles announced last Tuesday.

Organizers also announced juries for the three following sections:

Un Certain Regard: Alexander Payne, president (director-writer, U.S.); Betsy Blair (actress, U.S.); Sandra Den Hamer (director of the Rotterdam Film Festival, Netherlands); Katia Chapoutier (journalist, Canada); Genevieve Welcomme (journalist, France); Gilles Marchand (director-writer, France); Eduardo Antin -- also known as Quintin -- (critic and writer, Argentina).

Cinefondation and shorts jury: Edward Yang, president, (director, Taiwan); Chantal Akerman (director, Belgium); Sylvie Testud (actress, France); Yousry Nasrallah (director, Egypt); Colin MacCabe (critic and writer, Ireland).

Camera d'Or jury: Abbas Kiarostami, president (director, Iran); Patrick Chamoiseau (writer, France); Malik Chibane (director, France); Romain Winding (cinematographer, France); Scott Foundas (critic, U.S.); Roberto Turigliatto (director of the Turin Film Festival, Italy); Luc Pourrinet (technician, France); Yves Allion (critic, France); Laura Meyer (cinema fan, France).

[Gold Trumpet]

The Ups & Downs Of "Brokeback Mountain"
Posted:   Tuesday April 26th, 2005 4:12pm
Source:   After Elton
Author:   Garth Franklin

Ang Lee's upcoming film "Brokeback Mountain" about two young cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) who tumble into love while herding sheep through the Wyoming mountain range during the early '60s, was excluded from the Cannes screening schedule altogether reports After Elton.

Given Ang Lee's track history, the elimination from the running at Cannes is of note, especially since the contenders this year are helmed by indie cinema darlings like Lars Von Trier, David Cronenberg, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, and Gus Van Sant (who was originally slotted to direct Brokeback). However, Cannes has also never accepted a film of Lee's for competition, and reportedly don't particularly like him. So the film's rejection from the lineup may have nothing to do with the movie itself, rather with who's directing it.

Why the project didn't measure up at Cannes remains unknown, though the trades reported two weeks earlier that "Brokeback Mountain" was "looking wobbly for Competition," and confided that the film reportedly "underwhelmed the selection committee."

This comes at odds with other recent reports that many studio executives were "moved to tears" at a recent screening of it. "It's a great American love story," says a source to the paper who confirmed it is unabashed about the gay relationship that is central to the film and there are sex scenes. Whether the famous Heath Ledger skinny dipping photos that surfaced last year were part of the film is unsure though they won't be in the movie's final edit.

One of my most reliable sources who also happens to be one of Dark Horizons' greatest supporters (and a really good friend) also confirmed that people were crying and loving the film at a recent US screening. In fact the move to December 9th seems primarily for Oscar chances and that both "Brokeback" and Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" are looking likely to be big contenders for awards next year.

[MacGuffin]

Restored cinema classics to get Cannes screening

PARIS (AFP) - Restored films by three cinema giants are to be screened on the sidelines of the Cannes film festival, organisers said.

This year's Cannes Classics will pay homage to the work of 1950s movie hero James Dean, British director Michael Powell and French filmmaker Jean Renoir.

The showing of Dean's "East of Eden" and "Rebel without a Cause" pay tribute to the screen legend who died 50 years ago in a car accident when he was just 24.

The Cannes Classics, which will be chaired by US actress Betsy Blair, will screen a restored copy of "Marty" by Delbert Mann, which won the Palme d'Or in 1955.

The festival will also honour the work of the Film Foundation -- founded by Martin Scorsese in 1990 with     Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg, Robert Altman and     Clint Eastwood with the aim of restoring old films -- with a screening of a restored version of Jean Renoir's 1951 film "The River".

Films by British director Michael Powell will be presented by the British Film Institute to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. They will include "The Edge of the World " (1937), "I Know Where I'm Going" (1945), "A Question of Life and Death" (1946), "49th Parallel" (1941) and "Black Narcissus" (1947).

Mexico will also be honoured with a presentation of a restored copy of the 1950 film "Los Olvidados" and a tribute to Emilio "Indio" Fernandez.

Meanwhile, the National Film Office of Canada announced Thursday that it was setting up a prize in honour of Norman McLaren, one of the most decorated filmmakers in history for his pioneering abstract animations.

The prize, with a 3,000 euro cheque, will be awarded to the winner of the Palme d'Or for the best short film.

[rustinglass]

So it begins...

[MacGuffin]

Camera d'Or disqualifies 3 directors
Source: Hollywood Reporter

CANNES -- Three films, including Tommy Lee Jones' Competition entry "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," have been disqualified from competing for the Camera d' Or, a spokesperson from the Camera d' Or office confirmed Saturday.

James Marsh's Un Certain Regard entry "The King" and Karin Albou's Critics' Week entry "La Petite Jerusalem" also have been taken out of the running for the prize for best first feature film after it was confirmed that all three of the helmers have directed films for the small screen, which violates qualification rules.
 
"They were withdrawn because the directors have previously done films for television," the spokesperson said. "Verification was ongoing when the festival started, and then we realized these weren't first films."

Europa Corp. chief Luc Besson who produced Jones' film declined comment on the withdrawal.

Jones made his directorial debut with the "The Good Old Boys" in 1995. Albou directed the TV feature "L'Innocente" in 2001, and Marsh directed "The Wisconsin Death Trip" in 1999.

Word on the Croisette Saturday was that Jones was the first to be disqualified, and then someone in his camp turned to online film database IMDb to point out the directing credits of the other two filmmakers. A spokesperson for Jones could not be reached by press time.

[cron]

here's something i find sadder.



PARIS IN CANNES
Paris Hilton promotes her new film National Lampoon's Pledge This! on the Carlton pier. Fresh(ish) from her success in Fox reality show The Simple Life, Miss Hilton is now concentrating on her movie career.


given the chance, i think emir kusturica should scream at her.[/b]