slimmed-down Competition lineup with a flush of new names, a solid raft of Croisette faves spiced up with several A-list U.S. titles, plus several intriguing genre choices is the recipe that organisers of the 57th Festival de Cannes said they hope will revitalise the May event after what most agreed was a poor edition last year.
The 18-film selection announced on April 21 features a strong presence from Asian directors, who make up a third of the total, as well as a return for both animated features and documentary films.
Underlining the injection of fresh blood, artistic director Thierry Fremaux noted that 12 of the competing directors had not previously contended for the Palme d’Or. “It’s a Competition lineup of discoveries and familiar faces,” he said.
In recent years, the Competition has featured 20-23 titles. “Our wish is not to give in to the temptation of inflation,” Fremaux added. The list nonetheless should contain sufficient festival favourites to satisfy ardent fans of auteur fare. Chief among these are two-time Palme d’Or winner Emir Kusturica with his Balkan comedy-drama Life Is A Miracle; Wong Kar-wai with his long-awaited 2046, which sees him reteam with Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung; and Walter Salles with The Motorcycle Diaries, his story of Che Guevara’s early travels through Latin America, which Focus Features will distribute domestically.
Other Cannes regulars are Joel and Ethan Coen, though the inclusion of their comedy remake of Buena Vista’s The Ladykillers In Competition raised eyebrows among those who consider it too much of a studio comedy to fit in. The film does, however, have the undeniable advantage of the promise of bringing Tom Hanks to Cannes for the first time.
The Asian contingent includes two South Korean directors, Park Chan-Wook with Old Boy and Hong Sang-Soo with Woman Is The Future Of Man Japan’s Hirokazu Koreeda, who will accompany his film Nobody Knows; and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, whose Tropical Malady ranks as the first Thai film to compete for the top honour.
Also from Japan comes Mamoru Oshii’s Innocence the first manga film In Competition and one of two animated features in this year’s lineup, the other being DreamWorks’ Shrek 2, directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. Similarly, Fremaux has indulged his bent for documentary, offering a second Competition berth to Michael Moore, this time for his critique of the Bush administration’s foreign and security policy, Fahrenheit 9/11.
This year will also mark the return to Competition of German cinema after an 11-year gap with Hans Weingartner’s intergenerational film Die Fetten Jahre Sind Vorbei (The Edukators). French titles have been pared down to three from last year’s five: Clean, directed by Croisette regular Olivier Assayas; Comme une image (Look At Me), directed by Agnes Jaoui (Le Gout des Autres); and Exiles, director Tony Gatlif’s exploration of his childhood in Algeria. The latter two directors, despite distinguished filmographies, are both newcomers to the Competition.
Other newcomers include Argentine director Lucrecia Martel with La Nina Santa (The Holy Girl) and Italy’s Paolo Sorrentino with his debut, Le Conzeguenze dell’Amore (The Consequences Of Love).
The only U.K. entry is Stephen Hopkins’ biopic The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers, which stars Geoffrey Rush as the troubled comic genius, from HBO Films and BBC Films. Sitting in judgment on these films, under the presidency of Quentin Tarantino, will be directors Jerry Schatzberg and Hark Tsui; writer Edwidge Danticat; actresses Emmanuelle Beart, Tilda Swinton and Kathleen Turner; actor Benoit Poelvoorde; and film critic Peter Von Bagh.
Out of Competition screenings include Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy (Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow), Tarantino’s Kill Bill-Vol. 2 (Miramax Films) and Jean-Luc Godard’s Our Music, which will unspool as part of a tribute to the director’s work.
On the last day of the festival there will be an added screening of both parts of Kill Bill presented as one film, with the end credits from Vol. 1 and the opening credits of Vol. 2 eliminated.
Other noncompeting titles are 10e Chambre Instants d’Audiences (10th District Court — Moments Of Trials), from veteran documentary filmmaker Raymond Depardon; Miramax’s Bad Santa, directed by Terry Zwigoff; and Mondovino, a documentary in which Jonathan Nossiter takes a look at the world through the wine people drink. The only midnight screening so far announced is Universal Pictues/UIP’s Dawn Of The Dead, Zack Snyder’s remake of George Romero’s 1978 zombie cult classic.
Fremaux said selectors had seen an exponential increase in films submitted this year, with a 42% hike on last year’s figure to some 3,562 short and feature-length works. Fremaux attributed this largely to the growing use of cheaper digital filmmaking methods.
Among stars expected to climb the red-carpeted steps during the 12-day event are Brad Pitt; Charlize Theron; the voice cast of Shrek 2, including Eddie Murphy — his first time in Cannes — Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz; Penelope Cruz; Sean Penn; Naomi Watts; Nick Nolte; Kevin Kline; Uma Thurman; and Emily Watson. The Un Certain Regard sidebar comprises the familiar mix of new faces and old hands, with a wide geographical spread, including films from Kazakhstan (Schizo, by Gulshat Omarova) and Hungary (Kontroll, by Antal Nimrod). Overall, 19 countries are represented, and nine of the films are from first-timers.
Among seasoned filmmakers in the lineup are Iran’s Abbas Kiarostami (10 on Ten), Egypt’s Youssef Chahine (La Rage de couer [Rage In The Heart]) and France’s Benoit Jacquot (“A Tout de suite” [I’ll Be Right Back]). Hot titles in the lineup include Shona Auerbach’s Dear Frankie, for which Miramax had previously snapped up U.S. rights. The only U.S. film in Un Certain Regard is Niels Mueller’s The Assassination Of Richard Nixon, starring Penn and Watts from Monsoon Pictures/Open City Films.
This year’s Cannes filmmaking master class will be given by British director Stephen Frears. A similar lesson in music will be hosted by Lalo Schifrin, and in a new initiative, an acting master class will be given by Max Von Sydow. Among other novelties this year, on May 18 organisers have arranged a meeting of European Union culture ministers, including the 10 from countries that are set to join May 1; directors Frears, Milos Forman and Jean-Claude Carriere; and young artists to discuss how one becomes a cineaste. On May 16 there will be a round table bringing together studio bosses from Hollywood to Bollywood to discuss anti-piracy measures.