Festival de Cannes Closing Night, Lineup and Poster - Final FINAL Announcement Made

The Festival de Cannes lives up to its name in its selection of its first 16 Competition Films from 13 countries. But an international cry went up when at the first announcement not a single picture was directed by a woman in the Competition area. (Last year there were directors Jane Campion, Isabel Coixet and Andrea Arnold.)  However, the Closing Night film was just announced and it is Julie Bertucelli’s The Tree, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas and Aden Young.  It will close the 63rd Festival de Cannes on Sunday, May 23rd following the Awards Ceremony. Memento is the international sales agent.  Contacts for all films are listed below.

The other women invited can be found in the special screening sidebar where Sophie Fiennes' Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow about the German artist Anselm Kiefer, one of five docs chosen to be in the festival, Sabina Guzzanti's Draquila -- L'Italia che trema about the aftermath of the tremendous earthquake in Aquila, Lucy Walker's Countdown to Zero and Luciana Bezerra's  Por Nos Mesmos, one of the 5 shorts in Brazil's 5XFavela. Un Certain Regard gives Agnes Kocsis' Adrienn Pal a slot. Tha's 5.25 out of 34 slots or 15%

AND they put Juliette Binoche on the poster. Cannes Festival Poster 63rd Edition May 12 - 23, 2010. The photo shows French actress Juliette Binoche writing "Cannes" with a luminous brush taken by New York-based French photographer Brigitte Lacombe.

There is also a lack of a strong Asian presence compared to last year with films from the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Thailand and China. This year, Japan's Kitano will premiere his thriller Outrage, Hideo Nakata’s Chatroom comes to A Certain Regard from Japan. South Korean Lee’s Poetry is in Competition along with South Korean director Im Sang-Soo’s Competition title, the remake Housemaid. Un Certain Regard is featuring Ha Ha Ha, directed by Hong Sangsoo.

Nor is it a strong year for Latin American cinema though Mexican director Gonzalez Inarritu is bringing Biutiful and Patricio Guzman is bringing Nostalgia de la luz from Chile into a Special Screening. Los Labios by Ivan Fund and Santiago Loza are also in Un Certain Regard as is Octubre by Daniel Vega

Doubling back on the earlier Tipped for Cannes Report, the score of Tips (TC) thus far from IW (IndieWire)= , SI (Screen Int’l)= and ion = . I got one myself (SL).

IN COMPETITION:

Tournee by Mathieu Almaric (France).  International Sales Agent (ISA): Le Pacte.  An ex producer of big stage spectacles makes a comeback with strippers who tour around France. (See photo left)

Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project by Kornél Mundruczó (Hungary) Coproduction Office

Of Gods & Men by Xavier Beauvois (Algeria, France) Wild Bunch (SI-TC)

The Exodus — The Fortress: Burnt By The Sun 2 aka Utomlyonnye Solntsem 2 by Nikita Mikhalkov (Russia) Wild Bunch (SI-TC)

Biutiful by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Spain) Focus Features (IW-TC)

Another Year directed by Mike Leigh (UK) Focus Features (IW-TC)

Hors La Loi aka Outside the Law by Rachid Bouchareb (France) Studio Canal (SI-TC)

The Princess Of Montpensier by Bertrand Tavernier (France) Studio Canal (SI-TC)

Un Homme Qui Crie aka A Screaming Man by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Belgium/ France) Pyramide Int'l

The Housemaid by Im Sang-soo (So. Korea) Mirovision (SI-TC).  This film's origins are the Rotterdam Cinemart 2008.

Certified Copy by Abbas Kiarostami (France) MK2 (SI -TC)

Outrage by Takeshi Kitano (Japan) Celluloid Dreams

La Nostra Vita aka Our Life by Daniele Luchetti (Italy) Celluloid Dreams

Poetry by Lee Chang-dong (Korea) Finecut (SI -TC)

Fair Game by Doug Liman (USA) Summit (IW-TC)

You, My Joy by Sergei Loznitsa (Germany/ Ukraine) Lemming Film & Ma Je De producers

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives aka Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand/ /UK/France/Germany/Spain) The Match Factory

Chongqing Blues aka Rizhao Chongqing by Wang Xiaoshuai (China) Films Distribution (SL-TC) A sea captain, returns from a 6 month journey when he is told that his 25-year-old son has been gunned down by the police. In his quest to understand what happened, he realizes he knew very little about his own son. He starts a journey back to Chongqin, a city he once lived. He will understand the impact of his paternal repeated absence on the life of his child.

OUT OF COMPETITION:

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu by Andrei Ujică (Romania) produced by Velvet Moraru


Carlos the Jackal by Olivier Assayas (France) StudioCanal (IW-TC)

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger by Woody Allen (Spain, USA) Imagina (IW-TC)

Tamara Drewe by Stephen Frears (UK) Westend (IW-TC)

Wall Street 2 by Oliver Stone (USA) 20th Century Fox (IW-TC)

The Tree by Julie Bertucelli (France) Memento (SI-TC)

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS:

Kaboom by Gregg Araki (USA) Wild Bunch (IW-TC)

L'Autre Monde aka Black Heaven by Gilles Marchand (France) Haut et Court (SI-TC)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS:

Carlos the Jackal by Olivier Assayas (France) to be released by Sundance Channel and by IFC theatrically in US.  Studio Canal (IW-TC)

Countdown to Zero by Lucy Walker (USA) The Works International.  Magnolia and History Channel have US rights.

5XFavela compiled by Carlos Diegues and made up of five short films by Brazilian film directors Manaira Carneiro, Wagner Novais, Rodrigo Felha, Cacau Amaral, Luciano Vidigal, Cadu Barcelos, Luciana Bezerra Brazilan Cinema Promotion



Inside Job by Charles Ferguson to be released in the US and other territories by coproducer Sony Pictures Classics

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow by Sophie Fiennes, produced by Kassander Film

Nostalgia de la luz by Patricio Guzman (Chile), a Sundance project. Pyramide Int'l (SI-TC)

Draquila - L’Italia Che Trema by Sabina Guzzanti.

Chantrapas by Otar Iosseliani (France) Les Films du Losange (SI-TC)

Abel by Diego Luna (Mexico) produced by Canana Films

UN CERTAIN REGARD:

I Wish I Knew by Jia Zhang Ke

Carancho by Pablo Trapero (Argentina, So. Korea) Finecut. This is the second Argentinean South Korean coproduction in Cannes after Lions Den two years ago by Trapero.  Ad Vitam has France and Disney has Argentina rights.

Blue Valentine by Derek Cianfrance (US) Hyde Park.  Picked up for US by The Weinstein Co. in Sundance

O Estranho Caso de Angelica aka Anjelica (Portugal) by Manouel de Oliveira distributed in Portugal by Lusomundo

Les Amours Imaginaires aka Heartbeats by Xavier Dolan (Canada) Alliance Atlantis Vivafilms (IW-TC)

Los Labios by Ivan Fund and Santiago Loza (Argentina) premierd BAFICI 2010

Simon Werner a Disparu… by Fabrice Gobert

Film Socialism by Jean Luc Godard (France) Wild Bunch (IW-TC)

Unter Dir Die Stadt akaThe City Below by Christoph Hochhausler. Heimatfilm

Rebecca H. aka Return to the Dogs by Lodge Kerrigan (USA) Wild Bunch (ion-TC)

Pal Adreinn aka Adrienn Pal by Agnes Kocsis (Poland) Hungary's MMKA Fund 2008 grant. KMH Film

Udaan by Vikramaditya Motwane (India) UTV. The first Indian film in 16 years to be competing for an award in Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival.

Tuesday, After Christmas aka Marti Dupa Craciun by Radu Muntean (Romania) Multimedia Est (ion-TC)

Chatroom by Hideo Nakata (Japan) Westend Films

Aurora directed by Cristi Puiu (Romania) The Coproduction Office (IW-TC)

Ha Ha Ha, directed by Hong Sangsoo (So. Korea)

Life Above All by Oliver Schmitz (Germany, South Africal) A mother-daughter relationship that reflects the modern South Africa. The story of the 12-year-old Chanda, who is confronted with a dark secret in a little village near to Johannesburg. Produced by Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduktion/Berlin in co-production with Senator Film Produktion/Berlin, Niama Film/Stuttgart and Wizard/Cologne.

Octubre by Daniel Vega (Peru) Produced by Lucas Creative and featured in Mannheim Heidelberg Meetings 2010 and Guadaljara

R U There by David Verbeek (Netherlands) IDTV