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

Cannes 2010 Cinefondation Announces its Lineup

Cannes's 6th Cinefondation Atelier has a lineup of directors which this year includes more known auteurs than previously. It has also joined with Mexico's Expresion den Corto for a summer residence program in Guanajuato, Mexico. Both programs include a dozen of the best young filmmakers in the world, offering them a platform designed to propel their careers with master's classes, workshops and meetings with public and private organizaitons to help obtain financing for their film projects.

The Cannes lineup of 15 films this year includes 4 films by first time directors one of whom is a woman and 2 Latino filmmakers.

Debuting directors:

Taiwan based former actress Show-Chun Lee from France, a protege of Claude Miller with Shanghai-Belleville

Karoly Ujj Meszaros from Hungary with Liza, the Fox-Fairy, a comedic serial killer nurse romp

Diego Quemada-Diez from Mexico with La Jaula de oro

Ruben Sierra Salles from Venezuela with Lucia

A third Latino filmmaker with his sophmore film is Argentina's Pablo Fendrik with The Ardor which was also presented in the Berlin CoProduction market about a minor Chinese mobster in Buenos Aires

Out of 15 films a total of 2 (13%) are by women including debuting Show-Chun Lee's Shanghai-Belleville and

The second film by Holland's Urszula Antoniak (Nothing Personal) Code Blue, about a nurse who practices euthanasia.  (Nurses seem to be becoming a trend.)

Shinji Aoyama's Decadent Sisters, winner of the Pusan Award and $20,000 at the Pusan Promotion Plan 2009 is the director's 15th feature. The subject is siblings who survive as prostitutes in Tokyo after WWII.

Dream and Silence is about spirituality in a postmodern age according to director Jaime Rosales whose 4th feature this is.

Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen, also the 4th film by the leading Moroccan director of his generation -- Nabil Ayouch -- is based on the novel by Mahi Binebine about Casablanca's 2003 suicide bombings.

Cambodian director Rithy Panh (The Sea Wall) presents Gibier d'elevage.

Indonesia's Edwin, whose 2008 debut, Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly won a Fipresci Rotterdam fest award is presenting Postcards from the Zoo.

Bulgaria's Javor Gardel, who made B.O. hit Zift and was recognized as a "producer on the move" last Cannes by EFP presents his second film, Zincograph.

Turkey's Huseyin Karabey, helmer of Gitmek, My Marlon and Brando, a Tribeca best director winner has Come to My Voice.

Iran's Massoud Bakhshi ("Teheran Has No More Pomegranates") is attending with Khorramshahr.

Circles comes from Serbia's Sdran Golubovic, director of the Berlinale Forum's The Trap.


In 2009 the Festival de Cannes's various sections featured 10 feature films and two shorts by "alumni" of the Cinéfondation:

Official Selection:
Competition:
Face by Tsai Ming-Liang (Atelier 2007)
Spring Fever by Lou Ye in Competition, took part in the 2008 Atelier for his next project.

Un Certain Regard:

Los viajes del viento by Ciro Guerra (Atelier 2007
Skazka pro temnotu aka Tale in the Darkness by Nikolay Khomeriki (2nd prize Cinéfondation Selection 2005)Independencia by Raya Martin (Résidence of the Cinéfondation (2005/2006) 
Manila (co-direction by Raya Martin with Adolfo Alix Jr.
Police, Adjective by Corneliu Porumboiu (2nd prize Cinéfondation Selection 2004, Résidence 2005, Caméra d'Or 2006)
Morrer como un homen aka To Die Like a Man by João Pedro Rodrigues (Atelier 2007)
Eyes Wide Open by Haim Tabakman (Cinéfondation Selection 2003 and 2004)

Special Screening:
No meu Lugar aka Eye of the Storm by Eduardo Valente (1st prize Cinéfondation Selection 2002, Résidence 2005)

Directors' Fortnight:
Navidad by Sebastian Lelio Campos (Résidence of the Cinéfondation (2006/2007)

Critics' Week:
The Ordinary People by Vladimir Perisic (Cinéfondation Selection 2003, Résidence 2004)

Together (short film) by Eicke Bettinga (Cinéfondation Selection 2002)
C'est gratuit pour les filles (short film) by Claire Burger (2nd prize Cinéfondation Selection 2008)

Rotterdam Tiger Awards 2010:
The VPRO Tiger Awards, given last February,to Agua fría de mar by Paz Fábrega from Costa Rica, Mundane History by Anocha Suwichakornpong from Thailand and Alamar by Mexican director Pedro González-Rubio.


Two of these three filmmakers were spotted by the Cinéfondation. Paz Fabrega has attended the 19th session of the Residence where she has developed Todos Nosotros, her second feature film project.

Anocha Suwichakornpong had presented her short film Graceland at the Cinéfondation Selection in 2006.

Upcoming blogs

Here is my tentative travel schedule, starting today!

Oct 25-Nov 4 Germany (HOF Film Festival)
Nov 4 – 11 AFM (Santa Monica)
Nov 11 -14 little trip to Big Sur
Nov 16 -22 Thessaloniki Film Festival
Nov. 26 – Dec. 3 Ventana Sur/ Buenos Aires
Dec. 3 – 13 Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano


Jan 21 - 31 Sundance Jan 21 - 31
Jan 31 – Feb 7 Rotterdam Cinemart
Feb 11 – 21 Berlin Film Festival
Mar 12 -20 Guadalajara Film Festival
May 13 – 24 Cannes Film Festival

One of My Favorite Films In Cannes

Not that I saw so many films in Cannes. But this Competition feature "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" by Spanish director Isabel Coixet remains with me and so many others have already disappeared from my memory. This story of love, vengeance and mourning in the Japanese megacity brings to mind themes from "Last Tango In Paris", the place of sex in the face of death, eros and thanatos and our fragile humanity in dealing with life as survivors.
...Sydney

Thanks to Cinema Without Borders for this account of the film by Coixet:


Coixet recalls the genesis of her film: "Films, like tunes or poems, spring from strange encounters, from odd associations that can be completely incongruent but full of magic. In the case of Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, I 'saw'the story (I don’t want to sound like some kind of visionary, but this is how I felt it happen) at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. I suppose the smells of fresh tuna, seaweed and oysters, the shouting of the auctioneers, the scraping and shuffling of thousands of fish boxes dragged across the market floor and the peculiar effects of the fluorescent lighting at four o’clock in the morning had a great deal to do with it. Or the stony face of the girl neatly hosing the floor who was so adamant in her refusal to let me photograph her, showing a determination that is unusual for Japan."
"I knew I would tell this story of a woman – a hard, solitary, mysterious, wounded woman – who leads a double life: a fish market worker who cleans, hauls crates and occasionally carries out jobs as a hit-woman. And the story of a man, whose obsession are sounds, and who is silently in love with that woman, even though he knows that the very most he can expect from her is the sound of her breath, the sound of her heels down an empty alley and her conversations during her meetings with a man, of Spanish origin, towards whom she experiences an attraction that endangers the life she has led up until then as a loner. To this initial idea, my “vision” or whatever you want to call it, I added the story of a man who is unable to cope with the loss of his daughter, and is on a blind search for revenge that eventually leads to a tragic end."
"This is how Map of the Sounds of Tokyo was born. I was also influenced by the fascination I feel for contemporary Japanese culture and the atmosphere I find in the novels of Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto as well as by my unconcealed addiction to wasabi and the almost tangible vibrations emanating from Tokyo during the night: a mixture of expectation, mystery, darkness and tenderness that leaves an indelible mark."
In 2005, Isabel Coixet was a member of the 18-filmmaker team - which also included Gus Van Sant, Walter Salles, and the Coen brothers – which produced the collective project "Paris, Je T’aime",in which each director explored a different Paris arrondissement, or district.