AFP The Wednesday evening opening ceremonies for the 61st Cannes Festival featured the In-Competition screening of Blindness, in the presence of director Fernando Meirelles and actors Danny Glover, Julianne Moore, and Gael García Bernal. A number of celebrities were spotted on the red-carpeted steps to the palace, including Un Certain Regard jury president Fatih Akin, Claude Lelouch, and Faye Dunaway. Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, also attended the...
Blindness opening the 61th Festival de Cannes.The film:Blindness, by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, has been chosen as the opening film of the Cannes Festival. An adaptation of the novel of the same name by Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago, this political and philosophical thriller is the first film competing for the 61st Golden Palm award. Six years after the out-of-competition presentation of City of God, director Meirelles is back in Cannes with a drama about an epidemic with ...
The 2008 selection of "Un certain Regard" at Festival de Cannes: A FESTA DA MENINA MORTA (THE DEAD GIRL'S FEAST) directed by Matheus NACHTERGAELE AFTERSCHOOL directed by Antonio CAMPOS DE OFRIVILLIGA (INVOLUNTARY) directed by Ruben ÖSTLUND HUNGER (HUNGER) directed by Steve MCQUEEN JE VEUX VOI...
Fot the 61th Cannes Festival, the film in competition are: ADORATION directed by Atom EGOYAN BLINDNESS directed by Fernando MEIRELLES CHE directed by Steven SODERBERGH DELTA directed by Kornel MUNDRUCZO ENTRE LES MURS (THE CLASS) directed by Laurent CANTET ER SHI SI CHENG JI ...
Every year, FIPRESCI presents its "Revelation of the Year" at a special screening during the International Critics' Week in Cannes. One film is chosen out of the first or second films awarded by the Federation during the previous year, in the belief that it deserves the chance to be seen by the Cannes audience, and that the Cannes audience deserves the chance to see it.This year's Revelation is Mexican filmmaker Fernando Eimbcke's second feature Lake Tahoe, awarded at the Berlinale, wh...
"VoD - which licences for which markets?" is the theme of this year's European Audiovisual Observatory Afternoon in Cannes. This workshop has become a key part of the Cannes calendar and broke all records last year when over 350 cinema professionals crowded into the Salon des Ambassadeurs to hear the Observatory's latest industry-based analyses. This year's edition is, once again, freely accessible to everyone accredited to the market or festival. It will take place on Sunday 18th of M...
54 feature films were selected among 1792 from 96 countries (up 11% over last year, and up 23% over 2 years).The festival will once again offer a mix of veteran filmmakers returning to Cannes, along with a few VIP star studded red carpet events and the fresh blood and energy of newcomers.Soderbergh, Eastwood, Wenders, Dardenne and many more previous award winners are competing for Golden Palm again.Highly anticipated Indiana Jones, Woody Allen and Kung Fu Panda will bear the Hollywood Flag...
Director Sébastien Lifshitz has chosen, along with the jury over which he has presided, among more than 140 candidates, the six new Cinéfondation Residence winners.This 15th session of the Residence will open its doors to four female directors and two male directors, and will accompany them in the scripting of their first or second feature film until February 15th, 2008, and then assist with the actual preparations of their films.- Emily ATEF (Iranian, age 34), with her 2nd feature-film ...
Two-time Palme d’Or winner for When Father was Away on Business in 1985 and Underground in 1995, Emir Kusturica is once again showing a film in the Official Competition entitled Promise Me This. The action takes place in the Serbian countryside and centers on the promises made by Tsane (Uros Milovanovic) to his aging grandfather (Aleksandar Bercek): go over the three hills into the nearest town and sell their cow at the market there. With the money, Tsane must buy a religious icon and then any...
With Mogari No Mori (The Mourning Forest), the Japanese director Naomi Kawase is in Cannes once again, 10 year after her Camera d’Or for Moe No Suzaku, and four years after Shara was presented in Competition. In this new feature film, the young filmmaker focuses on an old man and his relationship with one of the home’s nursing staff. They are both heavily haunted by the loss of someone dear. Bereavement fuels The Mourning Forest: the word Mogari from the original title denotes the period of ...
Dream Balloon's Co-Chairman Joseph Anselmo has announced that Award Winning Director Michael Attardi's Once Upon A Christmas Village featuring the voices of Jim Belushi and Tim Curry " will be featured at the Short Film Corner during the Cannes Film Festival.Telly AwardsAt the 28th Annual Telly Awards, OUACV won in 10 categories: Best Animation, Best Musical Productions, Best Cinematography, Best CGI Animation Film, Best Art Direction, Best Director of Camera, Best Sound Design, Bes...
Leveraging on the strong bi-lateral relationship between Singapore and Australia, both countries announced at the Marché du Film (Cannes Film Market) today the intent to sign a Film Co-production Agreement by end of 2007. The agreement will further enhance the cultural and creative exchange between the two countries and it will cover co-productions in films, television, video recordings, animations and digital format productions. In an effort to kick-start the collaboration, the Singapore Fil...
FESTIVAL NEWS - MAY 2007 Artistic Director Sandra Hebron and our Festival programmers are at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, searching for the best in new international film to bring to London in October for the Times BFI 51st London Film Festival. So we thought we'd bring a little taste of Cannes to the capital with some special BFI Southbank events and screenings. Cannes & Film - 60 Glorious Years? Tue 12 June 6.15pm at BFI Southbank In the second Sight & Sound discussion e...
Eleven years after the presentation in the parallel section of Perfect Love, French director Catherine Breillat is competing for the Palme d'Or for the first time with Une Vieille Maîtresse. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, the action in this feature takes place in the mid-19th century. Licentious young Ryno de Marigny (Fu’ad Aït Aattou) is engaged to the virginal Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), the fine flower of the aristocracy. But ill-wishers de...
Seven years after The Yards, presented in Competition, American director James Gray is back on the Croisette competing a third time for a chance at the Palme d’Or with We Own the Night. The action is set in NY in the 80s. NYPD officers and father & son (Robert Duvall and Mark Wahlberg) are caught up in a crime drama with a Russian gangster (Joaquin Phoenix) operating out of his nightclub. The assault is launched against organized crime and drug trafficking and the young police officer must...
Alexandra is the fourth film by Russian cineaste Alexander Sokurov to be presented In Competition. Moloch won Best Screenplay in 1999; selections since have been Taurus (2001) and Father and Son (2003). Alexandra is a story with a political background: a Russian grandmother goes to visit her grandson, an officer stationed in the Republic of Chechnya. Sokurov gave the title role to Galina Vishnevskaya, who, at 80, is a legend of the Russian opera scene, and the widow of the great cellist Mstislav...
One of Korea’s leading filmmakers, Lee Chang-dong, is presenting his latest work in Competition, entitled Secret Sunshine. The film mixes comedy and despair, darkness and light and is an ode to how we cope in everyday life. Featuring one of Korea’s biggest stars, Song Kang-ho and also Jeon Do-yeon, Secret Sunshine follows the couple who re-locate to Miryang and their difficulties in adapting. Lee Chang-dong relates his intentions: “My original idea for the movie was for it to be more rea...
Updated information on cinema-going in Europe in 2006 in the MEDIA Salles Newsletter “European Cinema Journal” no. 2/2007 (attached), presented during the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May. At the MEDIA Salles “happy hour”, the traditional gathering for cinema professionals and journalists. The President of the Association, Jens Rykær, commented: “We are happy that 2006 has seen an increase in audiences in European cinemas and that in several countries Europe’s films have obtained sign...
There is much excitement during this time as the Cannes Film Festival events are underway. The one aspect that does not get as much publicity, however, is the business end of the show. There are buyers and film production companies looking to sign with film makers from all over the world. In the "Marche du Film", or Film Market, companies are set up with booths all over the building offering films and services for film production. Screenings are held on the upper levels of the ...
Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) announced today that DIFF will be hosting the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS Event to be presented during the Fourth edition of the film festival which takes place December 9-16th, 2007. The Dubai International Film Festival was founded on the unique theme ‘Bridging Cultures. Meeting Minds.’ launched in 2004 using the powerful medium of film to serve as a platform for inter-cultural dialogue. The association with amfAR offers the opportunity to extend ...
Against the background of the new audiovisual legislation adopted by the European Commission on 24 May which will extend the advantages of the "Television without Frontiers" Directive to video and video-on-demand (giving European works more exposure on new media and generating new revenue for film-making), the fifth Europe Day will be held in Cannes under the sponsorship of Brazilian director Walter Salles on the subject "Film-making in Europe: the new rules of the game". In ...
This is a year of many firsts for Persepolis co-directors Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud. Their first feature-length film has won them their first In-Competition selection at the Cannes Festival. The team has come to the Croisette with an animated film which, as a first feature, is also in the running for a Golden Camera award. Adapted from the Satrapi's original graphic novel, based on her own life, the action in this animated feature begins in Tehran in 1978, on the eve of the Isl...
Hungarian director Béla Tarr, a guest of the Cannes Festival in 2000 for the presentation of Werckmeister Harmonies in the parallel section, is competing for a Palme d'Or this year with his new feature, The Man from London. Adapted from a mystery novel of the same name by genre maestro Georges Simenon, it's the story of how the life of a solitary man, played by actor Miroslav Krobot, becomes a nightmare when he witnesses a murder. He finds himself confronted with sin, ethics, and punish...
Director Fatih Akin is showing his first film in the Cannes Official Competition, his second feature, The Edge of Heaven. This is not his first time to Cannes though as he served on the Jury two years ago as well as he presented Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul. After winning the Golden Bear at Berlin for Head-On in 2004, Fatih Akin suffered from expectation: “I felt pressured to come up with something better than Head-On. I wanted to do better artistically. I had to prove to myself ...
Dynamic company, ITN Distribution Inc. (ITN) has announced that they have acquired worldwide sales rights to Johnny 316, an impossible love story starring Vincent Gallo (Buffalo 66, The Brown Bunny) and stunning actress and model Nina Brosh. ITN President Stuart Alson will act as exclusive agent for the feature film and plans to generate heavy sales out of Riviera F11 at the 2007 Marche DuFilm/Cannes. Other films on the ITN roster include, That’s the Way of the World starring Harvey Keitel;...
