Presented in Competition at this 60th Cannes Festival, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is Julian Schnabel's third feature-length film, following Basquiat (1996) and Before Night Falls (2000). The film is an adaptation of the book by Jean-Dominique Bauby, whose life changed completely in 1995 when he had a massive stroke. The 43-year-old journalist, father of two children, spent twenty days in a deep coma. When he woke up, he found the damage to his brain stem had resulted in a rare form of...
Mexican director Carlos Reygadas's career is an integral part of the history of the Cannes Festival. In 2002, his first film, Japan, was featured by Directors' Fortnight. Three years later, Battle in Heaven, his second feature-length film, was selected in Competition. This year, Reygadas is again competing for the Golden Palm, with Silent Light, his third film. It is an exploration of the community of the Mennonites, a religious sect with a large settlement in northern Mexico. The Mennon...
With the in-Competition presentation of Death Proof – A Grindhouse Film, the Cannes Festival is reunited with one of its most loyal directors, none other than Quentin Tarantino. After bursting onto the scene in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs, winning the Golden Palm for Pulp Fiction two years later, and then presenting his Kill Bill – Volume 2 here in 2004, the very year when he officiated as President of the Jury, this year the American filmmaker is traveling with some especially original reels i...
One of the shortest films in the short film corner, at only four minutes long, “French Lesson” relies entirely on an almost music video-esque quality to propel its narrative. The story of the film, which was directed by Nic Osborne, is based upon the familiar idea of boredom in the classroom. Utilizing the well-known metaphors of black and white versus color à la Wizard of Oz to show the audience the change in mood, the film follows Lolita during the Alizée s...
Over in the Short Corner Films area of the Film Market, one may view an interesting short production entitled "Arab in America". Writer/Director Nabil Abou-Harb gives a comedic yet parallel look at the life of an average Arab-American living in the United States post 9/11. The film, about 13 minutes in length, follows a character by the name of Osama Abou-Bakr, who experiences some hardships while searching for a job after graduating college. He changed his name and makes attempt...
For the event of the Cannes International Film Market, the European Audiovisual Observatory and the French Directorate for the Development is presenting a study of the video-on-demand usage within 24 European countries. This study is being completed by NPA Conseil. As stated in the Press Release in Strasbourg: "The study analyses the various technical methods used for video-on-demand, the various economic models applied, the debate on regulation, and the place of video-on-demand in the cine...
Within the Marche du Films (Film Market), there is a small area called "Short Films Corner" where all of the short films are promoted and screened. At a corner of the "corner" there is a small desk where one may schedule an appointment to view some films. Behind the desk is a small cubicle-type of area with computers and headphones for people to view any short films at the festival. Each person with an appointment to view films is allowed one hour of viewing time.Short Films ...
At a press conference for German Film Music yesterday, May 21st, "Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Germany) and Soundtrack_Cologne, the Cologne convention on music in film and the media, announced a far-reaching collaboration in the field of talent scouting."As part of a first-look agreement the winners of NEW SOUNDS IN EUROPEAN FILM, SoundTrack_Cologne’s European competition, will, among others, get the chance to be signed up for a publishing contract with Sony/ATV. For this purpose both...
The international subtitling company, Sub-Ti, held a party at the Cannes Hilton I-Lounge on Monday evening during the Cannes Film Festival. Sub-Ti is based in London, and has offices in Milan, Paris, Bologna, Barcelona, and New York. Guests of the party enjoyed wonderful Italian cuisine looking out over the bay of Cannes....
Winner of both the Golden Palm and Best Director awards in 2003 for Elephant, director Gus Van Sant returns this year with Paranoid Park, a feature-length film in which the characters are once again teenage boys. This adaptation of Blake Nelson's novel of the same name follows 16-year-old skateboarder Alex, who accidentally kills a security guard outside Paranoid Park, Portland's most infamous skateboarding locale. When he decides not to tell anyone, he takes on a crushing burden of guil...
Import Export, presented in Competition, marks the return of the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl to Cannes, five years after having presented his startling Dog Days. His new film tells the story of two characters on opposite tracks: a young Ukrainian nurse who goes to Austria to find employment, and a young Austrian man who settles in Ukraine, also to earn a livelihood. Shot in extreme conditions, at temperatures of 20°F below zero, Import Export features the work of two amateur actors, Ekateryb...
Raphaël Nadjari, one of whose previous films, The Shade, was selected for Un Certain Regard in 1999, is presenting his new feature, Tehilim, in Competition today. This drama, which attests to French director Nadjari's attachment to Israel - just as Avanim (2004) did - is the portrait of a Jewish family in great distress following the death of the father, played by Shmuel Vilojni. Each member of the family does his or her best to deal with the void left by the death, and the difficulties of ...
21 highly promising producers from all over Europe participated in EFP’s PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE programme 2007 (May 20th – 21st) during the Cannes International Film Festival. For the eighth year now, European Film Promotion (EFP) supported selected producers in their international networking through this EU MEDIA Programme-supported initiative. EFP offered this group of young European producers a comprehensive platform, providing them and their productions with international attention via ...
A film that gives us a rare glimpse into the fascinating mind of the man who created such visionary classics as Eraserhead, Mullholland Drive, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Wild At Heart, The Elephant Man and more…Compiled from over two years of footage, the film is an intimate portrait of Lynch’s creative process as he completes his latest film, INLAND EMPIRE. We are with him as he discovers the beauty in ideas, leading us on a journey through the abstract which ultimately unveils his cinemati...
His Excellency Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan Chairman, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage invited the Cannes festival professionnals at Mint Villa to celebrate the launch of the Middle East International Film Festival and The Abu Dhabi Film Commission.Embracing both the art and business of film, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival aims to become the essential destination for film-makers looking to reach global audiences. The upcoming Abu Dhabi Film Festival will play host to financiers, studi...
Press conference in the Cannes harbour for the anticipated film "Le Grand Festival" starring Gérard Depardieu with Anja Kruse... by Menahem Golan.Based on the best selling book by Aharon Appelfeld.Producers include: Terra International Film Productions/Austria - Norbert Blecha Fullmoon Pictures/Italy - Laura Susanne Ruedeberg Cinepartners/Hungary - Jeno Hodi ...
What a great surprise offered to festival goers yesterday on the occasion of its 60th anniversary:The surprise was not small, and barely announced prior to it: nothing less than U2 band attending the screening of U23D and performing an impromptu concert on the top of the stairs prior to its screening.Around 1 in the morning 10 000 people were gathered around the red carpet and were treated with 3 songs from Bono and Band.wishing a happy anniversary to the festival and a thank you to Thierry Fr...
Now boarding on the Cannes croisette to the stars... ...
While I was waiting outside the theatre Debussy, I noticed across the street as an older man picked a pink flower for his wife from the flowerbed that runs along the center. A young cop, noticing this, snatched the flower away and started to scold the man. Eventually, he gave the flower back to the woman, who then proceeded to smack his arm with it, before following her husband, who had already stormed off....
The new Coen brother film No Country for Old Men, presented in Competition, marks the ninth time they have been selected at the Cannes Festival. They are three-time Best Director award winners, for Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), and The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001). They also won a Golden Palm with Barton Fink. No Country for Old Men, based on a Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, takes place in the borderlands between Texas and Mexico. When Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon two million dolla...
Crowds gathered Saturday evening to catch U2 perform for free on the red carpet. The show was held at 12:30 a.m. and preceded the showing of "U23D", a documentary about the Irish band. Crammed between hundreds of spectators, the setting was just as glamorous as could be. Men in Tuxedos were lined up along the red carpet, and paparazzi anxiously awaited the arrival of Bono, the Edge, and the rest of the classic rock band. While waiting, the crowd enjoyed hits from the band as th...
On the fourth day of this 60th Festival, South Korean cineaste Kim Ki-duk returns to Cannes to present Breath in the Competition selection. His film The Bow was one of the highlights of the 2005 Un Certain Regard section. This time, Ki-duk tells the story of a prisoner condemned to death. He is visited by a woman who feels neglected by her husband, and she falls in love with him. With this drama revolving around jealousy, unhappiness, and the lack of love, Kim Ki-duk is "referring indir...
In the basement of the Palais, hundreds of reels are waiting to be projected. Close to a thousand today, more than half of them in 35mm reels... On the side, the place to verify and prepare the reels... ...
The team of the film 4th & 99 team touring the Palais in Cannes....
CannesSnoop Dogg partied at Club Bâoli in Cannes on Friday night, May 18, 2007. He sat at an outside table with his entourage and was very friendly to fellow club-goers. Interns Caitlin Fitzmaurice and Mary Abraham were happy to meet Snoop and welcome him to Cannes. ...
