THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP, the latest film from film auteur Michel Gondry, will be the Opening Night Gala of the first Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival. The film, which is slated to open theatrically in late September, will have an avant-premiere at the event on September 17th. Gondry, the writer/director who clicked with international audiences with his cult hit ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, has cooked up another romantic fantasy, this time starring Mexican hearthrob Gael Garcia Bernal, as an artist who travels between reality and his dream state.

Bernal, one of the hottest actors in film today, made his mark in the arthouse favorites Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN and AMORES PERROES, solidifying his international leading man status in Walter Salles' THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES and Pedro Almodovar's BAD EDUCATION.

The film, with dialogue in French, Spanish and English, is sure to be another cult hit for Gondry, who began his career making television commercials and music videos. Also making an impression in the fantasy comedy are co-stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat and iconic French actress Miou-Miou.

Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg

The film had its world premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, where it was picked up for North American distribution by Warner Independent Pictures, the specialty division of Warner Brothers Studios, the company behind such recent hits as GOOD LUCK AND GOOD NIGHT and MARCH OF THE PENGUINS. Following Sundance, the film was prominently featured in the competition sections of festivals in Berlin, Seattle, Moscow and Paris.

Film critics have been enthusiastic, including Variety's Todd McCarthy, who was impressed, lauding the film's "fanciful dive into the imaginative world of an insecure young man, and his haphazard attempts to establish a connection with a female neighbor. The film has all the visual excitement of the director's previous work, and as such will appeal to his devoted international fan base".

Nabbing the film as its Opening Night Gala is quite the coup for the fledgling Festival, which unspools from September 14 to 17 on the atmospheric New England resort island that has its own share of celebrities in residence.

Sandy Mandelberger
Festivals Editor