Contributed by Christopher Campbell
The lineup for this year’s Cannes Film Festival has officially been announced, and it’s being noted for the amount of big-name filmmakers selected for its Competition program. Variety calls it “Cannes' biggest heavyweight auteur smackdown in recent years,”while other websites are criticizing the shortage of both new talent and American titles. Regarding the latter lack, though, Quentin Tarantino’s debut of “Inglourious Basterds” (previously reported to be premiering at the fest) should make enough noise for the U.S. to overshadow its strictly European and Asian competitors.
Also partly representing America in the bid for the prestigious Palme d’Or is Park Chan-wook, who won the second-place award with “Oldboy” back in 2004, thanks primarily to Tarantino’s championing of the film. His latest is the South Korea-U.S. co-production “Thirst.”
Those two genre filmmakers will compete against returning Cannes-winners Jane Campion (“Bright Star”), Lars Von Trier (“Antichrist”), Michael Haneke (“The White Ribbon”), Pedro Almodovar (“Broken Embraces”) and Ken Loach (“Looking for Eric”), as well as other familiar international favorites Alain Resnais (“Les Herbes folles”), Isabel Coixet (“Map of the Sounds of Tokyo”), Johnny To (“Vengeance”), Gaspar Noe (“Enter the Void”) and Ang Lee, whose “Taking Woodstock” is another one of the U.S. films in the lineup.
As was previously announced, Pixar’s “Up” will be the first animated and the first digital 3D film to open the festival when it begins May 13, another achievement for American cinema. Terry Gilliam will also be unveiling his latest troubled feature “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” which is well known for being the final film of Heath Ledger, out of competition.
Also included in non-competing sections are the U.S. festival leftovers “Precious” (formerly “Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire”), which won the top prize at Sundance this past January, and Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me to Hell,” which screened in an unfinished form at SXSW last month.
The known lineup so far (Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week selections will be announced tomorrow) is as follows:
OPENER
"Up," U.S., Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
CLOSER
"Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky," France, Jan Kounen
IN COMPETITION
"Bright Star," Australia-U.K.-France, Jane Campion
"Spring Fever," China-France, Lou Ye
"Antichrist," Denmark-Sweden-France-Italy, Lars von Trier
"Enter the Void," France, Gaspar Noe
"Face," France-Taiwan-Netherlands-Belgium, Tsai Ming-liang
"Les Herbes folles," France-Italy, Alain Resnais
"In the Beginning," France, Xavier Giannoli
"A Prophet," France, Jacques Audiard
"The White Ribbon," Germany-Austria-France, Michael Haneke
"Vengeance," Hong Kong-France-U.S., Johnnie To
"The Time That Remains," Israel-France-Belgium-Italy, Elia Suleiman
"Vincere," Italy-France, Marco Bellocchio
"Kinatay," Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
"Thirst," South Korea-U.S., Park Chan-wook
"Broken Embraces," Spain, Pedro Almodovar
"Map of the Sounds of Tokyo," Spain, Isabel Coixet
"Fish Tank," U.K.-Netherlands, Andrea Arnold
"Looking for Eric," U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy, Ken Loach
"Inglourious Basterds," U.S., Quentin Tarantino
"Taking Woodstock," U.S., Ang Lee
OUT OF COMPETITION
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," Canada-France, Terry Gilliam
"The Army of Crime," France, Robert Guediguian
"Agora," Spain, Alejandro Amenabar
MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
"A Town Called Panic," Belgium, Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar
"Ne te retourne pas," France-Belgium-Luxembourg-Italy, Marina de Van
"Drag Me to Hell," U.S., Sam Raimi
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
"Petition," China, Zhao Liang
"L'epine dans le coeur," France, Michel Gondry
"Min ye," France-Mali, Souleyumane Cisse
"Jaffa," Israel-France-Germany, Keren Yedaya
"Manila," Philippines, Adolfo Alix Jr., Raya Martin
"My Neighbor, My Killer," U.S., Anne Aghion
UN CERTAIN REGARD
"Samson & Delilah," Australia, Warwick Thornton
"Adrift," Brazil, Heitor Dhalia
"The Wind Journeys," Colombia, Ciro Guerra
"Demain des l'aube," France, Denis Dercourt
"Irene," France, Alain Cavalier
"Air Doll," Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda
"Independance," Philippines-France-Germany, Raya Martin
"Le Pere de mes enfants," France-Germany, Mia Hansen-Love
"Dogtooth," Greece, Yorgos Lanthimos
"Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats," Iran, Bahman Ghobadi
"Eyes Wide Open," Israel, Haim Tabakman
"Mother," South Korea, Bong Joon-ho
"The Silent Army," Netherlands, Jean van de Velde
"To Die Like a Man," Portugal, Joao Pedro Rodrigues
"Police, Adjective," Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu
"Tales from the Golden Age," Romania, Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru
"Tale in the Darkness," Russia, Nikolay Khomeriki
"Tzar," Russia-France, Pavel Lounguine
"Nymph," Thailand, Pen-ek Ratanaruang
"Precious," U.S., Lee Daniels
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