Spain’s Pedro Almodovar, Denmark’s Lars Von Trier and
Belgium’s Dardenne brothers are among those whose latest projects will be in
the limelight when the world’s premier film festival opens on May 11 on the
French Riviera.
No fewer than 1,715 films — some for the first time submitted
via the Internet — were considered for the 64th edition of the event, festival
director Thierry Fremaux told a press conference in Paris. Nineteen more films
made the grade for the parallel Un Certain Regard section of the festival,
which is unspooling Woody Allen’s latest comedy “Midnight in Paris” as its
opening night crowd-pleaser.
“We have a special thought for Japan this year,
but also for Tunisia and Egypt,” festival president Gilles Jacob said, adding
without elaboration that Egypt would be honored as a “special guest” at this
year’s festival.
Fourteen of the films in competition come from European
directors, allowing for Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan to be counted as European.
This year’s pick of the cinematic crop represents both established filmmakers
and young directors showing at Cannes for the first time, Fremaux told
reporters.
All of the films being shown, in and out of competition, represent
“geographical, generational and stylistic diversity,” he added, although there
was surprise at the dearth of Latin American films.
IN COMPETITION:
- La Piel Que Habito (The Skin That I Inhabit)/Pedro
Almodovar/Spain
- L'Apollonide/Bertrand Bonello/France
- Pater/Alain Cavailer/France
- Hearat Shulayim (Footnote)/Joseph Cedar/Israel
- Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da (Once Upon a Time in
Anatolia)/Nuri Bilge Ceylan/Turkey
- Le Gamin Au Velo/Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne/Belgium
- Le Havre/Aki Kaurismaki/Finland
- Hanezu No Tsuki/Naomi Kawase/Japan
- Sleeping Beauty/Julia Leigh/Australia
- Polisse/Maiwenn Le Besco/France
- The Tree of Life/Terrence Malick/United States
- La Source des Femmes/Radu Mihaileanu/France
- Ishimei (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai)/Takashi
Miike/Japan
- Habemus Papam/Nanni Moretti/Italy
- We Need To Talk About Kevin/Lynne Ramsay/Scotland
- Michael/Markus Schleinzer/Austria
- This Must Be The Place/Paolo Sorrentino/Italy
- Melancholia/Lars von Trier/Denmark
- Drive/Nicolas Winding Refn/Denmark
Out of Competition
- Midnight in Paris/Woody Allen/United States
- L'Exercise de l'Etat/Pierre Schoeller/France
- La Conquete/Xavier Durringer/France
- The Beaver/Jodie Foster/United States
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides/Rob
Marshall/United States
