39th Directors’ Fortnight

Simultaneously to the Cannes Film Festival there is the Directors’ Fortnight or Quinzaine Des Realisateurs created by the SRF (French Directors Society).

This year there are 23 feature films, 12 short films, 1 special screening and 19 countries participating.

These are the feature films.

Après Lui, Gaël Morel, France,
Avant que J’Oublie, Jacques Nolot, France,
Caramel, Nadine Labaki, Lebanon and France, First Film,
Chop Shop, Ramin Bahrani, USA, Australia
Control, Anton Corbijin, UK, First Film,
Dai Nipponjin, Hitosi Matumoto, Japan, First Film
Elle S’Appelle Sabine, Sandrine Bonnaire, France, Fist Film,
O Estado do Mondo (L’Etat du Monde) Chantal Akerman, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Vicente Ferraz, Ayisha Abraham, Wang Bing and Pedro Costa, Portugal
Foster Child, Brillante Mendoza, Phillipines
La France, Serge Bozon, France
Garage, Lenny Abrahmson, Ireland
Gegenüber (Counterparts), Jan Bonny, Germany
La Influencia (The Influence), Pedro Aguilera, Spain and Mexico
Mutum, Sandra Kogut, Brazil and France
Ploy, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand
PVC-1, Spiros Stathoulopoulos, Colombia
La Question Humaine (The Human Question), Nicolas Klotz, France
Savage Grace, Tom Kalin, Spain, USA and France
Smiley Face, Gregg Araki, USA
Tout est Pardonné, Mia Hansen-Løve, France
Un Homme Perdu (A Lost Man), Danielle Arbid, Lebanon and France
Yumurta (Egg), Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkey and Greece
Zoo, Robinson Devor, USA

In orange are the films from the Directors' Fortnight that are in competition for the Caméra d'Or that is given to the best film in the Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight and International Critics' Week.

All are world premieres except for O Estado do Mondo and Smiley Face.

There will be an homage to Albert Lamorisse with the screening of Le Ballon Rouge (Red Balloon) 1956 and Crin Blanc (White Mane) 1952.

The William Fiedkin 1980 Cruising will be the special screening.

If you want to read information about each movie and the shorts go here and choose 2007 selection.

These films called my attention:

Après Lui not only stars Catherine Deneuve but the plot is interesting.
Caramel has an all female cast, a lesbian character and the plot seems funny/serious.
La France this is a war movie –which I do not like- but the plot seems quite interesting, a woman that disguises herself as a man and discovers what she could never imagined.
PVC-1 1 hour 25 minutes film shot in one continuous take!! I have to see this.
Savage Grace stars Julianne Moore and also Elena Anaya… the plot seems very American but I will watch it for sure.
Zoo because it sounds really shocking! Never seen something like this.

This festival has reruns in Paris from May 30 to June 5, in Marseille from June 20 to 26, and in Rome and Milan from June 7 to June 20.