Saturday, May 04, 2019

72nd Festival de Cannes Official Selection


Second Update on May 4th, 2019.  In the past couple of weeks organizers announced diffrent juries members, new films in the official selection plus the Cannes Classics films.  As expected it's official, Cannes has enough Hollywood clout and will shine attracting international press more than well, before Tarantino's film was announced as part of the selection.  On a more local shinning no doubt Kechiche's latest trilogy installment becomes news in France.  Sigh.

As the competition films become all known have to agree with those saying that's been a long time since fest had such a strong lineup.  Yes, it's a strong lineup with films by master-filmmakers from Europe, America and Asia; unfortunately there is not even one film from Latin American filmmakers but well, they're present in other sections.  Worth mentioning that lineup strength comes not only from well-established great filmmakers but also from directors from a younger generation that in the past have shown their potential, in the present their films suggest to be top quality and I'm sure have a very bright future.  
If the competition selection is one of the best then we have to congratulate whom chose jurors and made them to accept to participate as can't remember when was the last time there was that many directors in all the juries, especially the international jury that, well, has female filmmakers (?!) but more interesting, has 8 directors in a 9 members jury, great!

There is one more thing pending, the president and jurors of the Camera d'Or prize; as soon as it's announced will do the post update.

First Update on Saturday, April 20, 2019. Yesterday the Short Films and Cinéfondation selections were announced and now post has become complete with info on every section; but, as we know, there are films that could join later, before the beginning of the festival.

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4/18/19
After taking a short break from the live press conference the first thing I notice is that there was NO Short Films selection announcement!  Last year the shorts were announced one day before the press conference but this year wonder when as what follows is Quinzaine, Semaine and ACID selections announcement next week.  Strange.

Before going into the list let's share what we already know.  There is a lovely Cannes 2019 poster, Alejandro González Iñárritu is the competition jury president, Nadine Labaki is the Un Certain Regard jury President, Alain Delon will accept an honorary Palme d'O, Claire Denis is the Short Films and Cinéfondation jury President and the opening film is by Jim Jarmusch with a film that many, including me, bet will go to Midnight Screenings (!!!) but instead not only opens the festival but also is in competition.  Also today we learned that Virginie Ledoyen is the Queer Palm jury president.

The festival will run from May 14  to 25.  Post will be in progress until after we learn all films in competition, in the official selection and all juries members, so there will be constant updates as soon as organizers announce the news.

So, yes there are many, many omissions but found only two major surprises as was betting films will be in Cannes but not in competition.  First is Mati Diop first feature film, La Prochaine Fois, Le Feu (The Atlantides) or as what is called now in the Cannes list, Atlantique; second is Ladj Ly first feature film, Les Misérables.  It's not often that first films land in the competition, so that's the reason why I was surprised; but then, it is a good surprise after all.

It will take a complete article to talk about those films that are not in the competition nor in the selection, but will mention that Quentin Tarantino's film is not ready yet and seems there is a possibility they'll finish it before the fest starts; my best guess, is that producers will wait for Venice as fest has become the Oscars vehicle and Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and more will look nice in La Mostra red carpet.  Also not ready, James Gray film, but I'm no fan of the director so no loss there for me.

So with the in competition films guess who will be walking and climbing the stairs of the red carpet?  Let start with the ones I like, Isabelle Huppert, Valeria Golino, Adèle Haenel, Virginie Efira, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Léa Seydoux, Penélope Cruz, and Sônia Braga. Then we have Tilda Swinton, Chloë Sevigny, Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Selena Gomez and more but they are in a film about zombies which, no it's not one of my favorite characters in any movie and believe me, I LOVE vampires, werewolfs, fairies, witches but definitively NO zombies (lol), so will not talk much about festival opening film, sigh.

During the press conference Thierry Fremaux mentioned there were 13 female directors but as we can see below, in competition there are only four (4) in the up-to-this-moment 19 titles announced.  We know there could be 1 or 2 more films in competition but doubt will be from a female director (buzz says could be Tarantino and Kechiche); so, gender proportion is on the low side of the scale, below the 25% industry standard. Female directors are identify by their names in BLUE.

The Selection

Competition
Opening FilmThe Dead Don't Die, Jim Jarmusch, USA and Sweden
A Hidden Life, Terrence Malick, USA and Germany
Atlantique, Mati Diop, France, Senegal and Belgium
Bacurau (Nighthawk), Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles, Brazil
Dolor y Gloria (Pain and Glory), Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
Frankie, Ira Sachs, France and Portugal
기생충 Gisaengchoong (Parasite), Bong Joon-ho, South Korea
Il Traditore (The Traitor), Marco Bellocchio, Italy, France, Brazil and Germany
It Must Be Heaven, Elia Suleiman, France, Germany, Turkey and Canada
La Gomera (The Whistlers), Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, France and Germany
Le Jeune Ahmed (Young Ahmed), Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Belgium
Les Misérables, Ladj Ly, France (1st film)
Little Joe, Jessica Hausner, Austria, UK and Germany
Matthias et Maxime (Matthias and Maxime), Xavier Dolan, Canada
Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo, Abdellatif Kechiche, France and Italy
南方车站的聚会 Nan Fang Che Zhan De Ju Hui (The Wild Goose Lake), Diao Yi'nan, China
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino, USA and UK
Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (Portrait of a Lady On Fire), Céline Sciamma, France
Roubaix, une lumière (Roubaix, a Light), Arnaud Desplechin, France
Sorry We Missed You, Ken Loach, UK
Sibyl, Justine Triet, France

Out of Competition
Last Screening: Hors Normes ( The Specials), Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, France
Diego Maradona, Asif Kapadia, UK
La Belle époque, Nicolas Bedos, France
Les plus belles années d'une vie (The Best Years of a Life), Claude Lelouch, France
Rocketman, Dexter Fletcher, USA and UK
Too Old to Die Young - North of Hollywood, West of Hell, Nicolas Winding Refn, USA (TV series)

The Jury
President: Alejandro González Iñárritu, director, writer and producer, Mexico
Elle Fanning, actress, USA
Naimouna N'Diaye, actress and director, Burkina Faso
Kelly Reichardt, director, screenwriter and editor, USA
Alice Rohrwacher, director and screenwriter, Italy
Enki Bilal, author of graphic novels and director, France
Robin Campillo, director, screenwriter and editor, France
Yorgos Lanthimos, director, screenwriter and producer, France
Pawel Pawlikowski, director and screenwriter, Poland



Check in and out of competition films available info and trailers @MOC

Un Certain Regard
A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão (The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão), Karim Aïnouz, Brazil
Adam, Maryam Touzani, Morocco, France and Qatar
Bull, Annie Silverstein, USA (1st Film)
Дылда Dylda (Beanpole), Kantemir Balagov, Russia
Додому Evge (Homeward), Nariman Aliev, Ukraine (1st film)
Jeanne (Joan of Arc), Bruno Dumont, France
La famosa invasione degli orsi in Sicilia (The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily), Lorenzo Mattotti, France and Italy (animation)
La femme de mon frère (A Brother's Love), Monia Chokri, Canada (1st film)
Les hirondelles de Kaboul (The Swallows of Kabul), Zabou Breitman and Éléa Gobbé-Mévellec, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland (animation)
Liberté, Albert Serra, France, Portugal and Spain
六欲天 Liu Yu Tian (Summer of Changsha), Zu Feng, China (1st film)
Musique de chambre (aka Chambre 212), Christophe Honoré, France
O Que Arde (A Sun That Never Sets), Oliver Laxe, Spain, France and Luxembourg
Однажды в Трубчевске Odnazhdy v Trubchevske (Once in Trubchevsky), Larisa Sadilova, Rusia
Papicha, Mounia Meddour, France, Algeria and Belgium (1st film)
Port Authority, Danielle Lessovitz, USA (1st film)
The Climb, Michael Covino, USA (1st film)
灼人秘密 Zhuo Rem Mi Mi (Nina Wu), Midi Z, Taiwan

Un Certain Regard Jury
President: Nadine Labaki, director and actress, Lebanon
Marina Foïs, actress, France
Nurhan Sekerci-Porst, producer, Germany
Lisando Alonso, Director, Argentina
Lukas Dhont, Director, Belgium



Special Screenings
5B, Dan Krauss, USA (documentary)
Chicuarotes, Gael García Bernal, Mexico
Etre vivant et le savoir (Living and Knowing You Are Alive),  Alain Cavalier, France (documentary)
Family Romance, LLC., Werner Herzog, Germany (documentary)
For Sama, Waad Al Kateab, UK (documentary)
Ice on Fire, Leila Conners, UK, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and USA (documentary)
La Cordillera de los Sueños (The Cordillera of Dreams), Patricio Guzmán, Chile and France
Que Sea Ley, Juan Solanas, Argentina (documentary)
Share, Pippa Bianco, USA (1st film)
Tommaso, Abel Ferrara, Italy

Midnight Screenings
악인전 Akinjeon (The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil), Lee Won-tae, South Korea
Lux Æterna, Gaspar Noé, France, 50' (medium-lenght film)

Camera d'Or Jury
President: Rithy Panh, director, screenwriter and producer, Cambodia and France
Alice Diop, director, France
Sandrine Marques, director, author and film critic, France
Benoit Delhomme, director of photography, France
Nicolas Naegelen, president director of Polyson, France

Short Films Competition
This year, the selection committee has viewed 4,240 short films.  The Short Films Competition comprises 11 films, 9 works of fiction, 1 documentary and 1 animation.

All Inclusive, Teemu Nikki, Finland, 15'
Anna, Dekel Berenson, Ukraine, Isarael and UK,15'
Ingen Lyssnar (Who Talks), Elin Övergaard, Sweden, 14'
La Siesta (The Nap), Federico Luis Tachella, Argentina, 14'
Le Grand Saut (The Jump), Vanessa Dumont and Nicolas Davenel, France, 12' (documentary)
L'Heure de l'ours (And Then The Bear), Agnès Patron, France, 14' (animation)
Monstruo Dios (Monster God), Agustina San Martin, Argentina, 10'
Parparim (Butterflies), Yona Rozenkier, Israel, 7
Η Απόσταση Ανάμεσα στον Ουρανό κι Εμάς The Distance Between Us and the Sky, Vasilis Kekatos, Greece and France, 9'
The Van, Erenik Beqiri, Albania and France, 15'
White Echo, Chloë Sevigny, USA, 15'

Check Short Films Competition available info and trailers @MOC

Cinéfondation Selection
For its 22nd edtion, the Cinéfondation Selection has chosen 17 films, 14 are live-action and 3 animated, from among the 2,000 submitted by schools all over the world.  The important presence of Central and Easter Europe highlights the vitality of filmmaking education in these countries.  Six of the selected shorts come from schools taking part for the first time.

Adam, Shoki Lin, Singapore, 19' Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
Ahogy Eddig (As Up To Now), Katalin Moldovai, Hungary, 24' Budapest Metropolitan University (METU)
أمبيانس Ambience, Wisam Al Jafari, Palestine, 15' Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture
Bamboe, Flo Van Deuren, Belgium, 19' RITCS
Duszyczka (The Little Soul), Barbara Rupik, Poland, 9' PWSFTviT (animation)
Favoriten (Favourites), Martin Monk, Austria, 18' Filmakademie Wien
Hieu, Richard Van, USA, 24' CalArts
Jeremiah, Kenya Gillespie, USA, 10' University of Texas at Austin
Mano a Mano, Louise Courvoisier, France, 23' CinéFabrique
נתק Netek (Rift), Yarden Lipshitz Louz, Israel, 21' Sapir College
Pura Vida, Martin Gonda, Slovakia, 30' FTF VŠMU - Film and Television Faculty, Academy of Performing Arts
Reonghee (Alien), Yeon Jegwang, South Korea, 15' Korea National University of Arts
Roadkill, Leszek Mozga, UK, 8' University of the Arts London (UAL) (animation)
Rosso: La Vera Storia Falsa del Pescatore Clemente (Rosso: A True Lie About a Fisherma), Antonio Messana, France, 28' La Fémis
Сложноподчиненное Slozhnopodchinennoe (Complex Subject), Olesya Yakovleva, Russia, 26' St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television
Solar Plexus, David McShane, UK, 9' NFTS (animation)
Sto dvacet osm tisíc (One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Thousand), Ondřej Erban, Czech Republic, 16' FAMU

Check Cinéfondation short films available info and trailer @MOC

Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Claire Denis, director, writer and producer, France
Stacy Martin, actress, France and UK
Eran Korilin, director and screenwriter, Israel
Panos H. Koutras, director and screenwriter, Greece
Cãtãlin Mitulescu, director, screenwriter and producer, Romania

Check short films list at official site here.



Check available Movie Posters for ALL films at my Pinterest here.

Cannes Classics
There are many celebrations in this section including the 50 years of mythical Easy Rider, 25 years of Cité de la peu, a midnight screening of The Shining presented by Alfonso Cuarón, Luis Buñuel with three films, a tribute to Lina Wertmuller-who will be in attendace-, a final salute to Milos Forman, Vittorio de Sica's Miracle in Milan and more.

To check films in this section go official site here.

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