The Directors’ Fortnight is 40

As I imagined the 40x15 is a film to commemorate the milestone and here is the official press release.

In February 2006, Olivier Père, Artistic director of the Directors’ Fortnight, had the idea to make a movie about the 40 years, to recall the history of th Fortnight, to gather testimonies of the directors that participate and to divulge the festival backstage and organization. Olivier Jahan, former collaborator of the festival, friend of many directors and director himself, was the perfect man to complete this idea. Producted by MK2, joined with enthusiasm by French TV France 4, he has been creating a documentary for one year and a half, all over the world. This film is 40x15.

With the testimonies of Todd Haynes, Jacques Rozier, Costa Gavras, Michael Raeburn, Ken Loach, Alain Tanner, Carlos Diegues, Werner Herzog, Theo Angelopoulos, André Téchiné, Chantal Akerman, the Taviani brothers, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Yousry Nasrallah, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Atom Egoyan, Michael Haneke, Peter Sellars, Naomi Kawase, Manoel de Oliveira, the Dardenne brothers, Stephen Frears, Sofia Coppola, Eric Khoo, Kim Rossi Stuart, Lisandro Alonso, Christophe Honoré, Bong Joon-Ho, William Friedkin, Jacques Nolot…

40x15 will be screened in Cannes on Sunday Mai 18th at 5 pm. It have been also broadcasted on French Tv France 4 on Tuesday May 15th for a special night dedicated to the Fortnight with also Spike Lee’s She's gotta have it and Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’s The Blair Witch Project.

Without trying to create expectations I hope that this film is as good as last year collection of shorts for the Cannes 60th Anniversary, as in this film there are many excellent directors participating.

On other news this year Le Carrosse d'Or 2008 was awarded to Jim Jarmush, the award will be presented to him on the opening night and his film Stranger than Paradise will be shown on May 15th. He will participate in the 40th anniversary celebration on May 18th.