14/04/2009

Rumours are circulating in Paris, ten days ahead of the April 23 press conference at which the official selection for the 62nd Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24, 2009) will be unveiled.

According to our sources, as expected, the competition put together by Thierry Frémeaux is set to include an impressive list of directors who have previously won honours on the Croisette. Among the European titles are Looking for Eric [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cannes 2009
Ken Loach
interview: Steve Evets - actor
film profile] by the UK’s Ken Loach, Antichrist [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile] by Denmark’s Lars von Trier, Broken Embraces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile] by Spain’s Pedro Almodovar, The White Tape [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile] by Austria’s Michael Haneke, Mr Nobody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
film profile] by Belgium’s Jaco van Dormael and Vincere [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cannes 2009 Marco Bellocc…
interview: Filippo Timi - actor
film profile] by Italy’s Marco Bellocchio.

French Palme d’Or contenders include Alain Resnais’ Les Herbes Folles [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (“Wild Reeds”) and Bruno Dumont’s Hadewijch [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Deliberations are underway to choose the third Gallic title from among the following: Jacques Audiard’s Un prophète [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile] (“A Prophet”), Denis Dercourt’s Demain dès l'aube... [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Dercourt
film profile] (“Tomorrow from Dawn”) and Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s Les Derniers Jours du Monde (“The Last Days of the World”), alongside outsider favourite In the Beginning [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Xavier Giannoli.

The rest of the world will be represented in competition by Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, Todd Solondz’s Forgiveness, Jane Campion’s Bright Star, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Park Chan-wook’s Thirst, Elia Suleiman’s The Time That Remains, Tsai Ming-liang’s Face and Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Air Doll.

The Directors’ Fortnight – whose line-up will be unveiled on Friday, April 24 – will present the latest films by Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu and Portugal’s João Pedro Rodrigues (unless they end up in the Un Certain Regard section), as well as French director Alain Guiraudie’s Le Roi de L’évasion [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“The King of Escape”).

Meanwhile, International Critics’ Week – whose press conference will streamed the same day on the Internet – may select French films Les Beaux Gosses [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (“Beautiful Kids”) by Riad Sattouf and La Grande Vie (“The High Life”) by Emmanuel Salinger.

(Translated from French)