16/02/2009

The festival wheel is in motion and no sooner has the Berlinale finished than film industry professionals are turning their attention to the 62nd Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24), and trying to guess which films will be in the line-up.

In this predictions game – which will end on April 23 at the Cannes press conference – certain titles stand out. Such as Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile] (to be released in Spain on March 18), Danish director Lars von Trier’s Antichrist [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile], Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cannes 2009
Ken Loach
interview: Steve Evets - actor
film profile], The White Tape [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile] by Austria’s Michael Haneke, Mr Nobody [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
film profile] by Belgium’s Jaco van Dormael, German director Fatih Akin’s Soul Kitchen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], US filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Bright Star by Australia’s Jane Campion.

The non-exhaustive list of possible contenders also includes Fish Tank [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Arnold
film profile] by the UK’s Andrea Arnold, Triage by Bosnia’s Danis Tanovic, The Turin Horse by Hungary’s Béla Tarr and The Time That Remains by Palestine’s Elia Suleiman.

Among the US regulars on the Croisette, the following are tipped to take part this year: Jim Jarmusch with The Limits of Control, the Coen brothers with A Serious Man, Michael Moore with a still-untitled documentary about the financial crisis, and Steven Soderbergh with The Informant.

Other hopefuls for selection are Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar’s Agora, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro, Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, and Italian directors Giuseppe Tornatore and Michele Placido with Baaria - La porta del vento and Il Grande Sogno, respectively.

Meanwhile, Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life and Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu’s Biutiful may not be ready in time for the festival.

Out of competition, Ron Howard’s Angels and Demons and Niels Arden Oplev’s Millennium (adapted from the first volume of the successful literary trilogy) emerge as likely contenders for the event’s opening. Other out-of-competition hopefuls include Martin Scorsese’s Ashecliffe, Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, Christian Carion’s Farewell and Claire Denis’ White Material.

The long list of possible French titles includes Bruno Dumont’s Hadewijch, Jacques Audiard’s Un prophète (“A Prophet”), Gaspard Noé’s Enter the Void, Patrice Chéreau’s Persécution, Les Derniers jours du monde (“The Last Days of the World”) by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Xavier Giannoli’s In the Beginning, Tony Gatlif’s Liberté (“Freedom”), Christophe Honoré’s Non, ma fille .... (“No, My Daughter”), Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante (“I’m Happy that My Mother Is Alive”) by Claude and Nathan Miller, Jacques Rivette’s 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup (“36 Views from the Pic Saint-Loup”), Sylvain Chomet’s animated feature The Illusionist, Robert Guédiguian’s The Army of Crime, Marina de Van’s Ne te retourne pas (“Don’t Look Back”) and Jan Kounen’s Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.

Finally, Asian films with a chance of selection include Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Mother, fellow Korean Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry, Park Chan-wook’s Thirst, Johnnie To’s Vengeance, Tsai Ming-Liang’s Face, Lou Ye’s Spring Fever, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Air Doll and Naomi Kawase’s Seven Nights.

(Translated from French)