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CANNES 2013 Selection

Gazing into the Croisette's crystal ball...

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- Two weeks before the announcement of the selection, Cineuropa traces a few leads and evaluates certain predictions

Two weeks before the press conference that will unveil on Thursday, April 18th, in Paris the official selection of the 66th Cannes Film Festival (from May 15th to 26th, 2013), tension is high and all the world’s movie-buffs are making lists born of deductions, predictions and more or less accurate rumours. Since no-one has yet found a secret tunnel leading directly into the mind of Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the event in Cannes, the chemistry of these highly speculative barometers is more a matter of pre-match discussions about possibilities and probabilities than scientific research, especially since many films (especially French ones) wait until the last minute to present themselves to the selection committee and others are still racing against clock through their post-production phase. That being said, this is what Cineuropa is seeing about Cannes in its crystal ball.  

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In competition, as far as the highest probabilities go, several movies unexpectedly stand out: Only God Forgives [+see also:
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trailer
making of
interview: Nicolas Winding Refn
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]
by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, La grande bellezza [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile
]
by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, Inside Llewyn Davies by brothers Ethan and Joel Coen, and Le Passé by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. Odds are also high for Like Father, Like Sonby Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-EdaThe Congress by Israeli director Ari Folman and Diary of a Young Boy by Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang. However, great uncertainty looms over Twelve Years of Slave by British director Steve McQueen (will the film be ready in time and is the Croisette compatible with its release strategy?) and a strange rumour (to be taken with a pinch of salt) is circulating about Lowlife by James Gray whose participation could be suspended because of “extra-sportive” concerns... All this could open the field for American productions such as The Bling Ring by Sofia Coppola and Nebraska by Alexander Payne, and even perhaps Knight of Cups by Terrence Malick and Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch.

As Xavier Dolan has dropped out with Tom à la ferme, Canada is placing its bets on Devil’s Knot by Atom Egoyan and An Enemy by Denis Villeneuve (in accelerated post-production). As for Grisgris by Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, it is apparently on the point of being viewed by the selection committee, while French candidates will be evaluated during the last stretch, with the favourites Un indien des plaines (Jimmy P.) by Arnaud Desplechin and Blue Is the Warmest Color by Abdellatif Kechiche. The outsiders’ list notably features Venus in Fur by Roman Polanski, Les salauds by Claire Denis, Grand Central by Rebecca Zlotowki and Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet.

Amongst the titles whose names have been insistently circulating as likely entrants to the various selections on the Croisette, Nine Minutes Interval by Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu stands out, as well as Le goût des myrtilles by Belgian director Thomas de Thier, Oktober November by Austrian director Götz Spielmann and the British-Romanian coproduction The Zero Theorem by Terry Gilliam. Italy could count on several films in the race, in particular Salvo by duo Fabio Grassadonia - Antonio Piazza, and Palermo Via Castellana Bandiera by Emma Dante (unless Venice raises the odds), and maybe Miele by Valeria Golino.

Scandinavia is keeping its fingers crossed with The Hour of the Lynxby Danish director Søren Kragh-Jacobsen and Hotel by Swedish director Lisa Langseth, the Netherlands with Nude Area by Urszula Antoniak, Germany with Wandering Stars by Benjamin Heisenberg, while Romania has a plethora of possibilities with Closer to the Moon by Nae Carenfil, The Escape by Andrei Gruzsniczki, Wolf by Bogdan Mustafa and Roxanne by Valentin Hotea. The young British generation may also have drawn attention with (the option Lilting by Hong Khaou? Joanna Hogg?), and the double film The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby (His/Hers) by American director Ned Benson.

The out-of-competition selection could feature Behind The Candelabra by Steven Soderbergh, possibly accompanied by Snowpiercer by Korean director Bong Joon-ho, Malavita by Luc Besson and Star Trek into Darkness by J.J. Abrams, and even World War Z by Marc Forster and Kaze Tachinu by Hayao Miyazaki.

In this non-exhaustive catalogue, the mysterious Sapi by Filipino director Brillante Mendoza features as the joker in the pack, together with White Bird in a Blizzard by Gregg Araki, Aga by Hiner Saleem, Le grand cahier by Hungarian director Janos Szasz, A Most Wanted Man by Anton CorbijnWakolda by Argentinian director Lucia Puenzo, El Mudo by Peruvian directors Daniel and Diego Vega, as well as L’Etrange Couleur des Larmes de ton Corps by duo Hélène Cattet - Bruno Forzani and three documentaries: Shade & Light by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, We Come As Friends by Austrian director Hubert Sauper and Le dernier des injustes by Claude Lanzmann.

As for French fiction movies, the hypothesis of Jeune et jolie by François Ozon for the opening of the Fortnight is creating much excitement, while favourable echoes surround, amongst others, Un château en Italie by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Une autre vie by Emmanuel Mouret and Les garçons et Guillaume à table by Guillaume Gallienne at the head of a long list notably including Abus de faiblesse by Catherine Breillat, Happy Birthday by Denis Dercourt, Michael Kohlhaas by Arnaud des Pallières, Gare du Nord by Claire Simon, Tip Top by Serge Bozon, L’inconnu du lac d’Alain Guiraudie, Tirez la langue, mademoiselle by Axelle RopertTonnerre by Guillaume Brac, Vandal by Hélier Cisterne, the documentary La cour de Babel by Julie Bertucceli and Les conquérants by Xabi Molia.

Amongst other names frequently mentioned here and there, it would seem that the J.C. Chandor possibility may have been discarded, while the films by Cuaron, Jeunet and Jacquet are not yet ready, and that Jacky in Women’s Kingdom by Riad Sattouf is racing against time in post-production, a race that is not yet won. But everything is still possible and other films could emerge, the only certainty being that The Great Gatsby by Australian director Baz Lurhmann will open the festival, out of competition. Only Thierry Frémaux holds the key to this vast but still nebulous panorama, which he will unveil on April 18th, followed by the selection for the Critics’ Week on April 22nd and that of the Directors’ Fortnight on the 23rd. 

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(Translated from French)

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