Nine European films in competition for the Palme d’Or

by Fabien Lemercier

18/04/2013 - With 19 titles in the race, including four previous Palme d’Or winners and a profusion of French and American movies, the competition offers a surprising outline

A surprising mix of confirmations and unexpected developments was revealed at lunchtime in Paris, where the official selection of the 66th Cannes Film Festival (from May 15th to 26th, 2013) was unveiled by the general delegate Thierry Frémaux. The competition, which includes 19 titles, does not lack in strong arguments, carried by four previous Palme d’Or winners (Polish director Roman Polanski in 2002, American directors Steven Soderbergh in 1989 and brothers Ethan and Joel Coen in 1991) and a quintet of great authors, familiar with the Croisette (5th participation in competition for French director Arnaud Desplechin and Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, 4^th for American helmer James Gray, 3rd for Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda and Chinese director Zia Zhangke).

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But the Cannes Film Festival also continues to find new talents, as it did during the 2011 and 2012 editions. Indeed, several directors will be present for a second time in this race towards the Palme d’Or: Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, Chadian director Mahamat Saleh Haroun, American director Alexander Payne, French director François Ozon and Japanese director Takashi Miike. Six new players at this level also emerge: Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam (the major surprise of this selection), the Iranian Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi, Mexican director Amat Escalante, French director of Italian origin Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and her French counterparts Arnaud des Pallières and Abdellatif Kechiche.

This competition, which carries a strong sense of a mixing of styles and genres (amongst other things with Refn’s movie described as "radical and punk" or the films by Miike and Escalante who delve into the universe of criminality), is particularly surprising in terms of geo-cinephilia with a more than abundant French presence: five filmmakers! And this does not even take into consideration on the production side the films by Polanski, Farhadi and Saleh Haroun. A squadron that some might consider slightly excessive, but which mainly demonstrates France’s omnipresence in the world industry of quality author cinema.

With five French directors, a Polish director (Polanski), an Italian director (Sorrentino), a Danish director (Refn) and a Dutch director (van Varderman), Europe shines with nine candidates for the Palme. North America also stands out with five feature films (four films from the United States by Soderbergh, Gray, Payne and the Cohen brothers, as well as a Mexican title), while Asia has four contenders (two Japanese, a Chinese director and Farhadi), whilst Africa will be represented by Saleh Haroun’s film. The absence of the South Americans should be noted as well as that of the British, Spanish and Romanians for Europe.

The Official Selection also offers a nice display in the out of competition section (albeit relatively small) with two rising stars (French filmmaker Guillaume Canet and American director J.C. Chandor) and has prepared an appealing programme for the Midnight Screenings (with notably a movie by Johnnie To) and the Special Screenings (with amongst others a film by Stephen Frears, another Roman Polanski and a James Toback movie), for a 2013 edition of the Festival which appears overall quite intriguing on paper and which will, without doubt, lead to many surprises.

Opening film (out of competition): The Great Gatsby - Baz Luhrmann

Closing film: Zulu - Jérôme Salle

Competition:

Out of competition:

All Is Lost - J.C Chandor
Blood Ties [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Guillaume Canet

Special screenings:

Otdat Konci - Taisia Igumentseva
Seduced and Abandoned - James Toback
Week End of a Champion - Roman Polanski
Stop the Pounding Heart [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Roberto Minervini
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight - Stephen Frears
Max Rose - Daniel Noa

Midnight screenings:

Blind Detective - Johnnie To
Monsoon Shootout [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Amit Kumar

Un Certain Regard:

The Bling Ring - Sofia Coppola
Grand Central [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rebecca Zlotowski
film profile] - Rebecca Zlotowski
Sarah préfère la course - Chloé Robichaud
Anonymous - Mohammad Rasoulof
La jaula de oro - Diego Quemada-Díez
L’image manquante - Rithy Panh
Bends - Flora Lau
L’inconnu du lac [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile] - Alain Guiraudie
Miele [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valeria Golino
interview: Valeria Golino
film profile] - Valeria Golino
As I lay dying - James Franco
Norte, Hangganan ng kasaysayan - Lav Diaz
Les salauds [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Claire Denis
Fruitvale Station - Ryan Coogler
Death March - Adolfo Alix Jr.
Omar - Hany Abu-Assad