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CANNES 2016 Directors’ Fortnight

Ten Europeans for the Directors’ Fortnight

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- Five French filmmakers, three Italians, one Belgian and a Swiss director are on the line-up, which includes Bellocchio, Larrain, Lafosse, Jodorowsky, Kashyap and Poitras

Ten Europeans for the Directors’ Fortnight
Sweet Dreams by Marco Bellocchio

Clearly moved by this morning’s announcement concerning the death of Israeli actress and director Ronit Elkabetz, to whom he paid tribute, General Delegate Edouard Waintrop spoke to the press at midday in Paris to unveil the selection of the 48th Directors’ Fortnight, which will unspool from 12-22 May 2016, as part of the 69th Cannes Film Festival. The programme of features includes 18 titles (a reduced number owing to heightened security measures that have cut down the potential screening time by 17 hours), including four feature debuts and several big names in world cinema, particularly Italian maestro Marco Bellocchio, who will provide the opening film, Sweet Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Marco Bellocchio
film profile
]

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Europe takes centre stage on the line-up with ten films, half of which will fly the flag for France: two feature debuts with Divines [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Houda Benyamina
film profile
]
 by Houda Benyamina (read the article) and Mercenaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sacha Wolff
film profile
]
 by Sacha Wolff (read the article), Tour de France [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rachid Djaïdani
film profile
]
 by Rachid Djaïdani (who is back in the Directors’ Fortnight after he presented Hold Back [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rachid Djaïdani
film profile
]
 there in 2012), The Together Project [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 by late director Solveig Anspach (read the article) and the documentary Les Vies de Thérèse by Sébastien Lifshitz.

Italy is also turning up in force, as Like Crazy [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Paolo Virzì
film profile
]
 by Paolo Virzi and Fiore [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Claudio Giovannesi
film profile
]
 by Claudio Giovannesi (who rose to fame with his feature debut, Alì Blue Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claudio Giovannesi
film profile
]
) will be added to Bellocchio’s film, which means the country will have a very solid trio at the gathering.

Also present and representing Europe are L'Economie du couple [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile
]
 by Belgium’s Joachim Lafosse (read the news – now a regular at the major festivals, and who unveiled Private Lessons [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques-Henri Bronckart
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile
]
 in the Fortnight in 2008) and the animated film My Life as a Courgette [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile
]
 by Swiss director Claude Barras (read the news), not to mention the Danish production Wolf and Sheep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Shahrbanoo Sadat
film profile
]
 by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat (read the news – long excerpts of which were watchable in the Les Arcs Festival’s Work-in-Progress in December).

The menu is rounded off by two US features (a documentary by Oscar winner Laura Poitras and the closing film by Paul Schrader, starring Willem Dafoe and Nicolas Cage, which is an Edward Bunker adaptation), two Canadian titles (directed by Kim Nguyen and Nathan Morlando), two Chilean ones (the eagerly awaited Neruda by Pablo Larraín and the new opus by cult auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky) and one Indian one directed by Anurag Kashyap (a true revelation in the 2012 Fortnight with Gangs of Wasseypur). 

From the energy and vigour of young women caught between dreams and trafficking in France (Divines) to violence and prison in Italy (Fiore), from a Bellocchio immersed in emotions (Sweet Dreams) to a Lafosse picking apart the aftermath of a couple’s separation (L'économie du couple), from crime films (Mean Dreams) to the "Mumbai noir" genre (Psycho Raman), via the trio of maniacs in Dog Eat Dog, from romance in the harsh conditions of the Canadian Great White North (Two Lovers and a Bear) to the poetic humour of The Together Project, from a kind of Italian-style Thelma and Louise in a mental hospital (Like Crazy) to an immersion in the reality of modern-day France, hot on the trail of Gérard Depardieu (Tour de France), from an uncompromising portrait of Julian Assange (Risk) to that of a flamboyant feminist activist (Les vies de Thérèse), from the far-from-amiable yet amusing children of an Afghan village (Wolf and Sheep) to the somewhat dark fate of the hero at the start of My Life as a Zucchini, and from the world of professional rugby set against a backdrop of a quest for post-colonial identity (Mercenaire) to a real-but-fake biopic (Neruda), all wrapped up in Jodorowskyan mysticism (Endless Poetry), the 2016 Directors’ Fortnight will certainly not be lacking in appeal or diversity.

As previously reported, this year’s Carrosse d'Or will be awarded to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki (read the news).

Here is the complete list of the films selected:

Feature Films:

Sweet Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Marco Bellocchio
film profile
]
 - Marco Bellocchio (Italy/France) (opening film)
Divines [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Houda Benyamina
film profile
]
 - Uda Benyamina (France)
L'Economie du couple [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile
]
 - Joachim Lafosse (Belgium/France)
The Together Project [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Solveig Anspach (France/Iceland)
Like Crazy [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Paolo Virzì
film profile
]
 - Paolo Virzì (Italy)
My Life as a Courgette [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Barras
film profile
]
 - Claude Barras (Switzerland/France)
Mean Dreams - Nathan Morlando (Canada)
Mercenaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sacha Wolff
film profile
]
 - Sacha Wolff (France)
Neruda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Pablo Larraín (Argentina/Chile/France/Spain/United States)
Psycho Raman - Anurag Kashyap (India)
Risk [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
 - Laura Poitras (United States)
Tour de France [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rachid Djaïdani
film profile
]
 - Rachid Djaidani (France)
Two Lovers and a Bear - Kim Nguyen (Canada)
Les Vies de Thérese [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Sébastien Lifshitz (France)
Wolf and Sheep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Shahrbanoo Sadat
film profile
]
 - Shahrbanoo Sadat (Denmark/Sweden/France)
Fiore [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Claudio Giovannesi
film profile
]
 -
 Claudio Giovannesi (Italy/France)
Endless Poetry [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Alejandro Jodorowsky (Chile/Japan/France)
Dog Eat Dog - Paul Schrader (United States) (closing film)

Short Films:

Abigail - Isabel Penoni & Valentina Homem
Chasse Royale - Lise Akoka & Romane Gueret
Decorado - Alberto Vazquez
Habat Shel Hakala - Tamar Rudoy
Happy End - Jan Saska
Hitchhiker - Jero Yun
Import - Ena Sendijarevic
Kindil el Bahr - Damien Ounouri
Léthé - Dea Kulumbegashvili
Listening to Beethoven - Garri Bardine
Zvir - Miroslav Sikavica

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(Translated from French)

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