19/04/2005 - The official competition of the 58th edition of Cannes International Film Festival gathers the best of world cinema. All together, out of 20 films running for the Golden Palm, 6 North-American films will compete against 7 European challengers…

With Wim Wenders, Lars Von Trier, Gus Van Sant, David Cronenberg, Jim Jarmusch, the Dardenne brothers, Michael Haneke, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and Amos Gitai in competition, the 58th Cannes Film Festival (11th-22d May) really gathers the best filmmakers, most of whom have already been granted prizes on the Croisette. Indeed, this year’s selection (revealed this morning by Thierry Frémeaux, artistic director of the festival) includes five directors who have already won a Golden Palm, for Wenders got it in 1984, the Dardenne brothers in 1999, Von Trier in 2000, and Van Sant in 2003. On the 20 films selected, six come from America while there are seven European films (including the Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana’s latest work) and four Asian ones. This is quite a fancy spread, all the more spiced up by the screening, out of competition, of a Woody Allen film and of the new episode of Star Wars by George Lucas.

Within the selection, three films will represent French cinema, emphasizing its diversity : new tendences will indeed appear in the film which was also chosen for the opening of the festival, Lemming by Dominik Moll, starring two Charlottes, Rampling and Gainsbourg, and in Peindre ou faire l’amour by two brothers, Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, starring Daniel Auteuil, Sabine Azema, and Sergi Lopez. France will also be defended by the Austrian director Michael Haneke, with Hidden where the same Daniel Auteuil is, this time, playing with Juliette Binoche.

Official programme

In competition
Lars Von Trier - Manderlay (DK)
Gus van Sant - Last Days (USA)
Wim Wenders - Don’t Come Knockin’ (DE)
Marco Tullio Giordana - Quando sei nato non puoi più nasconderti (IT)
David Cronenberg - A History of Violence(USA)
Michael Haneke - Caché (FR)
Dominik Moll - Lemming (FR)
Luc et Jean-Pierre Dardenne - L’Enfant (BEL)
Arnaud et Jean-Marie Larrieu - Peindre ou faire l’amour (FR)
Jim Jarmusch - Broken flowers (USA)
Roberto Rodriguez et Frank Miller - Sin City (USA)
Atom Egoyan - Where The Truth Lies (CDN)
Hou Hsiao-Hsien - The Best Of Our Times (TW)
Johnny To - Election (KR)
Wang Xiaoshuai - Shanghai Dreams (RC)
Amos Gitai - Free Zone (IL)
Kobayashi Masahiro - Bashing (JPN)
Carlos Reygadas - Batalla En El Cielo (MEX)
Tommy Lee Jones - The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada (USA)
Hiner Saleem - Kilometre Zero (Irak/FR)

Out of competition

Final film: Martha Fiennes - Chromophobia ()
Special screenings:
George Lucas - Star Wars: Episode III.Revenge of the Sith
Woody Allen - Matchpoint
Christian Carion - Joyeux Noël (FR)
Shane Black - Kiss, kiss, bang, bang (US)
Kim Jee-won - Dal kom han in-saeng (KR)
Stuart Samuels - Midnight movies: from the margin to the mainstream (CA)
Fatih Akin - Crossing the bridge (DE)
Adam Curtis - The power of nightmares (GB)
Avi Mograbi - Pour un seul de mes yeux (IL/FR)
Rithy Panh - Les artistes du théâtre brûlé (KH/FR)
Seijun Suzuki - Princess Raccoon (JP)
Michel Piccoli - C'est pas tout à fait la vie dont j'avais rêvé (FR)
Bertrand Bonello - Cindy (FR)

(Translated from French)