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CANNES 2008

Sights set on Cannes

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Now that the curtain has fallen on the Berlinale, attention is turning to the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25) and rumours are already starting to circulate.

French titles vying for selection in the official competition - whose jury will be presided by Sean Penn (see news) - include favourites Let It Rain [+see also:
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by Agnès Jaoui (see news), Laurent Cantet’s Entre les murs (“Between the Walls”, see news) and Arnaud Desplechin’s Un conte de Noël (“A Christmas Tale”, see news).

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Outsider favourites include Bertrand Tavernier’s In the Electric Mist; Claire Denis’ 35 Rhums and White Material (see news); Rithy Panh’s Un barrage contre le pacifique (“A Dam Against the Pacific”, see news); Barbet Schroeder’s Inju (see news); Bertrand Bonello’s De la guerre (“Of War”, see news); and the Larrieu brothers’ Le Voyage aux Pyrénées (“Journey to the Pyrenees”, see news).

Surprise successes could include Bancs publics (“Public Stands”) by Bruno Podalydes (Versailles rive droite); Agnès Merlet’s Dorothy Mills [+see also:
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(see news); Michel Houellebecq’s Possibility of an Island [+see also:
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(see news); and Philippe Garrel’s La frontière de l’aube (“Border of Dawn”, see news).

Mathieu Kassovitz’s Babylon A.D. [+see also:
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(see news) is an impressive candidate for opening film (set to screen out of competition). The race has now begun.

Other potential European titles include Belgian film Le silence de Lorna (“Lorna’s Silence”) by the Dardenne brothers. Italy is also well represented with three contenders: Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo (“The Star”); Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra [+see also:
film review
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interview: Domenico Procacci
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile
]
(see news); and Marco Tullio Giordana’s Sangue pazzo [+see also:
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(“Mad Blood”, see news).

Germany will be pinning its hopes on Wim WendersThe Palermo Shooting (see news) but Oscar winner Caroline Link’s Aftermath (see news) is also a strong contender. The UK will be hoping for success with Michael Winterbottom’s Genova and Saul Dibb’s The Duchess.

Other noteworthy contenders include The County Teacher by Czech director Bohdan Sláma (prize-winner at San Sebastian Film Festival in 2005) and Delta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó
interview: Orsi Tóth
film profile
]
by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó.

The Cannes selection could also comprise Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Daydreams, Walter Salles’ Linha de Passe, Tran Anh Hung’s I Come with the Rain, Fernando Meirelles’ L’aveuglement (“The Blinding”), Lucrecia Martel’s La Femme sans tête (“The Headless Woman”), Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Even If You Walk and Walk, Naomi Kawase’s If Only the Whole World Loved Me, Kim Ki-duk’s Bi-mong, Samira Makmalbaf’s Two-Legged Horse, Baz Luhrmann’s Australia and Atom Egoyan’s Adoration.

US contenders are numerous and include out-of-competition titles Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by Steven Spielberg and Speed Racer by the Wachowski brothers. Vying for competition selection are Steven Soderbergh’s The Argentine, David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, James Gray’s Two Lovers, the Coen brothers’ Burn After Reading and Clint Eastwood’s The Changeling.

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(Translated from French)

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