Cannes 2011: Zvyagintsev’s Elena to Close Un Certain Regard, Hazanavicius’ ‘The Artist’ Bumped Up to Main Comp

We were all holding our breath to see which film would be included in this year’s Main Comp (there were rumors that Brillante Mendoza and Andrey Zvyagintsev respective films were fighting for a final spot) it is the filmmaker behind OSS 117 spoofs that will see his Out of Comp selected The Artist make the odd jump from “not good enough” to “perfectly suited to accompany the masters of cinema” slot.

And while Zvyagintsev’s Elena didn’t make the Main Comp cut — it has thankfully been accepted as the closing film in the Un Certain Regard category — which basically means the Russian filmmaker who gave us The Return (Venice 2003) and The Banishment (Cannes 2007) will be working the film until the very last minute with the story of an elderly woman who has lived with her rich husband in a large, comfortable home tries to rescue her alcoholic son from poverty and give his family the opportunity for a better life that she alone could not provide. Also announced by the festival, we now know who’ll accompany Emir Kusturica’s and Bong Joon-Ho’s juries — see below:

The Jury Un Certain Regard
Emir KUSTURICA, President
Elodie BOUCHEZ, actress (France)
Peter BRADSHAW, critic, The Guardian (United Kingdom)
Geoffrey GILMORE, Chief Creative Office Tribeca Enterprises (USA)
Daniela MICHEL, Director of the Morelia Festival (Mexico)

The Jury Caméra d’or
BONG Joon-Ho, President
Danièle HEYMANN, critic (France)
Eva VEZER, Head of Magyar Filmunio (Hungary)
Robert ALAZRAKI, Cinematographer – AFC
Daniel COLLAND, manager Cinedia laboratory (FICAM)
Jacques MAILLOT, director (SRF)
Alex MASSON, critic (Syndicat Français de la Critique de Cinéma)