A special screening, a pair of Midnighters and a trio have been added to the Un Certain Regard section – in it we find a little bit of SXSW, a bio portrait on French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (father of Jean) and the accurately predicted latest from the helmer behind Snow. The break out title/grand prize winner from SXSW in Adam Leon’s debut Gimme the Loot which our critic described as a “subtly observed but poignant day in the life of two Bronx kids trying to claim a small place for themselves,” will be receiving a vitally important international showcase and Aida Begic is receiving a huge boost — Snow was a 2008 winner in Cannes Critics‘ Week while Djeca will leap her into an ideal intenational showcase. Rounding off the 20 Un Certain Regard selections is Gilles Bourdos’ latest Renoir, (his feature film debut, Disparus was shown at the in 1998) starring Michel Bouquet (see pic above), Vincent Rottiers and Thomas Doret (the child actor who debuted in the Dardenne’s latest) closes out the section.
Other titles included in the Cannes Classics sidebar is the 400 film collage in Final Cut – Hölgyeim És Uraim from my favorite (working) Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi and produced by my favorite (no-longer directing) filmmaker in Bela Tarr, a documentary film from Candida Brady called Trashed, (Cannes’ annual inclusion of an eco-friendly docu) and in the Midnight screenings we’ve got Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires (four Aboriginal singers who become Australia’s answer to The Supremes who are offered their first real gig – entertaining the troops in Vietnam) and one more Wild Bunch title in Franck Khalfoun’s Maniac a 3D remake with Elijah Wood and Nora Arnezeder.
