Best Bets: Critic’s Week

Before we begin what should be a grueling, exhausting, yet painlessly pleasurable coverage of the 61st edition of the Cannes film festival (I’ve got north of 40 films/events that I ambitiously want to cover), I first wanted to begin IONCINEMA.com’s coverage of the fest with an overview of the four sections of the festival and what I predict should be critically well-received pictures to look out for. We first begin with the Critic’s Week (47th Semaine Int. de la Critique) sidebar which has a distinctive Euro-flavoring this year.

Home (Ursula Meier)

Workshopped at Cannes, this is a world premiere and last minute addition to the section. Starring Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet, this follows a family whose peaceful existence in an isolated country home is threatened with the reconstruction of a busy highway nearby.

Lake Tahoe (Fernando Eimbcke)

Selected as FIPRESCI Revelation of the year, this coming of age flick (where a young teen is obsessed with repairing the car
he has just crashed, his late father’s final gift to him) comes from the helmer behind . the little seen but very much liked Duck Season. Lake Tahoe was featured at the Berlin film festival and receives a special showcase here at Cannes.

Blood Appears (Pablo Fendrik)

I caught Argentinian film director Pablo Fendrik’s The Mugger during a festival screening in 07′ and was  caught off guard by the dramatic impulses and visual storytelling influenced by current French cinema of the 50’s and coats itself with a narrative that makes up many tales in current Latin American cinema. Enriched by previous support from Cannes, Blood Appears (La Sangre Brota) comes to the festival with some good buzz and tells the tragic story of a family, “whose smooth co-existence persists due to the isolation of the family members and apparent indifference towards each other”. Once again, Fendrik uses the services of the great actor, Arturo Goetz.

Opening Night
Les 7 jours de Ronit Elkabetz et Shlomi Elkabetz (Israël / France)

Closing Night
Desierto adentro de Rodrigo Plá (Mexique)

La journée particulière
The End of Poverty ? (La fin de la pauvreté ?) de Philippe Diaz (USA)
Enfants de Don Quichotte (Acte 1) de Ronan Dénécé, Augustin Legrand et Jean-Baptiste Legrand (France)

Special Screenings:
Rumba de Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon et Bruno Romy (France / Belgique)
Home d’Ursula Meier (Suisse / France / Belgique)

Long-métrages / Feature films
Better Things de Duane Hopkins (Royaume-Uni / Allemagne)
Das Fremde in mir (L’étranger en moi) d’Emily Atef (Allemagne)
Ils mourront tous sauf moi (Vse Umrut A Ja Ostanus) de Valeria Gaï Guermanika (Russie)
La sangre brota (Blood Appears) de Pablo Fendrik (Argentine / France / Allemagne)
Les grandes personnes (Grown Ups) d’Anna Novion (France / Suède)
Moscow, Belgium (Aanrijding in Moscou) de Christophe Van Rompaey (Belgique)
Snijeg (Snow) d’Aida Begic (Bosnie-Herzégovine – Allemagne – France)

Révélation FIPRESCI de l’année / FIPRESCI Revelation of the year
Lake Tahoe de Fernando Eimbcke (Mexique)

Palmarès Festival de Morelia / Awarded Films of the 5th Morelia International Film Festival
Mi Vida Dentro de Lucía Gajá (Mexique)

Court-métrages / Short films
A espera (L’attente) de Fernanda Teixeira (Brésil)
Ahendu nde sapukai (I Hear Your Scream) de Pablo Lamar (Argentine / Paraguay)
Ergo de Géza M. Tóth (Hongrie)
La copie de Coralie de Nicolas Engel (France)
Next Floor de Denis Villeneuve (Canada)
Nosebleed de Jeff Vespa (USA)
Skhizein de Jérémy Clapin (France)