Cannes 08: Director’s Fortnight Line Up filled with French Fare

Offering no shortage of world premieres from auteur filmmakers, the 40^th edition of the Directors’ Fortnight contains exactly
half of the films being produced or co-produced from the fest’s home turf, this
year it will be a mostly French affair.

Among the more popular names we find the festival opener slot
(announced yesterday) belonging to the long-awaited return of Jerzy Skolimowski
and his latest and we also find the likes of former folk who’ve contributed to
the section in the past: Joachim Lafosse (Private Property) and
Bertrand Bonello (Tiresia) and Claire
Simon (Ça brûle).

A common meeting place for auteur cinema, a special film was designed to recall the history of the section with testimonies from a who’s who of favorite directors in Todd Haynes, Jacques Rozier, Costa Gavras, Michael Raeburn, Ken Loach, Alain Tanner, Carlos Diegues, Werner Herzog, Theo Angelopoulos, André Téchiné, Chantal Akerman, the Taviani brothers, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Yousry Nasrallah, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Atom Egoyan, Michael Haneke, Peter Sellars, Naomi Kawase, Manoel de Oliveira, the Dardenne brothers, Stephen Frears, Sofia Coppola, Eric Khoo, Kim Rossi Stuart, Lisandro Alonso, Christophe Honoré, Bong Joon-Ho, William Friedkin and Jacques Nolot.

And to make sure the 40th begins with a bang, Jim Jarmusch will receive a special honor to go with his zero Oscars called the Carrosse d’Or (Golden Coach).

Opening film: Jerzy Skolimowski – Four Nights With Anna (France/Poland)
Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu – Le voyage aux Pyrénées (France)
Bertrand Bonello – De la guerre (France)
Claire Simon – Les Bureaux de Dieu (France)
Nicola Sornaga – Monsieur Morimoto (France)
Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche – Dernier maquis (France/Algeria)
Joachim Lafosse – Élève libre (Belgium/France)
Bouli Lanners – Eldorado (Belgium/France)
Francesco Munzi – Il resto della notte (Italy)
Albert Serra – El Cant dels ocells (Spain)
Miguel Gomes – Our Beloved Month Of August (Portugal/France)
Radu Muntean – Boogie (Romania)
Juraj Lehotsky – Blind Loves (Slovakia) *
Bakur Bakuradze – Shultes (Russia) *
Lisandro Alonso – Liverpool (Argentina/Spain/Netherlands/France/Denmark)
Federico Veiroj – Acné (Uruguay/Argentina/Spain/Mexico) *
Pablo Aguero – Salamandra (Argentina/France/Denmark) *
Pablo Larrain – Tony Manero (Chile/Brazil)
Saman Salour – Lonely Tune of Tehran (Iran)
Yin Lichuan – Knitting (China)
Raya Martin – Now Showing (Philippines/France)
Closing film: Josh Safdie – The Pleasure of Being Robbed (US) *

* competing for the Camera d’Or

Special Screenings
Olivier Jahan – 40X15 (France)
Robert Kramer and John Douglas – Milestones (US)
Jean-Marie Straub – Le genou d’Artémide (France)
Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet – Itinéraire de Jean Bricard (France)

Shorts: 

The Acquaintances of a Lonely John Benny Safdie (États-Unis)

1st programme:
Easter Morning Bruce Conner
Mes Copains Louis Garrel (France)
Ciel éteint ! (Sky’s Black Out !) F.J. Ossang (France)
Je vous hais petites filles Yann Gonzalez (France)

2nd programme:
Il fait beau dans la plus belle ville du monde Valérie Donzelli (France)
Muro Tião (Brazil)
Kamel s’est suicidé six fois, son père est mort Soufiane Adel (France)
MAN Myna Joseph (USA)
Summer Afternoon Ho Wi-ding (Taïwan)
Vsakdan ni vsak dan (Every Day Is Not the Same) Martin Turk (Slovenia)
Sagan Om Den Lille Dockpojken (The Tale of Little Puppetboy) Johannes Nyholm
(Sweden)