Cannes 2009: Un Certain Regard Selections

So the inflatable doll magically coming to life tale was perhaps too “out there” for a main comp acceptance, but Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Air Doll came on over to Un Certain Regard section along with expect works from Romanian filmmakers Cristian Mungiu (Tales From The Golden Age) and Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective), France’s Denis Dercourt (Demain Des L’aube), Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Nymph) and Cannes regular (The Host, Tokyo!) Bong Joon-Ho and his latest film, Mother.

Lee Daniels’ Sundance fave is going to Cannes with a buzz worthy, shorter titled Push – this great news explains why the film was pulled out of the New Directors/New Films 2009 fest. Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi who gave us the devastating Turtles Can Fly a couple of year back comes to the UCR section with another oddly titled film in Nobody Knows About The Persian Cats.

And speaking of Sundance, Cannes’ own Atelier de la Cinefondation projects from 2007 will be preeming. Both João Pedro Rodrigues’ To Die Like a Man and Columbia’s Ciro Guerra’s The Journey of the Wind and will show off their work.  

Sophomore filmmakers backing their bugs for the Croisette again include Mia Hansen-Løve (“Le Père de mes enfants” – The Father of My Children) , Nikolay Khomeriki (“Skazka pro temnotu” (Tale in the Darkness) and Raya Martin’s “Independencia” (Independence).

Veteran directors Alain Cavalier (Irene) and Jean Van de Velde (The Silent Army) were included alongside first time filmmakers Haim Tabakman (Eyes Wide Open) and Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah) – both films will be up for the Camera D’or award.

Unknown filmmakers Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth) and Pavel Lungin (Tzar) complete the bill along with Heitor Dhalia who’ll be presenting À Deriva” (Adrift) – a film starring Frenchman Vincent Cassel.

“Samson & Delilah,” Australia, Warwick Thornton

“Adrift,” Brazil, Heitor Dhalia

“The Wind Journeys,” Colombia, Ciro Guerra

“Demain des l’aube,” France, Denis Dercourt

“Irene,” France, Alain Cavalier

“Air Doll,” Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda

“Independance,” Philippines-France-Germany, Raya Martin

“Le Pere de mes enfants,” France-Germany, Mia Hansen-Love

“Dogtooth,” Greece, Yorgos Lanthimos

“Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats,” Iran, Bahman Ghobadi

“Eyes Wide Open,” Israel, Haim Tabakman

“Mother,” South Korea, Bong Joon-ho

“The Silent Army,” Netherlands, Jean van de Velde

“To Die Like a Man,” Portugal, Joao Pedro Rodrigues

“Police, Adjective,” Romania, Corneliu Porumboiu

“Tales from the Golden Age,” Romania, Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru

“Tale in the Darkness,” Russia, Nikolay Khomeriki

“Tzar,” Russia-France, Pavel Lounguine

“Nymph,” Thailand, Pen-ek Ratanaruang

“Precious,” U.S., Lee Daniels