Cannes 2010 Predictions (Sidebars): Marchand, Villeneuve, Veiroj, Araki and Doillon

In many ways, Cannes’ parallel sidebars (Director’s Fortnight, Critic’s Week and I’m including Un Certain Regard here) are the hardest sections to forecast – the high volume of films from all corner of the globe and the actual number of available slots makes it perhaps more difficult to predict than the actual Main Competition predictions (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV).

Like other major film festivals, Cannes has their own labs, promoting new talent and I’m expecting to see some of the Atelier names to preem their work at the festival – the same goes for filmmakers who’ve presented at the fest before and are poised to return with their latest work (e.g. Federico Veiro’s La Vida Util (see pic above). Such as last year’s Precious and Amreeka, I’m expecting to see at least a trio of titles from Sundance make an appearance…perhaps Animal Kingdom…maybe Blue Valentine? Here are eleven pics that we might see at all theaters on the Croisette.

22nd of May – Koen Mortier
Mortier has seen his work win at Cannes on three separate occasions but he hasn’t yet presented a film there — it’s his commercial work that brought him there. The Ex Drummer director appears to have made yet another diverse work with an aptly titled date for the eventual premiere. This depicts the various victims of a suicide bombing. Sam (played by Sam Louwyck), a rather dreary-looking 40 year old, works as a security guard at a shopping mall. His life is plunged into turmoil the day a young man carrying a backpack blows himself up in the mall. 

At Ellen’s Age (Im Alter von Ellen) – Pia Marais
Part of Cannes’ Résidence, this stars Va Savoir‘s Jeanne Balibar as a 43-year-old flight attendant whose life takes a shattering turn into the unknown. In her charming but occasionally over-strung way, she is inclined to compensate in an adventurous fashion her fear of intimacy and commitment to relationships.

Black Heaven (L’autre Monde)
Gilles Marchand
Marchand has seen his debut film Qui a tué Bambi? (2003) and a pair of co-written screenplays with Dominik Moll be selected for the fest in the Un Certain Regard section – but logically this coming-of-age story about a teenager seduced by the unlimited possibilities of the dark, virtual world of online gaming could receive a Main Comp entry.

Fuga Mortis – Kirill Mikhanovsky
Winner in the International Critic’s Week competition for 2006’s Sonhos de Peixe, if Mikhanovsky’s latest project (selected for Cannes’ Atelier in 2006) is indeed in the post-production phase, then I could easily see this in one of the three sections. This is a film about modern-day Havana, in which a personal drama of a young Cuban intertwines with the drama of his country. The new generation of Cubans has lost faith in the ideas of revolution and equality, and puts more value in material things.

Gigola – Laurence Charpentier
This directorial debut features Lou Doillon in the role of a lesbian escort in 1960’s Paris.

Here – Braden King

Currently in post production, this was part of 2008’s Cannes Atelier and sees Ben Foster play an American satellite-mapping engineer contracted to create a new, more accurate survey of the country of Armenia. At a rural hotel he meets Lubna Azabal.

Home for Christmas – Bent Hamer
Hamer has shown his 1995 film Eggs and 2008’s O’Horten in the Un Certain Regard, so there are good chances that an Xmas-themed series of short stories by Norwegian writer Levi Henriksen might make a presence – this weaves together the lives of people struggling to find their way home on a Christmas Eve.

Incendies – Denis Villeneuve

French-Canadian helmer is a regular at Cannes, so I imagine this story adapted from Wajdi Mouawad’s acclaimed stage-play has a good chance.

In Your Hands (Sous ton Emprise) – Lola Doillon
Doillon’s Et toi t’es sur qui? was part of 2007’s Un Certain Regard, so I imagine this has a good shot for the same section this year out as well. This centres on the abduction of a renowned surgeon by a man who holds her responsible for his wife’s death.

La vida util – Federico Veiroj
Acne was a part of the Director’s Fortnight in 2008, and a film about a film buff who loses his job at the local cinematheque might be too unique to pass up.

Kaboom – Gregg Araki
French production money backed Araki’s project – a sci-fi story centered on the sexual awakening of a group of college students.