Cannes Critics’ Week Believes in Beginner’s Luck

The section devoted to 1st and 2nd films is mostly going with newbies this year. With the exception of Altiplano starring (Olivier Gourmet) from director pairing of Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth (Khadak), in my opinion, the complete sidebar will be a like throwing a dart aimlessly and hoping to land on something worth your while. In the past couple of years they had Junebug, Me and you and everyone we know, Look Both Ways, XXY, and my favorite film of the section in 2008 was Aida Begic’s Snijep (Snow).

This year they have stripped the section down, by perhaps five films less and there are no signs of the FIPRESCI “revelation of the year” pick – a one slot for a film the organization thinks deserves a second chance. This year, like previousyears they have films from a little bit everywhere – but this year they focused mostly to film from the Europes and the Americas. Here are the selections below, including the shorts and medium lengths films.

48e SELECTION DE LA SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE

Feature films
Huacho — Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chili / France / Allemagne)
Ordinary People — Vladimir Perisic (Serbie / France)
Lost Persons Area — Caroline Strubbe (Belgique)
Adieu Gary — Nassim Amaouche (France)
Mal día para pescar (Bad Day to Go Fishing) — Alvaro Brechner (Uruguay / Espagne)
Sirta la gal ba (Whisper with the Wind) — Shahram Alidi (Irak)
Altiplano de Peter Brosens — Jessica Woodworth (Belgique / Allemagne / Pays-Bas)

Short films
Together — Eicke Bettinga (Allemagne / Royaume-Uni)
Noche adentro — Pablo Lamar (Paraguay)
Runaway — Cordell Barker (Canada)
C’est gratuit pour les filles — Marie Amachoukeli & Claire Burger (France)
Tulum (La virée) — Dalibor Matanic (Croatie)
Logorama — H5 (France)
Slitage (Seeds of the Fall) — Patrick Eklund (Suède)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS FEATURE FILMS
Opening Night
Rien de personnel — Mathias Gokalp (France)

Film des Parrains / Godfathers’s movie
Hierro — Gabe Ibañez (Espagne)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS SHORT AND MEDIUM LENGHT FILMS
Closing Night
La baie du renard — Grégoire Colin (France)
1989 — Camilo Matiz (Colombie)

Faiblesses — Nicolas Giraud (France)
6 Hours — Moon Seong-hyeok (Corée du Sud)
Les Miettes — Pierre Pinaud (France)
Elo — Vera Egito (Brésil)
Espalhadas pelo ar (Dispercées dans l’air) — Vera Egito (Brésil)