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Cannes: Early Bird Special

2007 is the year that the Cannes film festival turns 60 and to celebrate the occasion they asked 35 world-ranking directors to mark the b-day bash with a three-minute short. For many Chacun son cinema shall bring out the pearly whites among he few cinephiles lucky enough to see the film. Sixty is also nifty because of the onslaught of other projects that will most likely make it at this year’s fest. Both a culmination of what I’ve read in Variety and cineuropa.org and my own two cents worth, this is a taste of some of the stuff we can expect to see at this year’s 60th.

Eric Lavallée

Published on April 18, 2007

2007 is the year that the Cannes film festival turns 60 and to celebrate the occasion they asked 35 world-ranking directors to mark the b-day bash with a three-minute short. For many Chacun son cinema shall bring out the pearly whites among he few cinephiles lucky enough to see the film. Sixty is also nifty because of the onslaught of other projects that will most likely make it at this year’s fest. Both a culmination of what I’ve read in Variety and cineuropa.org and my own two cents worth, this is a taste of some of the stuff we can expect to see at this year’s 60^th.

They’ve already confirmed Steven Soderbegh’s Ocean's Thirteen as a non-comp pic and Variety is claiming that David Fincher’s Zodiac will close the fest. While I think that the film is far superior to anything else I've seen this year, I don,t think it will get this distinction. Expect a less higher profile pic to get the slot.

For the 20 features that will make up the Competition category, I beat it is no accident that Norah Jones is finishing the North American leg of her tour a couple of days prior to the opening of the festival. Wong Kar Wai may have been late bringing his film reels in the past – but My Blueberry Nights will be among the selections.

How do you celebrate the 60^th anniversary of a festival? You honor the 100^th film from filmmaker Im Kwon-taek. Can you imagine – this master has made 100 films! If I'm a programmer at Cannes – then Beyond The Years would be in the mix. Remaining with the Asian community, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Ballon Rouge – a project that he filmed in Paris is unquestionably a must for the competition – it also features va-va-voom Juliette Binoche.

Canada should be represented by David Cronenberg – a favorite of the French and actor Viggo Mortensen actually speaks the language of café and croissants. Eastern Promises will be on the croisette. Those hoping to see The Age of Ignorance from Denys Arcand will be dissappointed. The film is not yet ready.

Continuing with the theme of what French people like – they like Sean Penn. Here the actor would be presenting a project that he directed called Into the Wild. If this isn’t presented then most likely its spot has already been taken by James Gray’s We Own the Night – Variety confirmed that it will be among those in the comp.

In 1997 Michael Haneke unveiled Funny Games at Cannes – a decade later he shall be getting a fairly straight forward bye with a remake of his own film – this Funny Games will bring fear into American audiences. Continuing with other favorite filmmakers of the fest…Emir Kusturica will most likely have a spot for his most recent Promise Me This and the same can be said for Michael Moore long-awaited documentary by entitled Sicko. Gus Van Sant is one of those filmmakers along with he Coen Bros. who’ll be featuring their own films along with their 3 minute segment in the Chacun son cinema. No Country for Old Men by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen will screen and so will the teenage wasteland picture from Van Sant called Paranoid Park.

Another shoe-in is Killer Films’ Todd Haynes film I'm Not There – it features just about everyone you’d want to se on a red carpet (plus maybe an invite to a music legend on which it is based on – Bob Dylan) plus home girl Charlotte Gainsbourg has a role in the ensemble film. French director Catherine Breillat (who has battled a health afflication for the better part of two years) shall make the triumphant walk up the red carpet with Une vieille maîtresse.

Actress Emmanuelle Seigner stars in Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – the French/U.S co-production should find a spot remaining for them and disturbing Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas is likely to present Silent Light in the Golden Palme category as well. Swede Roy Andersson (who shared the Jury prize in 2000) should have a space for his latest entitled, You, the Living.

If you calculate all of the above as solid pics, then we've got only four spots remaining. At this point it looks to be a toss up between the politically friendly biopic starring Angelina J (A Mighty Heart – Michael Winterbottom), the latest from Korean master Kim Ki-duk (Breath), Shinji Aoyama’s Sad Vacation and Jiang Wen’s The Sun Also Rises.

A Woody Allen apparition is not out of the cards (Cassandra's Dreams) and four Frenchmen will try and get the home field advantage. Expect Jacques Audiard’s Les Disparus, Claude Miller’s Un secret, Cédric Klapisch’s Paris and Boarding Gate by Olivier Assayas.

My dark horse picks for the event are Alan Ball’s directorial debut Nothing is Private, Nicolas Roeg’s Puffball and Peter Greenaway’s newest invention the Rembrandt-inspired Nightwatching. My originally pegged films for Cannes of Michel Gondry’s Be Kind, Rewind and There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson look more fit for the fall festivals – a.k.a Venice.

For the midnight screenings section we have a great deal of possible pics for contention. Marc Caro’s Dante 01 should be a logical choice, but the Asian stuff have a slight advantage: Blood Brothers by Alexi Tan the very popular Stephen Chow and A Hope, festival attendee Takeshi Kitano and Kantoku Banzai and finally a triple play of Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam & Johnnie To with Triangle. Quentin Tarantino presence looks to be confirmed with a Death Proof (Long Version) and his buddy Roberto will bring along Grindhouse.

For more candidates in the comp sections and all the different sidebars scroll below.

Opening Night Film:
My Blueberry Nights – Wong Kar-wai

Closing Night Film:
Zodiac – David Fincher

Cannes Competition (Approx 20 titles)

A Mighty Heart – Michael Winterbottom
Ballon Rouge – Hou Hsiao-Hsien
Beyond The Years – Im Kwon-taek
Blood Brothers – Alexi Tan
Boarding Gate – Olivier Assayas
Breath – Kim Ki-duk
Cassandra's Dreams – Woody Allen
The The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Julian Schnabel
Les Disparus – Jacques Audiard
Eastern Promises – David Cronenberg
El Pasado – Hector Babenco
Funny Games – Michael Haneke
I'm Not There – Todd Haynes
Into the Wild – Sean Penn
La Graine et le mulet – Abdel Kechiche

Maradonna, the Hand of God – Marco Risi

My Brother, an Only Child – Daniele Luchetti
Nightwatching – Peter Greenaway
No Country for Old Men – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (confirmed)
Nothing is Private – Alan Ball
Paranoid Park – Gus Van Sant
Paris – Cédric Klapisch
Promise Me This – Emir Kusturica
Puffball – Nicolas Roeg
Sad Vacation – Shinji Aoyama
Sicko – Michael Moore
Silent Light – Carlos Reygadas
The Sun Also Rises – Jiang Wen
Tehilim – Raphael Nadjari
Trivial – Sophie Marceau
Un secret – Claude Miller

Une vieille maîtresse – Catherine Breillat
We Own the Night – James Gray (confirmed)
You, the Living – Roy Andersson

Out of Competition:
Eat, For This is My Body – Michelange Quay
The Golden Compass – Chris Weitz (short preview)
Ocean's Thirteen – Steven Soderbegh (confirmed)
Return to Normandie – Nicolas Philibert
U2 3D – Catherine Owens & Mark Pellington

Midnight Screenings: (Approx: 3)
Death Proof (Long Version) – Quentin Tarantino
Planet Terror – Robert Rodriguez
Triangle – Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam & Johnnie To
Kantoku Banzai – Takeshi Kitano,
Dante 01 – Marc Caro,
A Hope – Stephen Chow

Special Screenings:
Chacun son cinema – 35 filmmakers

Full features programme (Approx: 24)
Alexandra – Alexandre Sokourov
Auf der anderen Seite des Lebens – Fatih Akin
Chaotic Ana (Caótica Ana) – Julio Medem
Left, Right – Wang Xiaoshuai
The Man From London – Bela Tarr
Milyang – Lee Chang-dong
Mister Lonely – Harmony Korine
Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
Ploy – Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Savage Grace – Tom Kalin

Competition Shorts:
TBA

Out of Competition Shorts:
TBA

Full features programme: (Approx: 22)
Announcement of Line-Up: May 3rd

Après Lui – Gaël Morel (confirmed)
Capitaine Achab – Philippe Ramos
Chop Shop – Ramin Bahrani
City of Men – Paulo Morelli
Control – Anton Corbijn
La France – Serge Bozon
La question humaine – Nicolas Klotz
L'Histoire de Richard O. – Damien Odoul
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh – Rawson Marshall Thurber
Scene of a Crime – Cristi Puiu
Slow Mirror – Igor and Ivan Buharov
Smiley Face – Gregg Araki
La soledad – Jaime Rosales