This year Korean writer and director Bong Joon-Ho will preside over the jury that hands out the Camera d’Or (Golden Camera) award – the only cross-section award on the Croisette that is given to the best first feature. This year’s winner will join the ranks of Michael Rowe (Leap Year, 2010), Warwick Thornton (Samson & Delilah, 2009), Steve McQueen (Hunger, 2008), Etgar Keret & Shira Geffen (Jellyfish, 2007), Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 East of Bucharest, 2006) who all won the prestigious prize in the last five years.
There are 19 first features contenders are spread out in all the competition sections including a pair in the official Main Comp, Un Certain Regard, Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight. It’s anybody’s guess at this point what Joon-Ho and jury will pick but the winner will join the ranks of auteurs (Jim Jarmusch, Tran Anh Hung and Naomi Kawase) that were discovered and crowned at the world’s greatest festival. Here are the 19 contenders including a pair of filmmakers of American filmmakers we previewed in last year’s American New Wave 25.
Main Competition
Sleeping Beauty, Julia Leigh, Australia
Michael, Markus Schleinzer, Austria
Un Certain Regard
Martha Marcy May Marlene, Sean Durkin, United States
Hard Labor, Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, Brazil
Midnight Special
Days of Grace, Everardo Gout, Mexico
Special Screening
Labrador, Frederikke Aspock, Denmark
Directors’ Fortnight
Apres le Sud, Jean-Jacques Jauffret, France
Breathing, Karl Markovics, Austria
End of Silence, Roland Edzard, Austria
Iris in Bloom, Valerie Mrejen, France
The Other Side of Sleep, Rebecca Daly, Ireland
Porfirio, Alejandro Landes, Colombia
Return, Liza Johnson, United States
Sur la Planche, Leila Kilani, Morocco
Volcano, Runar Runarsson, Island
Critics’ Week
17 Filles, Delphine & Muriel Coulin, France
Snowtown, Justin Kurzel, Australia
The Slut, Hagar Ben Asher, Israel
Avé, Konstantin Bojanov, Bulgaria
