Vincent Gallo’s ‘Promises Written in Water’ Heading to Cannes

I wasn’t in Cannes the year that Brown Bunny drew more jeers, than cheers, but I imagine that last year’s Quinzaine screening of Tetro might have made Vincent Gallo warm up to the idea there are other “venues” for experimental pictures. Thanks to a source close to the site, we think that Gallo is looking to premiere his latest endeavor, Promises Written in Water in the sidebar section next month.

The low-budget, 16-millimeter, black-and-white pic uses a string of non-actors and includes an appearance from Sage Stallone in a film that focuses around “a beautiful young girl who is terminally ill. She decides not to go to the hospital or have treatment but to wait until the pain becomes unbearable – and then to end her life. Her one fear is what is going to happen to her body when she is dead. She wants to be cremated. She reaches out to a photographer she meets, asking him to make sure that her wish is fulfilled. He takes a job in a funeral home so that he has the experience to perform the cremation.”

There should be a lot of chatter surrounding Promises Written in Water – as Gallo used an improvisational working method that left the cameras rolling when the actors had no clue they were being filmed, seeking a more “naturalistic” based performance.