Cannes announced 16 films in the Main Competition today and the Un Certain Regard is perhaps complete but could fit two more titles in, but as expected, Terrence Malick's film is still in limbo. Apart from that frustrating example, there are about three to five available slots in the Main Comp and some hefty titles that are missing in action. I've compiled a list below, but worth mentioning are blatant omissions such as Julian Schnabel's Miral, Kornel Mundruczo's Frankenstein Project, Ken Loach's Route Irish and perhaps even Bruce Robinson's The Rum Diary.
I don't normally associate remakes, trilogies, biopics or adaptions with films from the Croisette, but this year we could receive a little bit of all four if Aleksandr Sokurov's Faust, Kornel Mundruczo's The Frankenstein Project, Wong Kar-Wai's The Grand Master and Im Sang-soo's The Housemaid make the cut. Here are the second batch of predictions.
A figure on the international film circuit but relatively still unknown outside of Europe, Kornél Mundruczó the helmer behind Johanna, Pleasant Days and most recently, the 2008 film Delta (a slow-paced, heavily dependent on natural surroundings pic that reminded me of Terrence Malick's work) is currently in production with, The Frankenstein Plan.
While Bela Tarr won't be ready with The Turin Horse, Hungary will be well represented by Kornel Mundruczó in the Main Comp and in the Un certain regard section next month we'll find Agnes Kocsis' second feature film. The Hungarian-Dutch-Austrian-French coproduction will be her second time in Cannes as she came to the festival in 2006 with her first feature, Friss levegö (Fresh Air) , which was her graduation film.
Normally the flag colors of red, white and green would announce a strong cluster of Italian films, but I think this year's edition of the Cannes Film Festival might include my previously announced predictions of seeing Benedek Fliegauf, Kornel Mundruczo and Bela Tarr, but Cineuropa is adding one more name to their list in helmer Agnes Kocsis.