Regardless what larger themes or shifting styles that are discovered or get attached to this year's Cannes batch, one of the major conversation starters is the prominence of global female filmmakers at the festival. There are 22 feature films by female directors (and I'm not even including the short films) which should be a record for any festival in recent memory.
There are talent labs, and there are cinema funds from festivals (ie. Rotterdam's CineMart; Cannes' Atelier), and then there are the short film sections; every important festival has one, and those who do well get their films promoted and financed to become feature-length debuts. Cannes' Short Film Competition (Court Métrage) awards a full-blown Palme d'Or to its winner, and more often than not, these winning filmmakers become the next big names in cinema.
We're about 36 hours away from Cannes Film Festival's big unveiling of the 2011 line-up and while the Main Comp should bare very little surprises (see the math below), the one title whose status is still a mystery and could break into the 20 or so titles is Carlos Reygadas' Post Tenebras Lux.
The Berlin Film Festival begins today and in typical IONCINEMA.com fashion, I've decided to unveil my predictions for the 2011 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. I've taken the liberty at breaking down the predictions by what should logically fit into what sections: Main Comp, UCR and the Director's Fortnight sidebar.