Search results for: Michael Haneke

I'd focus on Maren Ade's Everyone Else (Kent Jones wrote an essay in this month's Film Comment about this German film and comparable on-screen relationships citing Cassavetes and Bergman examples), Zhao Dayong's three hour documentary film (Ghost Town) about how China's Cultural Revolution didn't benefit everyone and (see pic) Samuel Maoz's circa 1982 film (Lebanon) which will screen at Venice, TIFF and at the Lincoln Center - not bad for a first time filmmaker!

North of the Oscar land, Canada should be represented by Denis Villeneuve's gripping drama Polytechnique, while Latin America has some pretty solid contenders in Chile Sebastian Silva's The Maid (a multiple film festival award). Chile's neighbour to the North (Peru) has got a Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear winner in Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow (her first film Madeinusa got a nom couple of years back) and its neighbour to the East (Argentina) has a triple Berlin winner in Adrián Biniez's debut drama Gigante which won for Best Debut Film, Alfred Bauer Award and 2nd place - Silver Berlin Bear.

Having already been to Cannes on two previous trips with his short films The Last 15 (which I was rattled by in a good way – watch it here) and Cinefondation winner Buy it Now) Antonio Campos got to make his third trip out with Afterschool in the Un Certain Regard section in 2008 and the film would appear at TIFF and the New York Film Festival in the fall.

One of the more enjoyable discoveries in covering a film festival is the uncovering of new talent: whether it be behind or in front of the camera. At this year's Cannes, I was introduced to a foursome of directors, several actresses and a genius performance from a French speaking newcomer you'll leave an imprint on world audiences.

With no run away, break out titles as in the previous years (Babel, Volver, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, NCFOM, Silent Light, The Class, Gomorrah, Synecdoche, New York, Waltz with Bashir) Cannes 2009 might not have been a bust, but it was disappointing to see so many mediocre films make it into the main comp.