Do Film Festivals Matter Where Oscars Are Concerned?

When it comes to film festivals, the question on the street this year is, "Do film festivals really matter where the Oscars are concerned?" My answer is that some do, some don't, and some count more than others.

However, keep in mind that these are no longer "film" festivals. Oh, yes, film festivals is a great alliteration that trips off the tongue, but the title "film festivals" denoting a showcase for new motion pictures must go. Why? Because film is the material and process once used to make motion pictures and, except for a few third world countries, film is no longer used to make motion pictures, moving pictures, movies, cinema, cine, etc. Digital is the new medium of choice, and 3D is rising in popularity as digital techniques for it improve.

For instance, I attended and taught in the Film School at the University of Southern California (History and Criticism), but that school no longer exists. Don't panic, it is now known as the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and my field is now known as Cinematic Critical Studies. The School of Cinematic Arts at USC, now has it's own building, the George Lucas Building, SCA 108, which also contains the The Ray Stark Family Theatre, all at 900 W. 34th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007.

So, the times have changed, and are constantly changing. Therefore, are film festivals still relevant in the Race for the Oscars in spite of the gigantic procreation of them in every town and hamlet, and their rapidly deteriorating event name?

That depends on the festival. Here are the top five that should be followed by everyone from the occasional movie goer to those studying, teaching, or writing about Cinematic Critical Studies:

1. Berlin International Film Festival, a.k.a., Berlinale, is the first festival out of the gate in Europe, held in February. In 2011, it had one big winner in its lineup, the foreign language film Oscar winner, A Separation (Iran), directed by Asghar Farhadi, won the festival's Golden Bear. At the 84th Academy Awards on February 26, three huge Oscars were awarded to Berlinale films and guests.

 A Separation's Oscar win, plus actress Meryl Streep's, Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement at the Berlinale 2012, and her Oscar win for best performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for The Iron Lady, directed by Phyllida Loyd, gave the Berlinale big bragging rights.

It was Streep’s 17th nomination and third Oscar. In addition, the Oscar for makeup went to her long-time make up artists, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland for their work in The Iron Lady, which was presented in the Berlinale Special 2012.

In all, eight films that participated in the Berlinale 2011 and 2012 were nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in eleven different categories. More on the Berlinale below.

2. The Cannes Film Festival's 2011 lineup had six wins, 19 nominations. It screened the big Oscar winner, The Artist, as well as: The Tree of life, Midnight in Paris, Drive and the Israeli documentary, Footnote.

3. New York Film Festival: Five wins, 13 nominations. A year after nabbing the world premiere of the phenomenal, The Social Network, it chose to premiere a motion picture that was not yet completed at the time of the festival, so it featured a work-in-progress special screening at the festival for the second biggest winner of 2011, Hugo directed by indomitable Martin Scorsese, as well as the movie that probably had the most photographs published last year, My Week With Marilyn.

People wouldn't have guessed it then, but Hugo would end up getting five Oscars from 11 nominations. My Week With Marilyn received two nominations.

I give the New York festival extra points because it had the guts to open with Roman Polanski's Carnage, plus the gala screenings featured David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, and Pedro Almodóvar's newest, The Skin I Live In. As for that last one, the Spanish Film Academy should have, but did not submit it for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Talk about a snub. That was bigger than any of the so-called 2011 "Oscar snubs."

4. Telluride Film Festival: One win, 10 nominations. Telluride had The King's Speech and 127 Hours the year before, but only one debut at Telluride that had any real Oscar traction in 2011. That was Alexander Payne's The Descendants. It received five nominations but only a single win at the 2012 Oscars, for best adapted screenplay.

5. Toronto International Film Festival: One win, nine nominations. The Toronto Peoples Choice Award had been spot-on picking the best picture at the Oscars with The King's Speech, Precious and Slumdog Millionaire, but the crystal ball went dark in 2011 when they chose Nadine Labaki's Lebansese movie, Where Do We Go Now? It went on to win nothing. However, Moneyball, Beginners, Anonymous, and Paradise Lost 3 went on to be nominated, along with Brad Pitt and Christopher Plummer for their acting chops. Plummer won best supporting actor but Pitt won nothing.

Runner Up: SXSW Film Festival: One win, three nominations. This festival is not known for scoring Oscar nominations or winners but this year it got lucky with two winners, Bridesmaids and the documentary feature winner, Undefeated. So, a salute to one of my favorite U.S. festivals.

BERLIN: 62nd Berlinale 2012,  February 9 - 19.

PRIZES OF THE INTERNATIONAL JURY:

GOLDEN BEAR FOR THE BEST FILM - Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire) by Paolo & Vittorio Taviani;

Will this one be big in 2012?

Caesar Must Die

 JURY GRAND PRIX-SILVER BEAR - Just The Wind (Csak a szél) by Bence Fliegauf;

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST DIRECTOR - Christian Petzold for Barbara;

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTRESS - Rachel Mwanza in War Witch (Rebelle) by Kim Nguyen;

SILVER BEAR FOR BEST ACTOR - Mikkel Boe Følsgaard in A Royal Afair (En Kongelig Affære) by Nikolaj Arcel;

SILVER BEAR FOR AN OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION -

Lutz Reitemeier for the photography in White Deer Plain (Bai lu yuan)  by Wang Quan'an;

SILVER BEAR FOR THE BEST SCRIPT - Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg for A Royal Affair (En Kongelig Affære) by Nikolaj Arcel;

ALFRED BAUER PRIZE, awarded in memory of the Festival founder, for a work of particular innovation - Tabu by Miguel Gomes;

SPECIAL AWARD-SILVER BEAR - Sister (L'enfant d'en haut) by Ursula Meier.

The members of the 2012 International Jury, Mike Leigh (President), Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa.

 All Berlinale winners, 2012 Awards (PDF)

Cannes Afterglow

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

 Joe the Director

By many accounts, the 63rd International Cannes Film Festival took place on the Croissette seemingly under a cloud of gloom. The Festival showed fewer films than last year, there were less Americans attending, the American movies they did screen were mostly disappointing, and the buyers at the film market were not buying as in previous years. They were carefully choosing only one, or perhaps two, films.

The economic downturn that hit the U.S. in October 2008 didn't impact the Festival much last year because many films for the festival were either finished or completely financed, but financing was dropping by this time last year, and productions in Hollywood began to decline sharply. Then, the Euro fell against the dollar this past fall and studio budgets around the world shrank. Generous funding for those "maybe hits," elaborate open-bar festival parties, and unlimited promotional trips took a beating.

Every festival this year has seen a decline in festival budgets, attendance and revenue, and why should Cannes be an exception? Of course, Cannes was also impacted by that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano. Many who may have attended didn't because of unpredictable travel plans. We must wait until the festivals of 2011 to see if this downward pattern continues.

This year, the films at Cannes seemed to mirror the gloomy mood. Roger Ebert's review of this year's Cannes International Festival on Roger Ebert's Journal is basically short and concise[film titles changed to match my style], "Of the first ANTICHRIST screening [last year], I wrote: "There's electricity in the air. Every seat is filled, even the little fold-down seats at the end of every row. This year, I saw some good films, but felt little electricity. The opening night fun of [last year's] UP was replaced by the drudgery of ROBIN HOOD. I was in awe of Mike Leigh's ANOTHER YEAR and the South African LIFE ABOVE ALL, but not much else."

I haven't read anyone who has captured the mood and the films of this year's Festival so concisely and straightforward as has Ebert. Many writing about the festival often used adjectives when referring to films at Cannes like, brooding, plodding, downer, dark, muddled, etc.

Some did not understand the Palm d'or winner, UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES, either. Of the film Ebert writes, "I felt affection and respect for it, but no passion." I shall not reveal his reasoning for that, but you can click the title of the post and read it for yourself. The movie is about a man as he is dying. Adjective? Morose?

I shall reveal that the Thai director, Apichatpong Weerasethak, asked festival goers to call him, "Joe." So, now, we have Joe the Plummer and Joe the Director.

The jury prize (second place) went to A SCREAMING MAN, a film from Chad directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. It's about a man who was the swimming champ of central Africa years before the film begins, and who now rules in his handsome uniform over the swimming pool at a fancy hotel. When he is replaced by a younger man he loses his identity. Ebert compared it to Murnau's THE LAST LAUGH, and that says everything as to how he feels about this one.

Ebert did not care for Mathieu Amalric's TOURNEE (On Tour), the story of a failed TV producer touring France with a troupe of American burlesque performers, and not because the strippers were past the first blush of youth. Ebert feels there are flaws in the film which make him question Amalric's award for Best Director.

From the feedback I have received from people who were a Cannes, those who viewed TOURNEE thoroughly enjoyed it, but the critics who wrote about it were not as generous. Most would agree with Ebert that TOURNEE leaves loose ends that do not come together. However, Amalric's film strippers joined him on the stage to collect his award and the crowd loved it.

So, Cannes this year was not the sparkling jewel of past festivals, and neither have many festivals been this year. Even the Gulf Film Festival in Abu Dhabi slashed its budget. In this age of instant world-wide electronic communication (streaming video, pod casts, webcams, etc.), the day of the lavish film festivals may be drawing to a close. Something else may be evolving where the film community can come together. Skype, anyone?

To access Roger Ebert's Journal and see more about films at Cannes this year, click title of this post.

Surprise Best Picture Winner at Cannes

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

A film from Thailand received the top Best Picture Palm d'or (golden palm) at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival's gala awards ceremony today in France. UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES (Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat) took the top honor for director Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Remember that, if you can. Needless to say, the win took many by surprise. The director won the third-place jury prize at Cannes with TROPICAL MALADY (2004).

UNCLE BOONMEE deals with the final days of a man, a father, dying of kidney failure as the ghost of his dead wife returns to tend him, and his long-lost son comes home in the form of a furry jungle spirit.

Academy Award winners, French actress Juliette Binoche and Spanish actor Javier Bardem, received best-actor honors. However, Bardem shared his award with Italian actor Elio Germano who received the honor for his role in Italian filmmaker Daniele Luchetti's OUR LIFE, a drama about a father, a widower, with three sons.

Binoche, who is featured on this year's Festival Official Poster [above], won her best-actress Oscar for THE ENGLISH PATIENT, and won the Festival award for her role in CERTIFIED COPY, directed by past Palme d'or winner Abbas Kiarostami.

The second-place grand prize (Grand Prix) in the best film category went to French director Xavier Beauvois' solemn drama OF GODS AND MEN, based on the true story of seven French monks beheaded during Algeria's civil war in 1996, received the second-place grand prize. They were monks, so they probably weren't fathers.

Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's film A SCREAMING MAN received the third-place Jury Prize. Again, it's a tragic father. This father loses his cherished job as a swimming pool attendant to his son amid his country's civil war, which brings on tragic consequences.

French filmmaker and actor Mathieu Amalric won the directing award for ON TOUR, in which he plays the manager of a troupe of American burlesque strippers performing around France. His five stripper stars joined him onstage, at his request, as he accepted his award.

South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, won the best screenplay award for POETRY. A grandmother (Yun Junghee) struggles to write a poem as she copes with the onset of Alzheimer's and her troublesome grandson.

The Festival's Camera d'or award for a first-time filmmaker went to Michael Rowe's LEAP YEAR (Año bisiesto), a raunchy romance set in Mexico City. Rowe is an Australian-born transplant to Mexico. The jury that awarded the Camera d'or was headed by Gael García Bernal who happened to have been born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Just saying.

As reported in the previous post, South Korean filmmaker Hong Songsoo's HA, HA, HA, a drama of alternating memories shared by two friends over drinks, won the Un Certain Regard Section.

The Festival closed with the premiere of French Director Julie Bertuccelli's THE TREE, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, a mother-daughter drama.

To see the list of all winners in all section, with links to each film, click title of this post.

American Director Tim Burton was President of the Jury, and the 19 movies in the feature competition were:

ANOTHER YEAR directed by Mike LEIGH
BIUTIFUL (BEAUTIFUL) directed by Alejandro GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU
COPIE CONFORME (CERTIFIED COPY) directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI
DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (OF GODS AND MEN) directed by Xavier BEAUVOIS
FAIR GAME directed by Doug LIMAN
HORS LA LOI (OUTSIDE OF THE LAW) directed by Rachid BOUCHAREB
LA NOSTRA VITA (OUR LIFE) directed by Daniele LUCHETTI
LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER (THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER) directed by Bertrand TAVERNIER
LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL
OUTRAGE directed by Takeshi KITANO
POETRY directed by LEE Chang-dong
RIZHAO CHONGQING (CHONGQING BLUES) directed by WANG Xiaoshuai
ROUTE IRISH directed by Ken LOACH
SCHASTYE MOE (MY JOY) directed by Sergei LOZNITSA
SZELÍD TEREMTÉS - A FRANKENSTEIN TERV (TENDER SON - The Frankenstein Project) directed by Kornél MUNDRUCZÓ
THE HOUSEMAID directed by IM Sangsoo
TOURNÉE (ON TOUR) directed by Mathieu AMALRIC
UN HOMME QUI CRIE (A screaming man) directed by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN
UTOMLYONNYE SOLNTSEM 2: PREDSTOYANIE (THE EXODUS - Burnt by the sun 2) directed by Nikita MIKHALKOV

To access the Web Site Page with links to each film in competition, CLICK.

Some Cannes Winners Announced

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

63rd Cannes International Film Festival, 12 - 23 May 2010

This weekend the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival (CIFF) begins the announcement of winners in various competitions. The first award was given Thursday. The Critics Week top award, Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique, went to a documentary from Denmark about the war in Afghanistan. ARMADILLO, directed by Janus Metz is the first documentary to screen in competition since the section became competitive twenty years ago, and the first announced award at the Festival.

Today, in Salle Debussy, nine films and two hours of screening will culminate in the Palme d’or for short films. The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided over by Atom Egoyan, will announce its Cinéfondation Prixes of 2010 tomorrow, Sunday evening, during the Festival's gala awards ceremony. There is no U.S. short film in this competition, and only one in the feature film competition.

The jury members are film directors Carlos Diegues and Marc Recha, and actresses Emmanuelle Devos and Dinara Droukarova. The films in competition are:

Estaçao (Station), by Portuguese Marcia Faria;
Blokes (Blocks), the short film by Chilean Marialy Rivas;
Chienne d’histoire (Barking Island) directed by Serge Avedikian, an Armenian born in the Soviet Union, now from France;
Micky Bader, the short film by Swedish Frieda Kempff;
Muscles, Australian director Edward Housden;
Maya, Cuban director Pedro Pio Martin Perez;
Ezra Rishona (First Aid) by Israeli director Yarden Karmin;
To Swallow a Toad is a short animated film by Latvian director Jurğis Krāsons; and
Rosa, which is both the title of the short film by Argentinean director Monica Lairana and the name of the main character in her film.
Read more about the films in the short film competition.

Other Cinéfondation prizes to be awarded at the awards ceremony:

First Prize Cinéfondation - TAULUKAUPPIAAT (The Painting Sellers) directed by Juho Kuosmanen;
Second Prize - Cinéfondation - COUCOU-LES-NUAGES (Anywhere out of the world) directed by Vincent Cardona;
Third Prize - Cinéfondation Ex-aequo - HINKERORT ZORASUNE (The Fifth Column) directed by Vatche Boulghourjian;
Mention - JA VEC JESAM SVE ONO ŠTO ŽELIM DA IMAM (I Already Am Everything I want to have) directed by Dane KOMLJEN.

Director Claire Denis is head of the jury for Un Certain Regard section, and joining her are: Patrick FERLA, Journalist - Radio Télévision Suisse; KIM Dong-Ho, Director of Pusan Film Festival; Helena LINDBLAD, Critic - Dagens Nyheter, and Serge TOUBIANA, General Director of the Cinémathèque Française.

Un Certain Regard Prize - Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema - HAHAHA, directed by HONG Sangsoo.
Jury Prize - Un Certain Regard - OCTUBRE (OCTOBER) directed by Daniel VEGA.

All juries. Click title of post to visit the Official Web Site.

Critics Week Winners, and Possible Palm d'or Winners, at Cannes

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

63rd Cannes International Film Festival, 12 - 23 May 2010

A documentary about the Afghanistan war from Denmark won the top Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique, as the Critics Week section came to a close in Cannes. ARMADILLO, directed by Janus Metz, is the first documentary to screen in competition since the section became competitive twenty years ago.

In other Critics Week Awards, both the SACD Prize and ACID/CCAS Support went to BI, DUNG SO! (Bi, Don't be Afraid!), directed by Vietnamese Phan Dang Di (or Dang Di Phan); the Young Critic Award (OFAJ) went to directors Ola Simonsson & Johannes Stjaerne Nilsson for SOUND OF NOISE; the Canal+ Award for Best Short Film went to BERIK, directed by Daniel Joseph Borgman; and Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film was awarded to DEEPER THAN YESTERDAY, directed by Ariel Kleiman.

Two films screened in competition last night at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival. FAIR GAME, the only American film in competition, and Ken Loach's ROUTE IRISH (see previous post).

FAIR GAME (USA), directed by Doug Liman (THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM), starring Naomi Watts (Valerie Plame Wilson) and Sean Penn (Joe Wilson) is considered a possible contender for a Palm d'Or. It is based on the saga of illegally "outed" CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

No one connected with the Bush White House has been charged with betraying Plame Wilson. However, her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, alleged that unnamed and never charged White House officials were out to discredit him after he wrote a 2003 New York Times op-ed piece saying that the Bush administration had manipulated intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq.

From the Europeans I know, and from what I have read about many there, it's highly unlikely that the voters at Cannes will have any warm and fuzzy feelings for G.W. Bush or Dick Cheney. Therefore, barring this being a terrible film, I'm putting my chip in the win column for it.

Director Ken Loach is working with his regular screenwriter, Paul Laverty in ROUTE IRISH (see previous post for more. The film stars John Bishop, Mark Womack and Geoff Bell. The cinematographer is Chris Menges (THE KILLING FIELDS).The movie examines the difficulties experienced by British men working as contractors.

In light of the success of last year's THE HURT LOCKER, ROUTE IRISH (UK / France), cannot escape some comparison to HURT LOCKER. THE HURT LOCKER simply alluded to the problem of adjustment for returnees from Iraqi combat and Loach digs deeper. Yet, there is no doubt that Bigelow's film will be used for comparison. It is timely and topical but is it a good movie? Critics seem to be split on that.

Romania's "New Wave" at Cannes, Reviews, Plus

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

First, Ken Loach's ROUTE IRISH, a last minute addition to films in competition at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival (CIFF) brings the number to 19. Loach's THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY won the Palme d'Or in 2006.

The title ROUTE IRISH is from the infamous, dangerous road that links Baghdad’s international ‘Green Zone’ with the city’s airport, and it marks the 73-year-old director’s first attempt to grapple with the Iraq War of the past six years. But ROUTE IRISH doesn’t deal with high politics. Instead, it explores the murky world of British ex-soldiers who work for private contractors in Iraq.

Trailers of all films in the Special Selection Competition.

Reviews from Cannes IFF: ROUTE IRISH / Iñárritu's BIUTIFUL

Now, Romanian films at Cannes. Romania's Cristi Puiu returns to competition at Cannes with what he describes as a "mind-blowing" crime story, AURORA screened Friday night at the Festival. Puiu, winner in 2005 of the Cannes section showcasing new talent, "Un Certain Regard," for THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU, is the leading figure of the tiny country's "New Wave" school, which seemingly came out of nowhere about that time.

It did not take long for the world film community to take notice. Since then, the Romanians have won a number of top world awards. Among them are Corneliu Porumboiu, Catalin Mitulescu, and Cristian Mungiu, who won the 2007 Cannes Palme d'Or for 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS.

Mungiu won best European Director and the film won best European Film at the 2007 European Film Awards. Romania submitted it for Oscar® consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category for 2007 for the 80th Academy Awards.

To the amazement of many, myself included, the film was not nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Some suggested that the Academy members did not nominate it because it dealt with a woman having an abortion. Others, because they felt the production values were below par. The Austrian film, THE COUNTERFIETERS, directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky won the Oscar, which it richly deserved among those nominated. However, Mungiu's film deserved a nomination.

Puiu's THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU is the story of a man who dies, a victim of an uncaring health-care system. His latest, AURORO, is the story of a man who kills. Puiu has explained that the title AURORO, refers to the precise moment when day breaks and nature awakes.

In the movie, 42-year-old Viorel, an engineer, drives around Bucharest determined to put an end to the insecurity that has dominated his life since his divorce. He decides to make justice as he understands it, brutally intervening in other people's destinies. His actions throw him into a new life, a new day.

AURORA is the second installment of a planned "Six Stories from the Outskirts of Bucharest." In this installment, Puiu decided to play the lead character himself. Meanwhile, Cristian Mungiu has no directorial projects in the works at the moment.

Review of AURORO and then some.

Cannes Notes: ROBIN HOOD, no big whoop

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

Cannes has a multilingual Web site in eight languages. Take a look.

Also, have you been wondering who the person is in poster above? Keep reading . . . . .

A last minute addition to films in competition is Ken Loach's ROUTE IRISH, which brings the number to 19. Loach's film THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY won the Palme d'Or in 2006. The film tells the story of two Liverpudlian ex-soldiers who go to Iraq to work as private contractors, and will screen 20 May.

Julie Bertucelli's, THE TREE, with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas and Aden Young, will be presented at the Festival's Closing Ceremony. Her first feature film SINCE OTAR LEFT won the Grand Jury Prize of the Critic's week at Cannes in 2003. She is the daughter of French director Jean-Louis Bertucelli.

ROBIN HOOD, the epic by British director Ridley Scott starring Russell Crowe as Robin Longstride and Cate Blanchett as Marion Loxley, screened out of competition on Opening Night of the 63rd Festival de Cannes, Wednesday, May 12th, 2010. It was the world premiere for the film, which was presented out of competition. It is in release in the U.S. now.

Other notables in the cast are Max Von Sydow, Lea Seydoux and William Hurt. In the movie, King Richard (Danny Huston) and his soldiers pause on their way home from Palestine to attack a French castle. I haven't seen it, but I have heard the French were routed. And, as it turns out, the response to the movie at Cannes was less than stellar. Hmmmm.

I came across three excellent reviews. The first is an audio review by National Public Radio's Kenneth Turan, and he is spot on when he says, sort of, that Scott's movie is about Robin before he was forced to take up residence in Sherwood Forest's hood with his merry men, but there is little that is merry about this movie. Listen.

A. O. Scott's review in The New York Times, 14 May, is more in-depth for those of you who wish to read deeper.

Owen Gleiberman in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly sums up Crowe's Robin Hood and the movie, "[Crowe's] so grimly possessed with purpose that he's a bore, and so is the movie."

The world premiere of Oliver Stone's WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS. was Friday, 14th, screening out of competition. It is a sequel of Stone's WALL STREET ( 1987), starring Michael Douglas, who is back as Gordon Gekko.

Appearing with Douglas is an a-list cast, including Josh Brolin, Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon and Frank Langella. Compared to ROBIN HOOD's lukewarm reception, Stone's new movie can be labeled a critical success at Cannes.

Woody Allen's latest, YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER, will screen out of competition next week. This Allen movie has a large and diverse cast, including Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin (he's been busy this year), Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto and Lucy Punch. It's U.S. release is scheduled for September.

As I reported in a previous post, there is only one U.S. film in competition, FAIR GAME, based on the true story of CIA agent Valerie Plame, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts (another busy one), and directed by Doug Liman (THE BOURNE IDENTITY).

The person on the poster? It is a photograph of French actress Juliette Binoche (THREE COLORS: BLUE, WHITE, RED) by Brigitte Lacombe, graphic design by Annick Durban. To access the Cannes IFF Official Site click title of this post.

Here Comes Cannes 2!

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

63rd Cannes International Film Festival, 12 - 23 May 2010

Latest news from The Hollywood Reporter is that director Ridley Scott will not attend the Festival and will miss the opening night premiere of ROBIN HOOD. Scott is recovering from knee surgery. However, Universal is flying in a major delegation to support the film, including producer Brian Grazer and virtually the entire cast including Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac and Max Von Sydow.

As mentioned in the previous post, American director Tim Burton is President of the Feature Film Jury this year. Those joining him on the jury, which will award the Best Feature Film Palm d'Or are:

Kate Beckinsale, actress, UK (Whiteout);
Alberto Barbera, Director of the National Museum of Cinema, Italy;
Emmanuel Carrere, (author, screenwriter, director), France;
Benicio Del Toro, Oscar-winning actor, Puerto Rico (Traffic and 21 Grams);
Alexandre Desplat, Oscar-winning composer, France (Julie and Julia, Fantastic Mr. Fox);
Victor Erice, director, Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive);
Shekhar Kapur, (director, actor, producer), India; and
Giovanna Mezzogiorno, actress, Italy.

Feature films are the main emphasis of the Festival. However, there are other sections:

Short Films, featuring nine films running between 15 -20 minutes. A Palm d'Or will be awarded, Sunday May 23rd. None from the U.S.;

Cinéma de la Plage (Cinema on the Beach), begins showing Thursday the 13th, and includes FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, director Fred Zinnemann's 1953 classic;

Cannes Classics, accompanies contemporary films from the Official Selection with a program of restored films and lost films that have been found again, as part of their release on DVD, or re-release in theaters;

Cinéfondation will present 13 films selected from 1600 entries submitted by film schools from all over the world;

And, in addition, Marco Bellocchio will give the Cinema Masterclass, Wednesday the 19th in the Buñuel Theatre.

Download the Official Selection Screening Schedule. Click title of this post for link to the Festival's Official Website.

Here Comes Cannes!

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

63rd Cannes International Film Festival, 12 - 23 May 2010

In May, there is only one major international film festival and that is Cannes. Unfortunately, this year the Festival is literally opening under a cloud.

Travelers to the French Riviera must dodge the volcanic ash still spewing from the Icelandic volcano as the resort hurriedly cleans up the debris from a recent Mediterranean storm. Those are natural crises that pale under the economic cloud of failed economies such as Greece, and possible failures in Spain, Portugal and other European economies. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy tries to toddle back to stability.

Nonetheless, the Festival will open Wednesday with it's usual grandiose flourish, featuring the world premiere of Ridley Scott's ROBIN HOOD, starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. Then, for 11 days, both the famous and not-so-famous will walk and watch the red carpet, attend party after party, stand in line to view movies in crowded screening rooms, and distributors will scout the film market for potential blockbusters as well as second-string bargains.

The promoters of the Festival bring in the International glitz and glamour to attract attendees, but they also provide showcases for smaller grittier films which fuel the Cannes marketing machine. In today's weakened world economy, the Cannes film market brings vital financial sustenance not only to the Festival but, also, to various economies around the world.

However, neither ROBIN HOOD, WALL STREET: Money Never Sleeps, in which Michael Douglas reprises his role as ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko, and Woody Allen's latest, YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER, will be among the 18 feature films in competition to be judged by the jury headed by director Tim Burton.

The only U.S. entry for competition is FAIR GAME, based on the true story of CIA agent Valerie Plame, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, and directed by Doug Liman (THE BOURNE IDENTITY). The Festival's publicity makes a point that the emphasis will not be on glitz but on substance and the films selected support it.

More on this blog about the Cannes Festival will follow during the next two weeks. Please, come back daily to follow the Festival where you should find information not always included in posts elsewhere. Please leave comments, ask questions, or offer information you would like to see in this series. Click the title of this post to access the Festival's Official Site.

Also, you are welcome to share the entire post with Facebook friends and others on social networking sites.

April Film Festival Awards and Wraps

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

As April comes to a close, only two major film festivals that opened in April are still in progress: (1) Tribeca (TFF), which opened the 21st and will close May 2nd, and (2) San Francisco (SFIFF), which opened April 22nd and will close May 6th.Tribeca announced its film awards last night at W Union Square in New York City.

In the 2010 World Narrative Feature Competition, the Founders Award for Best Film went to WHEN WE LEAVE (Die Fremde, Germany), directed and written by Feo Aladag. Actress Sibel Kekilli won Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film for he role as Umay in the movie. Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film went to Eric Elmosnino as Serge Gainsbourg in GAINSBOURG, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ME (Je t’Aime… Moi Non Plus, France), directed and written by Joann Sfar.

LOOSE CANNONS (Mine Vaganti, Italy) received a Special Jury Mention. It was directed by Ferzan Ozpetek. It was written by Ozpetek and Ivan Cotroneo. Kim Chapiron of France was named Best New Narrative Filmmaker for DOG POUND. Chapiron wrote the screenplay with Jeremie Delon.

In the Documentary World Competition, MONICA & DAVID, directed by Alexandra Codina, USA, was named Best Documentary Feature, and BUDRUS (USA, Palestine, Israel), directed by Julia Bacha, received a Special Jury Mention. Click the title of this post for all the awards, including New York and Short Film competitions, the monetary prizes, pictures and more. Also, see previous post for more about the Tribeca IFF.

On the West Coast, the San Francisco International Film Festival is also handing out awards. Tonight, Roger Ebert will receive the San Francisco International Film Festival's annual Mel Novikoff Award, and he'll be in attendance for "An Evening with Roger Ebert and Friends." His friends for the celebration include filmmakers Philip Kaufman, Errol Morris, Jason Reitman and Terry Zwigoff. A screening of Ebert's chosen film, Erick Zonca's uncompromising 2008 genre-buster JULIA, starring Festival favorite Tilda Swinton will follow.

The Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will go to James Schamus, who will be on hand today for a retrospective clip reel and onstage interview with critic and cultural theorist B. Ruby Rich. Schamus' RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (director's cut), directed by his frequent collaborator, Ang Lee, will follow. SFIFF Official Site. Also see previous post for more about the SFIFF.

The regional festivals, covered in the previous post have now wrapped. The Florida Film Festival (FFF) in Orlando reports a successful and fun festival. I am pleased to report that WINTER'S BONE, the first motion picture I picked to do well this year based on the response it received at Sundance, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature. There is more about this movie, directed by Debra Granik, in the previous post. It is definitely one to follow this year.

Other narrative feature winners were:

Special Jury Award for Narrative Filmmaking, HOMEWRECKER, directed by Brad and Todd Barnes; Nestle® Cranberry Raisinets® Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, DON’T LET ME DROWN, directed by Cruz Angeles; and Nestle® Cranberry Raisinets ® Audience Award for Best International Feature, THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS, directed by Leanne Pooley. To see all the award winners, including documentary and short films, go here.

RiverRun in Winston-Salem, NC (RRFF), had a very good film schedule, but gave no awards, and the same for Ebertfest, Champaign, IL. On Location: Memphis, TN (MIFMF), gave awards but, frankly, I never heard of any of the films. Will report later if I lean the festival's picks scored at any other festival. Here is the Memphis list. For more about any of these regional festivals, see the previous post.

Some breaking news from Montreal. Above is the official poster of the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF), 26 August - 6 September, unveiled yesterday. The poster was selected by public votes from among three finalists, all students in graphic arts at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). Their professor, Philippe Béha, who designed the official MWFF poster in 1986, assigned his students the task of designing a poster for the 2010 Festival. The winner is Hubert Samson. Official Site.

COMING IN MAY: Cannes International Film Festival (CIFF), 12 - 23 May 2010; Mountain Film in Telluride, 28 - 31 May 2010.

March Film Festival Winners

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

First, a special award announcement.

The 24th American Cinematheque Award was presented to actor Matt Damon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA, Saturday, 27 March. He was not only honored for his acting and humanitarian efforts, he was roasted by some of his friends.

There were no awards at the Environmental Film Festival in Washington, D.C., as the festival is mainly for education. If you would like to know more, go here.

The most prominent film festival this month was 17th SXSW (South by Southwest), which included a music festival and an interactive conference, held in Austin, Texas. The festivities began 12 March and ran through the 21st.

There was the film conference and festival, the music conference and festival, and the interactive media conference. Here, we only follow the film festival.

As I write every year, the film awards have been presented at SWSW, not that you may hear about any of the winners this year. In case you really want to see, click the title of this post for the list.

MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 5-14 March 2010, Miami, Florida

On awards night, Saturday, 13 March, at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, the festival was forced to turn away more than 250 film lovers clamoring for tickets to the sold-out, post-awards-ceremony screening of surprise Oscar® winner THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES (El secreto de sus ojos, Argentina). You can read about that night and view the complete list of winners on the "Daily Wrap" blog by clicking here.

Some of the major awards were:

WORLD COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize:
LOLA, directed by Brillante Mendoza (France/Philippines, 2009)
(A $25,000 USD cash prize awarded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation)

Special Jury Mention 1:
MEDAL OF HONOR (Medalia de Onoare), directed by Calin Peter Netzer (Germany/Romania, 2009)

Special Jury Mention 2, and Audience Award:
NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT PERSIAN CATS (Kasi az gorbehaye irani khabar nadareh), directed by Bahman Ghobadi (Iran, 2009)

IBERO-AMERICAN COMPETITION

Grand Jury Prize:
TO THE SEA (Alamar), directed by Pedro González-Rubio (Mexico, 2009)
(A $25,000 USD cash prize awarded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation)

Audience Award:
UNDERTOW (Contracorriente) by Javier Fuentes-León (Peru/ Colombia/ France/ Germany, 2009)

THE CINEUROPA PRIZE FOR BEST EUROPEAN FILM

ORDINARY PEOPLE, directed by Vladimir Perisic (France/ Switzerland/ Serbia/ Netherlands, 2009)

Special Mention:
MEDAL OF HONOR (Medalia de Onoare), directed by Calin Peter Netzer (Germany/Romania, 2009)

25th Guadalajara International Film Festival, 12-19 March 2010, Guadalajara, Mexico

The festival folks had taken down the English portion of the Website even before I could get there. Therefore, you can access the Spanish-only site here and use Google Translate (comes ready-to-use with the Mozilla Firefox Browser).

All prizes were awarded during the closing ceremony held at the Auditorio Telmex (Telmex Auditorium). The Colombian film PORTRAITS OF A SEA OF LIES, directed by Carlos Gaviria, and the Mexican film PERPETUUM MOBILE, directed by Nicolas Pereda, received the award for Best Feature Latin American Fiction Film and Best Fiction Feature Film, respectively.

The Rigobeto Mora Award for Best Mexican Documentary Animation went to MOON (Luna), directed by Raul and Rafael Cardenas. This was the first year for the award.

Also, the Latinofusión Prize for Distribution was given for the first time this year. The prizewinners were, PORTRAITS OF A SEA OF LIES in the Latin American category, and in the Mexican category, GOOD HERBS, directed by Maria Novaro.

Four of the Major Film Festivals in April are: Florida FF, Orlando, FL; Tribeca FF, NYC; On Location Memphis IFF, TN, and the San Francisco Film Festival. There will be information on Cannes in this series and in stand-alone posts beginning soon. Cannes opens 12 May and runs through the 23rd.

Tim Burton Will Head Cannes' Jury

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

Tim Burton Pictures

Sundance is in full-swing and Berlin is about to open in a few weeks, but the most anticipated festival each year at this time is Cannes. Venice is the oldest film festival but Cannes is the most glorious. Thus, I was thrilled when an e-mail from the festival popped into my e-box today.

Gilles Jacob, president of the 63 Annual Cannes International Film Festival announced today that filmmaker Tim Burton will head the Festival Jury in May. Burton's ED WOOD screened at the festival in 1995, and he served on the 1997 jury helmed by Isabelle Adjani. With this announcement, and the Websites opening, the cinephiles begin their march toward the Croisette where all will coalesce beginning 12 May 2010. The festival will run through May 23rd.

When making his announcement, President Jacob joyfully said about Burton, "A filmmaker with a heart of gold and silver hands, Tim Burton is first and foremost a poet. He’s a magician of visual delights who turns the screen into a fairy wonder. We hope his sweet madness and gothic humor will pervade the Croisette, bringing Christmas to all. Christmas and Halloween."

Burton stated, "It's a great honor and I look forward, with my fellow jurors, to watching some great films from around the world. When you think of Cannes you think of world cinema. And as films have always been like dreams to me, this is a dream come true."

There is currently an exhibition, "Tim Burton at MoMa" which opened 22 November, and will run through 26 April 2010. It includes a film retrospective and a gallery exhibition. Those living near NYC, don't miss it! Also, here are all of Burton's films with some videos.

Registration for badges begins 1 February. The official press conference of the competition films will be held, as usual, in mid-late April.

Click the title of the post for the Festival's Official Website in English.

THE CANNES AFTERGLOW

The Cannes Film Festival (CFF) wrapped 23 May. Scroll down for my post of the top winners, 24 May. Since then, there have been further discussions about them.

The world-wide economic slowdown impacted Cannes this year. There were far fewer yachts, stars, press, and attendees. In the U.S., film critics are considered a luxury, and many newspapers have cut then from their staff. That is not true in Europe. For example, a newspaper in France, even though it may be experiencing a financial slowdown, will not ever think of cutting its film critic.

Biggest disappointment among the films in competition was Ang Lee's, TAKING WOODSTOCK. John Powers says the movie is “dinky”. Others made comments such as, “. . . highly anticipated, yet underwhelming.” Powers feels it is not very good cinematically, and probably should not have been in the Festival. He says it is fun to watch, and thinks Cannes accepted it because the Festival turned down BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2006). Judging by the Jury picks, this could have been the Festival for Lee’s LUST, CAUTION (2007).

The biggest surprise about a film that did not get an award at the Festival is Jane Campion's BRIGHT STAR. It received great reviews by critics viewing the film at the Festival. Apparently, it did not impress the Jury. Powers dubbed this years Cannes Festival, a Festival of Violence and Extremes.

The most deliberately provocative movie is Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST. Entertainment Weekly’s critic pulled no punches when he wrote, “Scenes of sexual mutilation in this gruesome story of a couple in [marital] hell elicited involuntary groans and then boos.” Most of the other critics left out “involuntary,” adding jeers, foot pounding, and many leaving the theater.

It has been widely reported that Trier suffered a bout of deep depression before embarking on this film. Despite the huge outcry against the film, Austrian Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress for her role.

There was much buzz about Heath Ledger’s final performance in Terry Gilliam’s THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, which screened out of competition. As usual, the critics didn’t get the film at all. They seldom get a Gilliam movie, but many die-hard fans do. When Ledger died about halfway through the filming, the role was recast to have Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell portray "physically transformed versions" of Tony.

No one else has speculated on this but I am going to. Could the Joker role followed by the mysterious stranger Tony in this “the Devil will have his due, if I don’t undo my mistakes” movie, coupled with Ledger’s recent divorce, and drug use, all have united to seal Ledger’s fate? It is the Doctor’s daughter, Valentina, who is in peril because of what her father has done, and Ledger had a young daughter. Just speculating.

Most critics were kind to Pedro Almodóvar’s latest with Penélope Cruz, BROKEN EMBRACES, praising her performance, but lukewarm to the movie. Poor Penélope had a bad cold, or flu, and missed most of the festivities.

Almodóvar and Lee are losing their mojo, according to the majority of the critics. Perhaps, both need to take a break to unwind and recharge.

On the other hand, critics and viewers generally praised Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, which is the name of a gang slaughtering Nazis. Powers calls it an amazing film because it takes us back to the 1960s WW II Nazi movies, with glimpses reminding one of the TV show, Hogan’s Heroes, but BASTERDS is 100 times more violent. Brad Pitt stars, but Australian Christopher Waltz as a "Jew hunter" in Nazi Germany, won Best Actor for the role, stealing Pitt’s thunder.


Michael Haneke ***** Christopher Waltz ***** Charlotte Gainsbourg

As to the winner, award-winning Austrian writer/director Michael Haneke's black and white drama, THE WHITE RIBBON (Das Weisse Band, Austria), basically little negative has been written about this stark film, which won both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Golden Palm. In an over-baring patriarchal society, strange and brutal things happen at a rural school in northern 1913 Germany just prior to WW I, which seem to be ritual punishments. How will this affect the school system, and will what happens at school and in the community sew the seeds for fascism?

Haneke's THE PIANO TEACHER (La pianiste, 2001) vaulted him onto the world cinema scene. That award-winner was followed by another critically acclaimed movie, HIDDEN (Caché, 2005), winning the FIPRESCI Prize, and a Best Director for Haneke.

At the Munich Film Festival on 3 July, Haneke will be honored by his peers with the CineMerit Award. Munich Festival kicks off on 26 June and runs until 4 July. I look for THE WHITE RIBBON to do extremely well in Munich, the beautiful city with a sinister past.

To help you wrap the afterglow of Cannes, here are some great links:
1. John Powers, "On the Ground at Cannes, " Part I - Fresh Air, PBS, Tuesday, 26 May.
2. John Powers, "On the Ground at Cannes, " Part II - Fresh Air, PBS, Wednesday, 27 May.
3. “Violence Reaps Rewards at Cannes Festival,” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, 25 May.
4. ”The Ballyhooed, the Magical and All that Mutilation: Cannes ‘09 Winds Down,“ Eric Kohn, Indiwire, 24 May [The link is wrong, but works as 06].

I can hardly wait for next year.

Cannes Winners Announced

Austrian director/writer Michael Haneke's black and white drama, THE WHITE RIBBON (Das Weisse Band) received the top prize Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival (CFF), taking home the coveted Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) for Best Feature Film. In a pre-WW I German village a series of crimes terrorizes its ultra-conservative residents. The brutality portends the Nazi era in pre-WW II Germany. Anyone get a whiff of a possible Oscar®?

The main Jury responsible for selecting the winners was headed by French Actress Isabelle Huppert. She was named best actress at the 2001 Festival for her role in Haneke's THE PIANO TEACHER. A Special Prize for lifetime achievement was awarded to French Filmmaker Alain Resnais at the screening of his latest, WILD GRASS (Les Herbes Folles).

French director Jacques Audiard's prison drama, A PROPHET (Un Prophéte), received the second place Grand Prize. The Festival's Jury Prize, the third-place award, was shared by FISH TANK (British director Andrea Arnold's teen drama) and THIRST (South Korean Park Chan-wook's vampire romance).

It was a big night for Austrian film, with Christopher Waltz as a "Jew hunter" in Nazi Germany, named as best actor for Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS, starring Brad Pitt. Uh oh - WW II, Germany, Nazis - anyone get another whiff of a possible Oscar®?

Also, fellow Austrian Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best-actress honor for her role in ANTICHRIST, directed by Lars Von Trier. The last film riled and repelled many Cannes viewers with its explicit images of physical abuse involving a grieving couple (Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe).

Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza received the award as Best Director for KINATAY. It concerns police inflicting bodily harm as retribution against uncooperative prostitutes.

Hong Kong screenwriter Feng Meiu garnered the Best Screenplay award for SPRNG FEVER (Hong Kong), directed by Lou Ye. It is a tale of forbidden romance involving homosexual relationships. First-time director Warwick Thornton was awarded a Camera d'Or (Golden Camera) in that category for his first feature, SAMSON AND DELIAH (Australia).

ARENA (Portugal), directed by João Salaviza, took home the Best Short Film Palme d'Or. THE SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN directed by Louis Sutherland received the Short Film Special Distinction award.

COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY, directed by Dutch-born Jan Kounen, closed the festival. It stars Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen, and is based on Chris Greenhalgh's novel. The novel weaves fact and fiction as does the film set in the 1920s, which is a lush portrayal of a brief affair between Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and fashion pioneer Coco Chanel.

2009 Films In Competition (20):

* À L'ORIGINE (IN THE BEGINNING) directed by Xavier GIANNOLI
* ANTICHRIST directed by Lars VON TRIER
* BAK-JWI (THIRST) directed by PARK Chan-Wook
* BRIGHT STAR directed by Jane CAMPION
* CHUN FENG CHEN ZUI DE YE WAN (Spring Fever) directed by LOU Ye
* DAS WEISSE BAND (THE WHITE RIBBON) directed by Michael HANEKE
* ENTER THE VOID directed by Gaspar NOÉ
* FISH TANK directed by Andrea ARNOLD
* INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS directed by Quentin TARANTINO
* KINATAY directed by Brillante MENDOZA
* LES HERBES FOLLES (WILD GRASS) directed by Alain RESNAIS
* LOOKING FOR ERIC directed by Ken LOACH
* LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (BROKEN EMBRACES) directed by Pedro ALMODÓVAR
* MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO directed by Isabel COIXET
* TAKING WOODSTOCK directed by Ang LEE
* THE TIME THAT REMAINS directed by Elia SULEIMAN
* UN PROPHÈTE (A PROPHET) directed by Jacques AUDIARD
* VENGEANCE directed by Johnnie TO
* VINCERE directed by Marco BELLOCCHIO
* VISAGE (FACE) directed by TSAI Ming-Liang

To access links for individual films and directors, go here.

Cannes Cinefondation Awards

At the 62nd Cannes International Film Festival, the awards for the best films presented in the Cínefondation program of 17 student films were handed out yesterday in the Buñuel Theatre. All are under 44 minutes, ranging from three to forty-three minutes. The Jury chair was UK director John Boorman.

The Cínefondation Selection received 1,400 film submissions this year, representing Latin America, North America and Europe. Here are the winners - -

First Prize: BÁBA by Zuzana Kirchnerová-Špidlová, Czech Republic;

Second Prize: GOODBYE by Song Fang, Beijing Film Academy, China;

Third Prize (tie): DIPLOMA by Yaelle Kayam, The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School, Israel;
ND
NAMMAE UI JIP (DON’T STEP OUT OF THE HOUSE by Jo Sung-hee, Korean Academy of Film Arts, Korea.

The winning films each received a financial prize of 15,000 € for the first prize, 11,250 € for second place and 7,500 € for the third place films.

LIST OF FILMS IN THIS SECTION:

* #1 directed by Noamir CASTÉRA
* BÁBA directed by Zuzana KIRCHNEROVÁ - ŠPIDLOVÁ
* BY THE GRACE OF GOD directed by Ralitza PETROVA
* CHAPA directed by Thiago RICARTE
* DIPLOMA directed by Yaelle KAYAM
* EL BOXEADOR (THE BOXER) directed by Juan Ignacio POLLIO
* GOODBYE directed by SONG Fang
* GUTTER directed by Dan Ransom DAY
* IL NATURALISTA (THE NATURALIST) directed by Giulia BARBERA, Gianluca LO PRESTI, Federico PARODI, Michele TOZZI
* KASIA directed by Elisabet LLADÓ
* LE CONTRETEMPS (THE SETBACK) directed by Dominique BAUMARD
* MALZONKOWIE (SIGNIFICANT OTHERS) directed by Dara VAN DUSEN
* NAMMAE UI JIP (DON'T STEP OUT OF THE HOUSE) directed by JO Sung-hee
* SEGAL directed by Yuval SHANI
* SYLFIDDEN (THE SYLPPHID) directed by Dorte BENGTSON
* THE HORN directed by YIM Kyung-dong
* TRAVERSER directed by Hugo FRASSETTO

To access links for individual films and directors, go here.

Cannes Festival is ready to roll

Actress, Isabelle Huppert

The 62nd Cannes Film Festival (CFF) will open this week, 13 May, and run through 24 May 2009. The films are selected as well as the juries, and the French know how to throw a party.


JURYIES
1. FEATURE FILM COMPETITION - French actress Isabelle Huppert, President, assisted by Asia Argento (Actress, Director, Screenwriter- Italy) Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Director, Screenwriter, Actor - Turkey) Lee Chang-Dong (Director, Writer, Screenwriter - South Korea), James Gray (Director, Screenwriter – United States), Hanif Kureishi (Writer, Screenwriter – United Kingdom), Shu Qi (Actress - Taiwan), Robin Wright Penn (Actress - United States), and Sharmila Tagore III ( Actress- India). Will be presented on stage during the closing ceremony on May 24th.

2. CAMERA d'OR - The Camera d’or, created in 1978, honors the best first film chosen in the Official Selection, the Critics’ Week or the Director’s Fortnight. This year, twenty first films will compete for this prize which will be presented on stage during the closing ceremony on May 24th.

French actor Roschdy Zem, President. Other members: Diane Baratier (cinematographer), Olivier Chiavassa (Federation of Film Technicians), Sandrine Ray (director), Charles Tesson (Critics’ Syndicate), and Edouard Waintrop (Fribourg Film Festival, Switzerland).

3. UN CERTAIN REGARD - The opening film of this prestigious Festival program is NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT THE PERSIAN CATS, Thursday, 14 May. The director is Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi.

Italian screenwriter and director Paolo Sorrentino, awarded the Jury Prize in 2008 for IL DIVO, will preside over: Julie Gayet (actress, France), Piers Handling (director of the Toronto Festival, Canada), Uma Da Cunha (journalist and festival programmer, India) and Marit Kapla (journalist, Göteborg Festival, Sweden).

SPECIAL EVENTS
1. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese is the honorary President of Cannes Classics 2009, a section established in 2004 to accompany the contemporary films of the Official Selection with a program of restored and rediscovered films, to be released theatrically or on DVD.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's masterpiece, THE RED SHOES (UK, 1948), tops the program. It will be presented in the Debussy Theater with Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell in attendance.

The movie has been restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in association with The British Film Institute, The Film Foundation, ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., and Janus Films, with funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes), The Film Foundation, and the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.

2. The Cinema Masterclass of the Dardenne Brothers - Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne will give the Cinema Masterclass at the 62nd Festival, Tuesday, 19 May. They won their first Palme d'or for ROSETTA in 1999. Like Francis Coppola, Emir Kusturica, Billie August and Shohei Imamura before, they have won more than one Palme d'or. They won their second in 2005 for THE CHILD, and followed with another for Best Screenplay in 2008's LORNA'S SILENCE.

As Martin Scorcese, Quentin Tarantino, Nanni Moretti and Wong Kar-Wai have done at previous Festivals, they will talk with Michel Ciment about their unusual career, their work at filming and writing together, the meaning that they give to their creation. They will welcome festival-goers, film buffs and journalists at the Buñuel theatre.

See my previous post, "Here Comes Cannes," 26 April.

Here Comes Cannes

The world-renown Cannes Film Festival will open in Cannes, France, 13 May, and run through 24 May 2009, 16 days away at the time of this post. This year is the 62nd edition. Gilles Jacob is president.

Significant Festival history will be made beginning on opening day with the computer-generated animated movie UP (Disney-Pixar, directed by Peter Docter), opening the Festival with its international premiere. This is the first time an animated movie has opened the Cannes Festival, and UP is not just any animated movie, it is in digital 3-D. The top prize is the Golden Palm (Palm d'Or). It could make more Festival history if UP won it, but UP is screening out of competition. The movie is scheduled to release in the U.S. 29 May.

French actress Isabelle Huppert is the jury president at this year's Festival. Only three other women have helmed the panel in the six decades of the Festival. The other women so honored: Liv Ullmann, Jeanne Moreau and Françoise Sagan.

The director lineup in the main competition of 20 strong films will include directors Quentin Tarantino (INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS), Ang Lee (TALKING WOODSTOCK), Pedro Almodovar (BROKEN EMBRACES), Jane Campion (BRIGHT STAR) [won as director of THE PIANO, the first woman to win the Golden Palm for directing], Ken Loach (LOOKING FOR ERIC), and Lars von Trier (ANTICHRIST).

Asian films are strong this year. Chinese movies joining Ang Lee's, are Hong Kong director Johnny To's VENGENCE, Park Chan-wook's (THIRST), and Ye Lou's and SPRING FEVER.

One of the Festivals' special screenings will be for HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR by French director Alain Resnais, one of the outstanding French New Wave directors. This year, the Festival commemorates the 50-year anniversary of the film's first screening at Cannes, and Resnais (86) brings his latest film, WILD GRASSES, to Cannes. Two of his fellow countrymen will join him to represent France, Jacques Audiard (A PROPHET) and Xavier Giannoli (IN THE BEGINNING).

Another showcase will be the last film performance of Heath Ledger in the Terry Gilliam fantasy THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS. Ledger died mid-shoot last year and his part was completed by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. Ledger was awarded a posthumous Oscar® this year for his supporting-actor performance as The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT.

One of the biggest galas associated with the festival, is actually a benefit gala held outside the main Festival, but in conjunction with it - - the annual European fundraiser sponsored by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). American actress Sharon Stone will host it again on 21 May. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Carine Roitfeld, Michelle Yeoh and Donatella Versace will be among 800 personalities attending.

This year for the first time, the benefit gala will be held at a Riviera palace, the Eden Roc, at Cap d'Antibes. Singer Annie Lennox will give a special performance. Last year's event raised $10 million.

The closing night film is Dutch-born, now French director, Jan Kounen's COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY, screening out of competition. I shall be following the Festival from now until it closes 24 May.

SLUMDOG Director Heads Shanghai Film Festival Jury

Shanghai Grand Theatre
Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has been appointed to head the jury at this year's 12th Shanghai Film Festival (13 - 21 June 2009). The announcement of Boyle's selection coincided with the debut of this year's best-picture Oscar® winner SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE on Mainland China.

Danny Boyle
In an interview with the official Xinhua News Agency, Boyle suggested that watching festival selections made abroad would allow him to approach them as a festival judge with an open mind. He also indicated that he would like to film a feature in China. "When you have a city that is full of people and stories like Mumbai, Beijing or Shanghai, it's just so much excitement and potential for a filmmaker," he said.

Last year, the sudden death on 18 March of Oscar-winning British writer /director Anthony Minghella, age 54 and tapped to head the festival jury, made it necessary to seek a new jury president. Wong Kar Wai, a well-known Chinese director (born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong) was appointed to replace Minghella whose best-known films included COLD MOUNTAIN, THE ENGLISH PATIENT, and THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY.

AS TEARS GO BY was Wong's debut feature in 1998, and he was invited for critic's week at Cannes that year. In 2006, he served as President of the Cannes' Jury. His first feature in English, MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, debuted at Cannes in 2007 and has won numerous awards.

Submission of film entries for this summer's festival is now open. More than 600 feature films and 200 short films have already been submitted to date.

To see more about last year's Shanghai Festival, click here. To access the Festival's official 2009 Web site, click the title of this post.

NPR Free SXSW Music Downloads

The National Public Radio music division is now offering free music downloads from the "NPR Music SXSW Sampler" DVD. SXSW stands for South By Southwest and refers to the annual music and film festivals in Austin, TX, which are currently in progress. There are more activities connected to the two festivals, and the various events are usually held in March. Winners at the SXSW Film Festival, were announced earlier this week. Each festival is considered top class in its medium.

Normally, I would have posted about them on my Film Festivals Page, but due to a broken shoulder and the Great Ice Storm of 2009, my plans were derailed. I have not started a 2009 Film Festivals Page. I hope to begin tracking the festivals next month as the biggest of them all, Cannes, will be in May.

Meanwhile, you can still get some ideas about these and other festivals on my last year's page. Go directly to last year's SXSW festivals. Please note that the page opens with Cannes, because it has not been reordered. So, to read from the first festival of the year (Palm Springs) and subsequent ones, you must start here and read upward.

To download the NPR music sampler information, click title of this post.

This year's SXSW Music Festival Web site.

This year's SXSW Film Festival Web site.