Here Comes Cannes 2008

Harrison Ford in Indy4

The Riviera resort of Cannes prepares to welcome the who's who of filmdom Wednesday. That's the opening day of the 61st Cannes International Film Festival, which means the festival is much older than the majority of the potential attendees.

One of the biggest premieres at the festival will surely be INDIANA JONES and the KINGDOM of the CRYSTAL SCULL, or Indy4 for short. It is screening out of competition. Of course, it would be unlikely to win the Golden Palm (Palme d'Or), anyway. But, it will generate a lot of excitement.

One of the longest features, Steven Soderberg's CHE (a.k.a., GUERRILLA - USA, France, Spain), a two-part, four-and-a-half-hour epic on Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, will premiere in competition. Benicio del Toro stars as the charismatic Guevara.

These are only two top motion pictures in the 12-day movie marathon, which will command world attention while cinephiles watch for the two, or three, break-out feature films that will make cinematic history in 2008. Then, the question becomes, "Will any one of the favorites at Cannes claim the biggest prize of all, the Oscar® for Best Motion Picture of 2008?"

You can read about Cannes, and 18 other major and/or popular festivals already completed this year, on my Film Festivals Page. This year, I am dividing the festivals into three sections. Every year, I add more, and every year I write more, so it was the only sensible thing to do. Cannes completes Part I for 2008, which began with Palm Springs in January.

Part II is now online. It begins with Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in June, and ends with the New York Film Festival, opening in late September.

Next up will be Part III, beginning with the International Film Festival of Catalonia (Sitges, Spain) the first week in October, and probably ending with the Dubai Festival in mid-December. I can't say for sure yet because the Dubai dates run very close to the New Latin American Festival in Havana, Cuba.

Part III should be online by the last of August. By the end of October the action will shift to my Awards Page, which is the time the Oscar race really shifts into high gear, but there will still be some interesting film festivals to follow until Christmas. Then, my Film Festivals Page for 2009 begins.

I think you will find my Festivals Page handy. I try to note interesting tidbits, sometimes from my personal experience, and I always include handy links to help viewers quickly find the information in which they may be most interested. You can access the page by clicking the title of this post, or the permanent link on the right sidebar. Hope you enjoy!

Woody Allen's Salute to Barcelona at Cannes

In the city of Barcelona, actresses Rebecca Hall, Patricia Clarkson and Scarlett Johansson experience the creations of its famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, as they stand on the roof of his Casa Milá. His famous church, the Familia Segrada (Sacred Family), is far right.


Woody Allen's latest movie, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, filmed in the Catalonian city of Barcelona, Spain, is considered by some to be Allen's homage to that city, as MANHATTAN (1979) was to New York City.

It is also a homage to Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, nominated for an Oscar® in the best actress category for her role in Pedro Almodóvar's VOLVER (Return, 2006). Allen says the moment he saw her in that movie, he decided he had to make a movie with her. Yep. The guy still has it!

BARCELONA stars Javier Bardém with Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, and Patricia Clarkson. This could be one of Allen's best sex fantasies yet. I get excited just thinking about seeing the movie, as well as scenes from my beloved city, Barcelona, which I am not now able to visit as much as I would like.

The movie premieres at the Cannes International Film Festival next month, screening out of competition. The scheduled U.S. opening is 29 August. For more about Cannes, see link on right sidebar to my Film Festivals Page. For much more about Bardém, click the link for my Foreign Movies Page.

Spain Sends THE ORPHANAGE to Fetch BFLF Oscar®

It's official. THE ORPHANAGE (EL Orfanato, Spain, 2007) directed by J. A. (Juan Antonio) Bayona and produced by Guillermo del Toro (PAN'S LABYRINTH), will represent Spain in the contest for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar®. That's a movie in languages other than English, and countries may submit only one film in the BFLF category.

ORPHANAGE bypassed the top film festival in Spain, San Sebastián, for the Film Festival of Catalonia at Sitges, a festival for fantasy and the fantastic. It will have its Spain premiere in Sitges at the opening gala 4 October.

Meanwhile, the Picturehouse release is making its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival as I write this, and is in competition. The movie stars Belén Rueda (Laura), Fernando Cayo (Carlos) and Geraldine Chaplin (Aurora), and it is the last name on the list that is very interesting, I think.

You see, one of the reasons the movie may have bypassed San Sebastián could be because that festival was pulling out all the stops to honor Carlos Saura for 50 years of filmmaking. They honored him with a Golden Shell. Before Saura, only Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, "the master," received one in 1981. Buñuel died in 1983.

If you don't know, Saura and Chaplin had a close relationship for many years in which she collaborated on the writing of the scripts, helped finance some of his projects, starred in a number of his movies and gave him his third son, Sean Saura Chaplin. Carlos was married with two sons. She was not. They never married, but were together shortly after she starred in DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) until the filming of her last movie with Saura, MAMA TURNS 100 (1979). There's much more, but you must wait for my book.

FADOS ("a musical documentary," from Portugal/Spain) is Saura's latest. The movie's Spanish premiere was at San Sebastián 21 September. It was a gala event where Saura received the Golden Shell from former Festival director and movie critic Diego Galán. Not only that, there was a live production of fado singers with flamenco dancers.

FADOS will have its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival in NYC, screening as a special event on 13 October. No word as yet if the fado singers will perform. The world premiere was at Toronto, the Spain one at San Sebastián, and the Canadian one at Vancouver. ORPHANAGE didn't appear at any of those.

Here, the plot thickens. FADOS is a Portuguese/Spanish production and Portuguese is spoken. So, I can hardly wait to find out if Portugal is submitting FADOS to AMPAS® as their official submission.

Geraldine Chaplin on the set of EL ORFANATO, 2007
The story of ORPHANAGE is that Laura (Rueda) returns with her family to the orphanage in which she grew up with the intention of opening a residence for children with disabilities. The new environment wakes up her son's imagination, and he begins to take on more and more intense games of fantasy.

As the games intensify, Laura becomes increasingly disturbed until she reaches the point where she thinks there is something in the house that is threatening her and her family. The escalation of events lead her to take her son for psychological help.


Scandinavian actor Per Oscarsson and Géraldine Chaplin in LA MADRIGUERS (The Burrow, 1969)
Have you seen Saura's movie LA MADRIGUERS, 1969? Take your pick of English titles: Honeycomb, The Burrow, The Den. If you have seen this movie, the above synopsis should prick your ears, because there is definitely a psychological similarity between the synopses of the two movies. At any rate, from what I am hearing, Geraldine may receive an Oscar nomination for her performance in this movie, and the movie stands a good chance, too.

Will someone please go see these movies in New York and send me a report? I Will appreciate it. If you have a fast Internet connection, you can catch the trailer here.

My Film Festiva Page News

Wes Anderson’s new film, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, featuring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, and Anjelica Huston. (Fox Searchlight)

Winners at the Sarajevo and Edinburgh Film Festivals were posted today on my Film Festival Page as the fall film festival season is underway. My MIMI'S FILM FESTIVAL PAGE is currently reporting on happenings at the Edinburgh (England) and Sarajevo (Bosnia) festivals as well as the following: Montreal (Canada), Venice (Italy), Telluride (Colorado, USA), Toronto (Canada), San Sebastián (Spain), Vancouver (B.C.), New York (NYC, USA), Catalonian (Sitges, Spain), and the Times BFI London (UK) festivals. Others will be added as information becomes available.

The page is designed as a "quick stop" for viewers/readers to catch the highlights, and access the official sites immediately through quick links. Updates are sporadic, because they are made whenever information is received from various sources.

So, go visit and bookmark/favor the page for convenient frequent checking.