French Fish Tank Poster
A French poster for upcoming “Fish Tank,” extraordinary films about ordinary people, has been revealed.
Everything changes for 15 year old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.
“Fish Tank” is a coming of age movie set on a rundown English council estate. The characters are filled with equal measures of frustration, anger, longing and alcohol, without means to release the pressure. The decaying situation is played out with a credibility that leaves the audience unsurprised at the outcomes but gripped by the tension. With nowhere to go but down, the mood is deliberately oppressive. The tank is grimy, and breathing underwater almost impossible, but even so we glimpse gold on the scales of these fish.
Bright Star Trailer
Yahoo has debuted the official trailer for Jane Campion’s Cannes 2009 hit “Bright Star“
“Bright Star” is a period drama about the romance of 19th-century English poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne. The three-year romance between them was cut short by Keats’ untimely death at age 25.
Like in Campion’s earlier work, “The Piano,” the most charged meetings between the two lovers, John and Fanny, involve crossing a forest, the liminal zone of desire, as in a fairytale. We also have the classic Campion touch of peering through windows, emphasizing the voyeuristic quality of new desire.
The movie is both written and directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Jane Campion (The Piano, The Water Diary, In the Cut ), stars Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Paul Schneider and Kerry Fox and is set to hit theaters on September 18, 2009.
Quentin Tarantino Forced to Re-Do “Inglourious Basterds”
Quentin Tarantino’s World War II movie drama “Inglourious Basterds” made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, and while most critics enjoyed the movie, the main complain was that there was too much talking and not enough action.
By his own admission, Tarantino rushed to finish the film in time to compete in the Cannes Film Festival. He would have been better off screening it out of competition and designating it a work in progress.
Top executives at Weinstein Co and Universal are going to have to persuade the film-maker to restructure the movie ever so slightly before it hits US screens in August, and subtract and add footage so we know more about the Basterds, a group of Jewish American soldiers charged with scalping Germans in Nazi-occupied France.
Cannes Film Festival’s 48th Critics’ Week Lineup
First-time filmmakers will be center stage at this year’s 48th annual International Critics Week, where announced competition titles will be up for the Camera d’Or. Critics Week runs May 14-22, 2009. in Cannes.
Fest opener will be Mathias Gokalp’s freshman drama “Rien de personnel” (Nothing Personal), featuring French stars Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Denis Podalydes, Zabou Breitman, Pascal Greggory, Melanie Doutey and Bouli Lanners.
Latin American films continue a strong showing, with Chilean helmer Alejandro Fernandez Almendras‘ “Huacho” and Uruguayan director Alvaro Brechner’s “Bad Day to Go Fishing” both included in the sidebar’s seven-film competition.
Colombian feature “1989,” directed by Camilo Matiz and starring Vincent Gallo will be presented on closing night.
French filmmaker Nassim Amaouche also competing for a Camera d’Or, will screen his dark drama “Adieu Gary,” ((originally titled “Adieu Gary Cooper”) (Goodbye Gary Cooper)) which stars actor-director Jean-Pierre Bacri alongside Dominique Reymond, Yasmine Belmadi, Sabrina Ouazani and Mahmed Arezki.
This year, Belgium presents two competition features: Caroline Strubbe’s “Lost Persons Area,” about the relationship between a Hungarian engineer and a co-worker’s young daughter in the wake of a fatal accident, and Peter Brosen and Jessica Woodworth’s Andean-set drama “Altiplano,” starring Olivier Gourmet. “Altiplano” is the sole nondebut in the competition.
Also competing are Iraqi helmer Shahram Alidi’s “Whisper With the Wind” and Serbian director Vladimir Perisic’s “The Ordinary People.” Vladimir Perisic will present his directorial debut, a Franco-Serbian co-production about how ordinary men can turn into monsters.
“It’s been an extraordinary year for French cinema. We couldn’t have done it any other way. This is the first time there have been so many great French titles to choose from for as long as I’ve been doing this. It’s just great! What’s shocking is that there are very few first films in the official selection or the Director’s Fortnight, and Critics Week is pretty much just that. It’s great that we can be the ones to really showcase the next generation of filmmakers. We didn’t do it on purpose. The most interesting films we were sent this year were first films”
Critics Week artistic director Jean-Christophe Berjon said.
An additional feature for the Special Screenings session will be announced in the coming days.
Here’s the critic’s week line-up:
COMPETITION
“Lost Persons Area,” Belgium, Caroline Strubbe
“Altiplano,” Belgium-Germany-Netherlands, Peter Brosen, Jessica Woodworth
“Huacho,” Chile, Alejandro Fernandez Almendras
“Adieu Gary,” France, Nassim Amaouche
“Whisper With the Wind,” Iraq, Shahram Alidi
“The Ordinary People,” Serbia-France-Switzerland, Vladimir Perisic
“Bad Day to Go Fishing,” Uruguay-Spain, Alvaro Brechner
Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight And Short Films Lineup
Lineup for Cannes’ 41st edition of Directors’ Fortnight has been fully announced Friday in Paris.
Cannes 2009 Official PosterFrancis Ford Coppola turned down Cannes’ non-competing slot, but his latest “Tetro” will open the program.
“After Coppola announced that he wouldn’t show “Tetro” out of competition, we asked to screen it for the Quinzaine. We loved it! And our enthusiasm convinced Coppola that an opening Fortnight slot would be the ideal place to debut his film,” Fortnight topper Olivier Pere said.
With five features, including “Tetro,” U.S. directors have a stronger presence in the Fortnight than in Cannes’ Competition.
The U.S. selection also includes “I Love You Phillip Morris,” directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa which stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor; lowbudget comedy “Humpday,” written and directed by Lynn Shelton; Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Go Get Some Rosemary” and immigrant indie dramedy “Amreeka” directed by U.S.-born Palestinian/Jordanian Cherien Dabis.
Here’s a complete list of the this year’s Fortnight lineup.
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT LINEUP
“La Pivellina,” Austria, Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel
“The Alasness of Things,” Belgium-Netherlands, Felix van Groeningen
“Eastern Plays,” Bulgaria-Sweden, Kamen Kalev
“Carcasses,” Canada, Denis Cote
“J’ai tue ma mere,” Canada, Xavier Dolan
“Polytechnique,” Canada, Denis Villeneuve
“Navidad,” Chile, Sebastian Lelio
“Oxhide II,” China, Liu Jia Yin
“La famille Wolberg,” France-Belgium, Axelle Ropert
“Land of Madness,” France, Luc Moullet
“Le roi de l’evasion,” France, Alain Guiraudie
“Les beaux gosses,” France, Riad Sattouf
“Yuki & Nina,” France-Japan, Nobuhiro Suwa, Hippolyte Girardot
“Ajami,” Israel-Germany, Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani (closer) “Daniel & Ana,” Mexico-Spain, Michel Franco
“Karaoke,” Malaysia, Chan Fui (Chris) Chong
“Ne change rien,” Portugal-France, Pedro Costa
“Here,” Singapore-Canada, Tzu-Nyen Ho
“Like You Know It All,” South Korea, Hong Sang-soo
“Amreeka,” U.S., Cherien Dabis
“Go Get Some Rosemary,” U.S.-France, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
“Humpday,” U.S., Lynn Shelton
“I Love You Phillip Morris,” U.S.-France, Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
“Tetro,” Argentina-Spain-Italy, Francis Ford Coppola (opener)
Continue Reading…
Cannes 2009 Lineup
UPDATE May 24, 2009 – Cannes 2009 Winners
The official lineup for the 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which will run from May 13 to 24, 2009, has been unveiled and it promises to be one of the best line-ups in years, on paper, at least.
We’ve got four Palme D’or winners – Quentin Tarentino, Ken Loach, Jane Campion, Lars von Trier and a number of returning vets – Pedro Almodovar, Alain Resnais, Marco Bellocchio and Tsai Ming-liang.
Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week will be fully announced Friday in Paris.
Here’s the list:
OPENER
“Up,” U.S., Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
CLOSER
“Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky,” France, Jan Kounen – Out of Competition
IN COMPETITION
“Bright Star,” Australia-U.K.-France, Jane Campion
“Spring Fever,” (”Chun Feng Chen Zui De Ye Wan”) China-France, Lou Ye
“Antichrist,” Denmark-Sweden-France-Italy, Lars von Trier
“Enter the Void,” France, Gaspar Noe
“Face,” (”Visage”) France-Taiwan-Netherlands-Belgium, Tsai Ming-liang
“Wild grass,” (”Les Herbes folles”) France-Italy, Alain Resnais
“In the Beginning,” (”A L’origine”) France, Xavier Giannoli
“A Prophet,” (”Un Prophete”) France, Jacques Audiard
“The White Ribbon,” (”Das Weisse Band”) Germany-Austria-France, Michael Haneke
“Vengeance,” Hong Kong-France-U.S., Johnnie To
“The Time That Remains,” Israel-France-Belgium-Italy, Elia Suleiman
“Vincere,” Italy-France, Marco Bellocchio
“Kinatay,” Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
“Thirst,” (”Bak-Jwi”) South Korea-U.S., Park Chan-wook
“Broken Embraces,” (Los Abrazos Rotos) Spain, Pedro Almodovar
“Map of the Sounds of Tokyo,” Spain, Isabel Coixet
“Fish Tank,” U.K.-Netherlands, Andrea Arnold
“Looking for Eric,” U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy, Ken Loach
“Inglourious Basterds,” U.S., Quentin Tarantino
“Taking Woodstock,” U.S., Ang Lee
OUT OF COMPETITION
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” Canada-France, Terry Gilliam
“The Army of Crime,” France, Robert Guediguian
“Agora,” Spain, Alejandro Amenabar
62nd Cannes Film Festival To Premiere Zemeckis’ 3D Christmas Carol
Robert Zemeckis‘ 3-D motion capture adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic tale “A Christmas Carol” will be shown on May 18, 2009 at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Disney studio has announced.
“A Christmas Carol” directed by Robert Zemeckis stars Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn and Gary Oldman.
In the new version of Dickens’s story, Carrey takes on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. Firth will star as Scrooge’s nephew Fred, while Gary Oldman plays Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim.
Ebenezer Scrooge (Carrey) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk (Gary Oldman) and his cheery nephew (Firth). But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it’s too late. “A Christmas Carol” is scheduled to appear at IMAX and conventional theaters on November 6th.
“A Christmas Carol” will be released in IMAX 3-D and conventional cinemas on November 6, 2009.
Cannes 2009 Poster Unveiled
Cannes Film Festival 2009 has unveiled its official poster.
Created by Annick Durban, the image of a mysterious female is meant to evoke a window opening on the magic of cinema. The poster for the 62nd Cannes Film Festival edition was inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni’s “L’avventura,” which won the fest’s jury prize in 1960.
