Palme d’Or – Laurent Cantet’s ‘Entres Les Murs’ / ‘The Class’
“Entre les Murs” (”The Class“), based on a best-selling autobiographical novel by François Begaudeau, who plays the main character is brought alive by the performances of the non-professional actors playing the students. The film follows a year in the life of a French schoolteacher working in a tough multi-cultural section of Paris.
Sean Penn, the president of the jury, said that the award for “The Class” was one of two unanimous verdicts. The other was the prize for best actor, given to Benicio Del Toro, who played the title in Steven Soderbergh’s “Che.”
Directed and co-written by Laurent Cantet (Human Resources’, Time Out), the film is set in a school in the Parisian suburbs; indeed, with the exception of a handful of brief scenes shot in the staff room, the corridors, and the playground, the entire movie is set in one classroom, where François (François Begaudau), a French teacher of some four years standing, attempts to instill some sort of discipline and enthusiasm for learning into a motley, multicultural group of 13- and 14-year-olds. Continue Reading…
‘Red Cliff’ 9-minutes Cannes promo
Over the weekend a 9-minute Cannes promo reel for John Woo’s Red Cliff showed up online.
‘The War of the Red Cliff‘ is movie with a budget of $36 million which is the most expensive ever in Chinese Cinema history.
Film is based on historical events that took place in China 1,700 years ago and on a chapter in the popular novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” Some 600 years after its publication, the book is still widely read in China.
‘The War of the Red Cliff’ has 2 parts.The first movie “The War of the Red Cliff,” is set to premiere July 10.
Production of the second movie is expected to wind up within the year, and is tentatively scheduled for a December release.
Watch “Red Cliff” Cannes promo after jump Continue Reading…
Cannes Film Festival CAM – Live From Croisette
What’s happening on the Cannes Cam today (all times local; red carpets kick off approximately 45 minutes before start of film):
20. May 2008.
Premiere of Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling“ (8:30 – 12:00 / 19:00 – local time)
Premiere of Kornel Mondruczo’s “Delta” (16:00- local time)
Midnight Screening:
Emir Kusturica’s “Maradona” (23:30 – local time)
Michael Moore says ‘Fahrenheit 9/11′ follow-up is not a sequel
With his follow-up to “Fahrenheit 9/11,” Michael Moore wants to examine America as an empire, study its standing since the Sept. 11 attacks and present revelations to surprise audiences as much as the first film did.
But he doesn’t want to make a sequel.
“To just say it’s a sequel is so wrong,” Moore told The Associated Press yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival, where he met with potential international distributors for the film, due out in 2009.
The documentary announced this week at Cannes will be a broader chronicle than “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which took President Bush to task over the terrorist attacks and the Iraq war.
“It would be easier and safer to make a sequel, if that’s all it was, but this isn’t about Bush. We all know this. Regardless of who the president is come November, we have a big mess, a big, big mess to be cleaned up, and I don’t know whether it can be cleaned up,” Moore said. “The toxicity of the spill may be so great that there’s nothing we can do about it. If that’s the case, where are we now as America and as Americans?”
“Fahrenheit 9/11″ won the top prize at Cannes in 2004 and went on to top $100 million at the domestic box office, the only documentary to hit that mark.
Moore plans to keep details of the film to himself, saying he regretted talking too early about his health-care documentary “Sicko.” Health insurers were able to mobilize against him, which “made it impossible for me to get in anywhere” for interviews, he said.
The new film, which doesn’t yet have a title, is being financed by Overture Films, which is handling the U.S. release, and Paramount Vantage, which is overseeing international distribution. Continue Reading…
Ken Loach to Make Eric Cantona Biopic
An intriguing team, led by Ken Loach, is working on a project that was originated by football legend Eric Cantona.The project, with the working title Looking For Eric is part of the Wild Bunch Cannes slate.
The French company is closely guarding the details but Screen sources suggest that French star came up with the idea from which Paul Laverty has written the screenplay.
Sources also suggest it has been set up as a co-production with Cannes favourites Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes‘ Les Films Du Flueve in Belgium.
Loach’s regular producer Rebecca O’Brien is also on board.
No further details are available at this stage, although the film does not appear to be a biopic.
French international Eric Cantona’s sporting reputation was built as a flamboyant and sometimes eccentric star for Manchester United in England.
After retiring from the game he moved into film acting with appearances including Elizabeth in 1998. He directed his first feature Apporte-moi Ton Amour in 2002.
