By James Mackenzie 32 minutes ago
PARIS (Reuters) -
Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen will be
among high-profile U.S. directors at this year's Cannes film
festival, where Hollywood will also be on show with the world
premiere of the latest Indiana Jones adventure.
Unveiling the line-up for the 61st edition of the world's
biggest film festival, which runs from May 14-25, organizers
said there was a feeling that "a new cycle was beginning" after
the widely hailed success of last year's event.
"It won't have escaped you that the selection process was
long, complicated and quite difficult," Thierry Fremaux, the
festival's head, told a news conference that was delayed from
an originally scheduled date last week.
He said the presence of Steven Spielberg and the stars of
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which
will premiere outside the main competition, would ensure "a
magnificent red carpet."
Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett and George Lucas are expected
to join Spielberg on the steps outside the Palais des
Festivals, guaranteeing the kinds of flashing cameras that add
essential glamour to the festival's arthouse fare.
Fans crowding the Croisette will also be hoping for
glimpses of Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem
who star in Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
But there should be plenty of familiar names in the main
competition, as well.
SODERBERGH WINS RACE AGAINST TIME
Eastwood's film "The Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie
as a woman searching for her missing son in 1920s Los Angeles,
joins a competition list that also includes works by previous
Palme d'Or winners Steven Soderbergh and Wim Wenders.
Soderbergh, who took the top Cannes award in 1989 for "Sex,
Lies and Videotape," won a race against time to complete his
four-hour epic "Che," on the life of the revolutionary Ernesto
"Che" Guevara in time for the festival.
Wenders, who won in 1984 with "Paris Texas," returns with
"The Palermo Shooting," a love story starring Dennis Hopper and
Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno.
Two films also add a flavor of Italy's tangled political
scene, "Gomorra," Matteo Garrone's depiction of the Camorra,
the Naples version of the mafia, and Paolo Sorrentino's "Il
Divo," on the great survivor of Italian politics, Giulio
Andreotti.
From Asia, Jia Zhangke, one of the leading figures in the
new generation of Chinese cinema, will be showing "24 City,"
his latest examination of the upheavals caused by China's rapid
economic expansion.
Outside the main competition, two of sport's most
charismatic but troubled champions feature in James Toback's
"Tyson," about heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson and Emir
Kusturica's treatment of soccer legend Diego Maradona in
"Maradona."
The competition jury is headed by Sean Penn and includes
actors Natalie Portman, Sergio Castellitto and Alexandra Maria
Lara and directors Rachid Bouchareb, Alfonso Cuaron and
Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
(Editing by Paul Casciato)
No comments:
Post a Comment