FESTIVAL 5: Cannes, France

The mother of all festivals which makes it the most important festival in the world. Actually it's four festivals in one, besides the official competition, there are also Un Certain Regard, the Semaine Internationale de la Critique (Critic's Week) and the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors' Forthnight). The festival also has the biggest film market including the Producer's Network for upcoming films. I will be covering the festival, so check for updates.

The winners will be decided by the jury that includes Sean Penn (president), Sergio Castellitto, Natalie Portman, Alfonso Cuaron, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Alexandra Maria Lara, Rachid Bouchareb, Jeanne Balibar and Marjane Satrapi.

The Official Competition
Fernando Mereilles - Blindness (Canada) (Opening)
Laurent Cantet - Entre les murs (France) Palme d’Or
James Gray - Two Lovers (US)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan - Three Monkeys (Turkey) Best Director
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne - Le Silence De Lorna (Belgium) Best Screenplay
Arnaud Desplechin - A Christmas Story (France)
Clint Eastwood - Changeling (US)
Atom Egoyan - Adoration (Canada)
Ari Folman - Waltz With Bashir (Israel)
Philippe Garrel - La Frontiere De L'Aube (France)
Matteo Garrone - Gomorra (Italy) Grand Prix
Charlie Kaufman - Synecdoche, New York (US)
Eric Khoo - My Magic (Singapore)
Lucretia Martel - La Mujer Sin Cabeza (Argentina)
Brillante Mendoza - Serbis (The Philippines)
Kornel Mondruczo - Delta (Hungary-Germany)
Walter Salles & Daniela Thomas - Linha De Passe (Brazil) Best Actress to Sandra Corveloni
Paolo Sorrentino - Il Divo (Italy) Jury Prize
Pablo Trapero - Leonera (Argentina-South Korea)
Wim Wenders - The Palermo Shooting (Germany-Italy)
Jia Zhangke - 24 City (China)
Steven Soderbergh - Che (US) Best Actor to Benicio Del Toro

Out of competition
Steven Spielberg - Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (US)
Mark Osborne and John Stevenson - Kung Fu Panda (US)
Ji-Woon Kim - The Good, The Bad, The Weird (South Korean)
Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Spain-US)
Barry Levinson - What Just Happened (US) (Closing)

Special screenings
Marina Zenovich - Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (US)
Wong Kar-wai - Ashes Of Time Redux (Hong Kong-China-Taiwan)
Daniel Leconte - C'est Dur D'etre Aime Par Des Cons (France)
Marco Tullio Giordana - Sangue Pazzo (Italy-France)
Terence Davies - Of Time And The City (UK)

Midnight Screenings
Emir Kusturica - Maradona (Spain)
Jennifer Lynch - Surveillance (US)
Hong-Jin Na - The Chaser (South Korea)

UN CERTAIN REGARD
“Hunger,” UK, Steve McQueen (Opening) Caméra d'Or
“A festa da menina morta,” Brazil, Matheus Nachtergaele
“Afterschool,” U.S., Antonio Campos
“De Ofrivilliga,” Sweden, Ruben Ostlund
“Je veux voir,” France, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige
“Johnny Mad Dog,” France, Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
“La vie moderne (profiles paysans)”, France, Raymond Depardon
“Los Bastardos,” Mexico, Amat Escalante
“Milh handha al-bahr,” (Salt of This Sea), Palestine, Annemarie Jacir
“O’ Horten,” Norway-Germany, Bent Hamer
“Soi Cowboy,” U.K., Thomas Clay
“Tin Che,” (Parking), Taiwan, Chung Mong-Hong
"Tokyo!," France-Japan, Bong Joon-ho, Michel Gondry, Leos Carax
"Tokyo Sonata," Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
“Tulpan,” Russia-Germany, Sergey Dvortsevoy Un Certain Regard Prix
"Tyson," U.S., James Toback
“Versailles,” France, Pierre Schoeller
“Wendy and Lucy,” U.S., Kelly Reichardt
“Wolke 9” (Cloud Nine), Germany, Andreas Dresen
“Yi ban haishui, yi ban huoyan,” China, Fendou Liu

Special Jury President's screening
Alison Thompson - The Third Wave (US)

For more info: Festival de Cannes

Semaine Internationale de la Critique
Christophe Van Rompaey - Moscow, Belgium (Belgium)
Emily Atef - The Stranger In Me (Germany)
Duane Hopkins - Better Things (UK)
Pablo Fendrik - Blood Appears (Argentina-France-Germany)
Aida Begic – Snow (Bosnia-Herzegovina-Germany-France)
Anna Novion - Grown Ups (France-Sweden)
Valeria Gaia Germanica - Everybody Dies But Me (Russia)

Opening film
Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz - Seven Days (Israel-France)

Closing film
Rodrigo Pla – The Desert Within (Mexico)

Special screening
Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy - Rumba (Belgium-France)

For more info: http://www.semainedelacritique.com/

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
“Acne,” Uruguay-Spain-Argentina-Mexico, Federico Veiroj
"Aquele querido mes de agosto," Portugal-France, Miguel Gomes
“Boogie,” Romania, Radu Muntean
“Les Bureaux de Dieu,” France, Claire Simon
“El Cant dels ocells,” Spain, Albert Serra
"De la guerre," France, Bertrand Bonello
"Le Dernier Maquis," France-Algeria, Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
"Eldorado," Belgium-France, Bouli Lanners
"Eleve libre," Belgium-France, Joachim Lafosse
"Liverpool," Argentina-France-Netherlands-Spain-Germany, Lisandro Alonso
"Monsieur Morimoto," France, Nicola Sornaga
“Knitting,” China, Yin Lichuan
"Now Showing," Philippines-France, Raya Martin
“Il Resto della notte,” Italy, Francesco Munzi
"Salamandra," Argentina-France-Germany, Pablo Aguero
"Shultes," Russia, Bakur Bakuradze
"Blind Loves," Slovakia, Juraj Lehotsky
"Lonely Tune of Tehran," Iran, Saman Salour
“Tony Manero,” Chile-Brazil, Pablo Larrain
"Le Voyage aux Pyrenees," France, Jean-Marie Larrieu, Arnaud Larrieu

Opening film
“Four Nights With Anna,” France-Poland, Jerzy Skolimowski

Closing film
"The Pleasure of Being Robbed,” U.S., Josh Safdie

For more info: http://www.quinzaine-realisateurs.com/