43rd Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Lineup

A few minutes ago the last selection of Cannes 2011 was announced and this year the Directors’ Fortnight selection has some (in my opinion is very European or shall I say French?) geographic diversity while still being eclectic. There are eight first film -that still have to identify- and from all the films that still was hoping to see in Cannes this year only Ruben Östlund’s Play landed in this parallel section; so yes there are some inexcusable omissions in the complete Cannes selection but will talk about it in another post.

The Quinzaine selection includes some interesting films that surely will be controversial after their screening like for example Sion Sono’s Koi no Tsumi that’s a special screening and was described by Frédéric Boyer, Quinzaine Artistic director, as “kind of a sexual thriller”. The excellent news are that according to Boyer “this is a very good year for France, with some amazing films” as if true this year will also be another year with unbearable waiting time until I’m able to watch those “amazing films” and confirm my true love for French Cinema. Sigh.

These are the twenty-one (21) films in the main selection.

Opening Film: La Fée, Fiona Gordon, Domique Abel and Bruno Romy, France and Belgium
Closing Film: Les Géants, Bouli Lanners, Belgium, France and Luxembourg

(*)Après le sud, Jean-Jacques Jauffret, France
(*)Atmen (Breathing), Karl Markovics, Austria
Blue Bird, Gust Van den Berghe, Belgium
Busong (Palawan Fate), Auraeus Solito, Philippines
Chatrak (Mushrooms), Vimukthi Jayasundara, India and France
Code Blue, Urzula Antoniak, Netherlands and Denmark
(*)Corpo Celeste, Alice Rohrwacher, Italy, Switzerland, and France
(*)Eldfjall (Volcano), Rúnar Rúnarsson, Denmark and Iceland
(*)En Ville (Iris in Bloom), Bertrand Schefer and Valérie Mréjen, France
Impardonnables, André Téchiné, France
Jeanne Captive, Philippe Ramos, France
(*)La Fin du Silence (End of Silence), Roland Edzard, France
O Abismo Prateado, Karim Aïnouz, Brazil
Play, Ruben Östlund, Sweden, France and Denmark
Porfirio, Alejandro Landes, Colombia, Spain, Uruguay, Argentina and France
(*)Return, Liza Johnson, USA
Sur la Plance, Leila Kilani, Morocco, France and Germany
The Island, Kamen Kalev, Bulgaria and Sweden
(*)The Other Side of Sleep, Rebecca Daly, Netherlands, Hungary and Ireland

(*) First Film, competes for Camera d’Or

Special Screenings
Des Jeunes Gens Mödernes, Jérôme de Missolz, France and Belgium
El Velador, Natalia Almada, USA, Mexico and France
Koi no Tsumi (Guilty of Romance), Sion Sono, Japan
La Nuit elles dansent, Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault, Canada

Also the selection includes fourteen (14) short films that you can check in the list here that also includes links with information, photos, etc for all films in the selection.

Yesterday was announced that the Carrosse d’Or this year will go to imprisoned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. There will be an empty chair symbolizing his absence and other activities including the screening of his film Offside.

Most interesting (because opens the festival to "normal" audiences) is La Quinzaine à la Bocca (the The Fortnight in the Bocca's district) a project that aims to try out an original dynamic in cultural activism aimed at an outlying quarter of Cannes that is part of a wider policy of democratization and access to culture. Linked with the Directors’ Fortnight, it aims to extend the reach of the event to the district of la Bocca.

This outreach project consists of screening films from the Directors’ Fortnight in two local cinemas (the Licorne and the Raimu) for the kinds of audiences that are often excluded from the festivities. So these audiences are not only given access to screenings but also an opportunity to meet Fortnight filmmakers and take part in screen education workshops. It is a matter of familiarizing such audiences with challenging cinematic forms, encouraging their appreciation of the films, and getting them more involved throughout the year in following the films.

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