Talking about Jafar Panahi has become a must at most film festivals and I do believe that international pressure to solve his situation is important, but wonder releasing a semi-clandestine film will help him. Nevertheless the film reached Cannes just a few days before the opening and has become part of the Official Selection in the Special Screenings.
The film depicts a day in Panahi's life while he was waiting for the veredict of court appeal, which indeed offers an overview of the current situation of Iranian cinema. Directed by Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmas (a documentary filmmaker and former assistant director) will be screened on Friday May 20th and is called: In Film Nist (This is not a Film).
--end of update 3--5/4/11
As fest organizers show information at the official site, a new film is shown in the Special Screenings and post is updated with the Egyptian film
Tamantatashar Yom (18 Days) by several directors. Final link to films in the official festival site is at the end of post.
--end of update 2--5/4/11
Today's press release announced that there will be twenty (20) films in competition as
The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius is joining the Official Competition.
--end of update--4/14/2011
In the press conference earlier today Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux dissipated this year’s much gossipy speculation about the selection and to my surprise, there were not many surprises! Perhaps the greatest and most positive is that Almodovar latest film is in competition! Still, there are some surprising omissions but let’s hope movies will appear in the parallel sections that will be announced next Monday.
Without further comments, let’s dive into the Official Selection that has nineteen (19) films
In Competition.
Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia), Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn, USA
Habemus Papam, Nanni Moretti, Italy and France
朱花の月
Hanezu No Tsuki, Naomi Kawase, Japan
Hearat Shulayim (Footnote), Joseph Cedar, Israel
Ichimei (Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai), Takashi Miike, Japan (aka 切腹 Seppuku)
movie site L’Apollonide – Souvenirs de la Maison Close (House of Tolerance), Bertrand Bonello, France
La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I Live In), Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
La Source des Femmes (The Source), Radu Mihaileanu, Belgium, Italy and France
Le Gamin au Vélo (Boy with a Bike aka Set Me Free), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgium, France and Italy
Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, France and Germany
Melancholia, Lars Von Trier, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany and Italy
(
*)
Michael, Markus Schleinzer, Austria (he was the casting director of The White Ribbon…)
Pater, Alain Cavalier, France
Polisse, Maïwenn, France (yes is Le Besco)
(
*)
Sleeping Beauty, Julia Leigh, Australia
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius, France
The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick, USA
This Must Be the Place, Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, France and Ireland
We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay, UK
Competition JuryPresident: Robert De Niro, Actor/Director, USA
Martina Gusman, Actress/producer, Argentina
Johnnie To, Director/producer, China/Hong Kong
Olivier Assayas, Director, France
Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Director, Tchad
Nansun Shi, Producer, China
Uma Thurman, Actress/script writer/producer, USA
Jude Law, Actor, UK
Linn Ullmann, Critic/Writer, Norway
The most remarkable aspect of the above In Competition selection is that for the first time EVER includes FOUR female directors in competition, which of course has become major news since the press conference. As is an extraordinary event let me list the four directors to congratulate them: Japan’s Naomi Kawase, France’s Maïwenn, Australia’s Julia Leigh, and UK’s Lynne Ramsay.
Out of CompetitionOpening Film:
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen, Spain and USA
La Conquête, Xavier Durringer, France
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rob Marshall, USA
The Beaver, Jodie Foster, USA
Bollywood - The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Jeffrey Zimbalist, (documentary done exclusively for Cannes)
Closing Film:
Les Bien-aimés (The Beloved), Christophe Honoré, France (yes is a musical!)
If we check the American films in and out of competition we find that Cannes 2011 will have Red Carpets that will look more like those that happen in America; then if all the “stars” come we will have perhaps the most American Cannes that I can remember, starting with this year jury president. Not much excited with this year Americanization of Cannes, but let’s hope world cinema and world filmmakers prevails in this Cannes edition.
Midnight Screenings(
*)
Días de Gracia (Days of Grace), Everardo Valerio Gout, Mexico
Wu Xia (Swordsmen), Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Hong Kong and China
Special Screenings(
*)
Labrador (aka Out of Bounds), Frederikke Aspöck, Denmark
Duch,Le Maître des Forges de l’Enfer (Duch, Master of the Forges Hell), Rithy Panh, France and Cambodia (Documentary)
Michel Petrucciani, Michael Radford, France, Italy, and Germany (Documentary about one of my favorite Jazz musicians!)
Tous Au Larzac (Leader-Sheep), Christian Rouaud, France (Documentary)
(*) La Khaoufa Baada Al'Yaoum (No More Fear), Mourad Ben Cheikh, Tunisia (documentary)
The Big Fix, Rebecca Tickell andJosh Tickell, USA, France and Germany (documentary)
Tamantashar Yom (18 Days), Ahmad Abdallah, Mariam Abou Ouf, Kamla Abu Zikri, Ahmed Alaa, Mohamed Ali, Sherif Arafa, Sherif El Bendary, Marwan Hamed, Khaled Marei and Yousry Nasrallah, Egypt (Compilation of 9 short films)
In Film Nist (This is not a Film), Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmas, Iran, 2011
(
*) First Film, competes for Camera d’Or
To read the official press release please go
here; later, on April 22, films will be on the site and will post link. Film list are at the site, but no movies info yet. Go
here. To check info, synopsis, photos, and some videos from all films go
here.
Watch trailers, photos and info @
MOC
The other film that was announced today and also is part of the Official Selection but in the Un Certain Regard section is by Mohammad Rasoulof, who is also currently subject to legal proceedings in Iran, and tells about a young lawyer in Tehran in search of a visa to leave the country, which is what Rasoulof did during the winter of 2010/2011. The feature film is called Bé Omid é Didar (Good Bye).
