Cannes - The Hollywood Reporter

Transcription

Dubai HC D8 052009
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10:06 AM
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Cannes
daily
the
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
thr.com/cannes
Greek Film Centre D8 052009.indd 1
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Cannes
daily
the
Q&A
Jan Kounen
fashions a
closing night
premiere.
SEE
PAGE 4
Wednesday
May 20, 2009
THR.com/cannes
‘Breaking’
news for
Pattinson
By Stuart Kemp
obert Pattinson, who shot
to stardom in “Twilight”
and is now filming the second and third movies in the
franchise, confirmed Tuesday
in Cannes that there will be a
fourth installment of the vampire franchise based on the
book “Breaking Dawn.”
Pattinson told The Hollywood
Reporter that he is
committed to
starring in the
final outing to
date but
doesn’t know
when backers
continued on
page 19
R
Market’s silver lining
Purple reign
Cannes’ current
glamour queen
Penelope Cruz climbs
the red carpet before
Tuesday night’s
gala premiere of
“Broken Embraces.”
CRUZ PHOTO: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES
By Scott Roxborough
erlin-based production
house Egoli Tossell is
joining with France’s Bac
Films and Warner Bros. Entertainment GmbH in Germany
for a series of films based on
the best-selling “Hector’s
Journey” novels by Francois
continued on page 18
B
Predictions of
buying bust
don’t bear out
By Scott Roxborough
and Steve Zeitchik
T
hey came expecting a
bomb. What they’re
getting, with possible
deals still on the table,
is not as bad as that.
Expectations were so low
ahead of the 2009 Festival de
Cannes that even modest successes seemed like home runs,
while disappointments were
barely felt.
From the pre-buy market, to
WHAT’S INSIDE
Robert
Pattinson
Triple play for
Lelord’s ‘Hector’
8
‘Broken Embraces’
By Kirk Honeycutt
hile making a light comedy, a
REVIEW
director and his female star engage
in a passionate love affair that prompts emotional
fireworks, jealousy and betrayal, not only for them but for
those close to the pair in “Broken Embraces.” These dual
movies — the on-set comedy and the off-set melodrama —
allow the prolific and always engaging writer-director Pedro
Almodovar to speculate on cinema itself, on its imagery,
iconic touchstones and capacity for clandestine observation.
W
continued on page 6
>Reviews. PAGES 10-12, 16
>Screening Guide. PAGE 13-15
>Party Line. PAGE 16-17
Today’s THR is our
final print issue for
this year’s Cannes,
but we’ll continue
our reviews and
news coverage
online at
THR.com/cannes.
5/19/09
7:58 PM
Page 2
news
THR.com/cannes
CJ, Showbox on selling spree
By Patrick Frater
K
orea’s major studio
groups, CJ Entertainment and Showbox,
have put some life
back into the country’s flagging film export business with a string of Cannes
sales.
For the Competition title
“Thirst,” CJ inked with Lola
Film for Spain, Paris Filmes for
Brazil, Edko for Hong Kong,
Avsar Film for Turkey and Discovery for the ex-Yugoslavia
territories.
Un Certain Regard pic
“Mother” found distribution
homes with Eco Film in Portugal, Catchplay in Taiwan, Edko
in Hong Kong and Discovery
for the ex-Yugoslavia.
Big-budget disaster movie
“Haeundae” washed up in the
U.K. with Optimum, in Germany with Splendid and in
Hong Kong with Edko.
Showbox presold big-budget
historical martial arts title “The
Sword With No Name” (aka
“The Last Empress”) to Splencontinued on page 15
Dabis has
new firm,
global aim
By Steven Zeitchik
“Amreeka” director Cherien
Dabis is taking a trip around the
globe.
The helmer
has formed a
production
entity called
Levantine
Entertainment
aimed at developing and proDabis
ducing socially
conscious films with global
settings and themes.
The Middle East would be a
particular specialty, she said via
her agency William Morris
Endeavor Entertainment, which
along with reps Jodi Peikoff and
Strahovski
welcomed
aboard ‘Sky’
By Stuart Kemp
Australian actress Yvonne
Strahovski, star of the NBC
series “Chuck” in the U.S., has
climbed aboard “Shadows
From the Sky,” based on former airline pilot Tristan
Loraine’s documentary “Welcome
Aboard Toxic
Airlines” and
his subsequent
novel “Toxic
Airlines.”
Strahovski has
signed a
letter of
intent,
Loraine
said, and
joins a long
list of supcontinued
on page 15
THR,PIFF partner
for festival dailies
Staff report
Beginner’s Luck
Actress Sae Ron Kim attends the “A Brand New Life” photocall Tuesday.
Buzz building for Tarantino’s ‘Basterds’
By Scott Roxborough
Everyone is on tenterhooks ahead of
today’s premiere of “Inglourious Basterds,” not least the stars of Quentin
Tarantino’s Nazi-slaying epic.
The director’s mad rush to finish
the film in time for Cannes has meant
that virtually no one, including “BasLos Angeles 323.525.2000
terds” headliners, has seen the movie.
“When I arrived in Cannes and
saw the posters on the Carlton Hotel
and I wasn’t on them I thought, ‘Oh
no, they’ve cut me out,’ ” German
star Daniel Bruhl, one of the film’s
leads, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I saw Quentin, and he said he hasn’t
Quentin
Tarantino
| New York 646.654.5000 | London +44.207.420.6139 | Hong Kong +852.60792737 |
2
The Hollywood Reporter
will be back in business at the
upcoming Pusan International Film Festival with a
run of seven English-language show dailies produced
on site during the event.
It will be the third year
THR has produced dailies at
PIFF. This year’s fest runs
Oct. 8-16.
“I appreciate that THR is
strengthening its support for
the Asian film industry and
THR.com/cannes
|
day 8
TARANTINO PHOTO: VALERY HACHE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
day8_p2,15_news
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q&a
JAN KOUNEN
ust after the Gallic release of Anne Fontaine’s
Coco Chanel biopic,Dutch-born French filmmaker Jan Kounen will present closing night’s
“Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky,” his take on the
relationship between the fashion icon and Russian
composer.Kounen,who made the leap to features
with 1995’s controversial “Dobermann,” was last
on the Croisette with his 2005 out of competition
title “Darshan: The Embrace.” He recently talked to
The Hollywood Reporter French correspondent
Rebecca Leffler about closing this year’s fest,heading from the Chanel showroom to the Amazon,
and why 1920s music is still très fashionable.
J
What drew you to this particular story?
Jan Kounen: William Friedkin dropped out
of the project and producer Claudie
Ossard called me up. I was very
curious. I accepted the job
rather quickly after reading
the script. What really
made me want to make
the film was, above all,
the subject matter. It’s a
love story between two
artists, two historical
figures who are each
icons in their respective
fields. Also, the 1920s
were the greatest
years. The challenge
was to create Igor
Stravinsky’s 1913
work “The Rite of
Spring,” which was
such a wonderful
scene to recreate. The
story is shocking, original and beautiful, so I
was able to make what I
think is the polar
opposite of “99
Francs.” The story was
meant to be told.
How is your film a
departure from
what Friedkin
started?
Kounen: My
immediate
reaction after
reading the
script concerned the
language.
The film was
Los Angeles 323.525.2000
THR.com/cannes
written in English. I said, “I can’t tell the
story of a French Coco Chanel if she’s speaking English in the film.” I wanted the French
to speak French with each other and the Russians to speak Russian.
This isn’t the only film made about Coco Chanel
at the moment. Are you sick of all the comparisons to Anne Fontaine’s “Coco before Chanel”?
Kounen: No, I’m not sick of them — yet! I
haven’t yet gotten the chance to see Anne
Fontaine’s movie. But from what I hear, her
film stops where ours begins. Plus, my film
isn’t just centered on Chanel. It’s about a
chance encounter one night in 1913 that
sparks a love affair between the characters
over an eight-week period. The films are
very different.
Why the current fascination with Coco Chanel?
Kounen: I really don’t know. Perhaps it’s this
new passion for biopics. Or perhaps it’s
simply because Coco Chanel is a very
important figure. The modernity of the
two characters — Chanel and Stravinsky
— is very strong as well; their music
and clothing remain contemporary.
How would you describe the film?
Kounen: You might call it a psychological drama. Above all, it’s
a love story. It’s a film that stays
within the intimacy of two
characters. It’s not a movie that
describes the life’s work of
Chanel or Stravinsky, but
instead the story of two people
who find themselves in a complex situation.
How closely is the film based on
Chris Greenhalgh’s book? Did you
want to remain loyal to the book or
add the Kounen touch?
Kounen: First, I started with the
screenplay that Chris Greenhalgh
originally wrote. I worked with him
on the adaptation — I added some
of my own ideas and took some
ideas from his book as well. Then, I
worked on the French adaptation.
How closely did you work with
Chanel?
Kounen: We worked very
closely with Chanel. We even
filmed at their headquarters. It worked out very
well. Everyone was very
easy to work with. They
all appreciated the
film a lot. It was a
very open, very
free work environment. They let us borrow
Chanel’s own possessions. Karl Lagerfeld
created a dress specifically for the film that
he then presented during his Paris-Moscow
fashion show. Chanel gave us costumes,
told us stories — it was all very fluid.
Did making this film spark your interest in the
world of fashion?
Kounen: After the shoot, I went to a fashion
show for the first time — to the Chanel
show. It was very impressive. It’s not a
world I knew well, similar to the music of
Stravinsky. I explored both territories, both
fashion and classical composers of the
1920s. I was really intrigued by the idea that
these creative characters transformed
events in their lives into
art and how one nourished the other. It’s this
movement that was
attractive to me as a filmFor more
maker. I also fell in love
Q&A with Jan
with “The Rite of Spring.” Kounen, go to
It was a major discovery
THR.com/cannes.
for me. We all know Coco
Chanel well, but we don’t
know Igor Stravinsky as well, so this film
will allow people to get to know him better.
You’re known for your innovative use of special effects — are there any in this film?
Kounen: You’ll see some effects in the opening
credits but other than that, I really tried to
avoid using modern effects. It’s a period film,
so I tried to employ a more traditional savoirfaire. I didn’t think a period piece should be
filmed in digital. I used digital only to take
care of any problems — a stray microphone in
the shot or issues like that, but I took out digital touchups as much as possible.
What’s next for you?
Kounen: I’m working on an animated film
for kids that takes place in the Amazon, and
also a documentary with fictional sections
about the history of the lineage of the Dalai
Lamas. I need some rest. I made “99
Francs” and then “Coco Chanel & Igor
Stravinsky” very quickly. I want to take
time to write.
4
vital stats
Nationality:
Dutch
Festival entry:
“Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky” (Closing Night)
Date of birth: May 2, 1964
Selected filmography: “99 Francs” (2007),
“Darshan: The Embrace” (2005), “Other
Worlds” (2004), “Blueberry” (2004),
“Dobermann” (1997)
THR.com/cannes | day 8
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THR | Wednesday, May 20, 2009
‘Broken’
continued from page 1
While the movie as a whole is
thoroughly engrossing and all
the movie references and subplots involving the cinema
world undoubtedly enrich his
story, this is a pretty minor film
from the filmmaker. It feels like
more of an exercise in plotting
and movie nostalgia than a
story about real people.
By now though, Almodovar is
a brand name, and his muse,
Penelope Cruz, certainly adds
potent star power, so the film
should perform well in specialty
venues when Sony Picture Classics releases it stateside Nov. 20.
The opening credits are
superimposed on a video image
taken surreptitiously on the set
of the stand-ins and then Cruz
and co-star Lluis Homar. This
nicely sets up the notion of the
camera as the world’s greatest
spy: For in movies, the audience
is always watching people’s
most intimate situations and
seeing things the characters
would not have us see.
The story concerns a man
with two names who answers
only to one. A car accident 14
years earlier robbed film director Mateo Blanco (Homar) of his
eyesight and his great love Lena
(Cruz). Once he recovered, he
declared Blanco dead and
adapted the pseudonym Harry
Caine, which he puts on all the
scripts he now writes with the
aid of Diego (Blanca Portillo),
the son of his former production
manager Judit (Tamar Novas).
One night, while recovering
from an accidental drug overdose, Diego asks Harry to tell the
story of what happened 14 years
ago. Surprisingly, Harry does.
The minute Harry — now
Mateo — and Lena see each
other, they fall in love. But she is
the kept woman of Ernesto
Martel (Jose Luis Gomez), a
wealthy broker. Nonetheless,
Mateo casts her in his comedy.
Lena has always wanted to be an
actress and, as a former escort
and now a mistress, acting does
come naturally to her.
Martel signs aboard as the
film’s producer in a vain attempt
to maintain control over his
lover. He even plants his son,
Martel Jr. (Ruben Ochandiano),
on the set, ostensibly to shoot a
“making of” video, as a means
to keep an eye on Lena.
Movie references begin to
| reviews
> IN COMPETITION
BOTTOM LINE A film within a
film and a catalog of movie
references make this more of
an entertaining Pedro
Almodovar film than one of his
deep-dish ones.
SALES: Focus Features International
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: El Deseo
D.A., S.L.U. CAST: Penelope Cruz, Lluis
Homar, Blanca Portillo, Jose Luis
Gomez, Ruben Ochandiano, Tamar
Novas. DIRECTOR-SCREENWRITER:
Pedro Almodovar. PRODUCER:
Augustin Almodovar, Esther Garcia.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY:
Rodrigo Prieto. PRODUCTION
DESIGNER: Antxon Gomez. MUSIC:
Alberto Iglesias. COSTUME DESIGNER:
Sonia Grande. EDITOR: Jose Salcedo.
No rating, 129 minutes.
pile up. Mateo’s comedy “Girls
and Suitcases” is clearly a reworking of Almodovar’s own
“Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.” Noir elements, especially staircases
that can have treacherous consequences, foreshadow the
coming tragedy.
Martel hires a lip reader to tell
him what his lover is saying on
the videotapes his son sneaks
from the set. There is even a
reference to “Peeping Tom,”
Michael Powell’s 1960 prescient thriller about a young
man who murders women and
films their dying expressions
with his movie camera.
For all this window dressing,
“Broken Embraces” remains a
1950s-style Douglas Sirk
melodrama with breathless
revelations in the final reel.
One or two stretch credibility
about as far as it will go. Cruz
and Homar do play their parts
with flair though.
Cruz, who is given an Audrey
Hepburn hairdo in the movie
within the movie, is glamorous,
ambitious and utterly in love
with her new man. Homar is
incautious as Mateo but wry
and ironic as Harry, a man
devoted to his pleasures and
writing but deliberately cut off
from his previous self.
Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography is exquisite from the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote to
the many finely appointed interiors. And the close-ups of Cruz
in various hairstyles and wigs
are a kind of art work all by
themselves. A score by longtime
collaborator Alberto Iglesias
evokes the many movies the
director embraces in “Broken
Embraces.” ∂
6
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THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2009
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EVENT CHAIRS
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day8_p8 rev-Vincere b
5/19/09
4:50 PM
Page 8
reviews
that persists even after Mussolini marries. Ida continues to
be his lover and in 1915 bears his
son (also named Benito), whom
Mussolini did acknowledge.
However, when she starts
demanding that he acknowledge their marriage, which to
this day has never been proven,
he exiles Ida and the boy to her
sister’s house, under the
watchful eye of bodyguards.
Years later, she is still waiting
for him, all the while writing to
everyone from the police to the
royal family for her rightful
recognition and due from the
man she loves blindly. Eventually, in 1926, her thwarted
assassination attempt of one of
his political ministers lands her
in a mental institution, and
young Benito in the care of
nuns. The rest of the film follows her descent into even
greater madness, for Ida never
changed her story, insisting
that her life and her truth be
heard and remembered.
Throughout the film, Bellocchio intersperses black-andwhite archival footage, fascistera graphics and close-ups of
women whose identities are
explained much later in the
film, to good artistic effect. He
creates an intimate mood while
alluding to the general feel of
‘Vincere’
By Natasha Senjanovic
M
arco Bellocchio is
no stranger to
dividing critics
and audiences
with his films, and
the highly anticipated “Vincere” is doubtless no exception.
Bellocchio’s name and Celluloid
Dreams’ selling power ensure
that it will play in numerous
countries, but this true story
begs the question, “Why should
we care about a woman in love
with and driven mad by one of
recent history’s most brutal
dictators?”
The film begins in 1907, with
young Benito Mussolini (Filippo
Timi, an established theater
actor in Italy and a rising film
star), a Socialist and union
activist, provocatively “proving” that God does not exist to a
spellbound group that includes
the smitten Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno, “Love in the
Time of Cholera”).
In 1914, they become lovers
and her passion for the charismatic journalist is total — she
will sell everything she owns to
help him start his own newspaper. Initially a pacifist, we see
that Mussolini already has
changed his political tune and is
now supporting WWI as the
only means to cleanse society.
The sex scenes between
Mezzogiorno and Timi are
steamy without being gratuitous and Bellocchio eloquently
establishes a powerful carnal
connection between the two
> IN COMPETITION
BOTTOM LINE Bellocchio’s biopic
of Mussolini’s secret lover
offers different but
questionable take on history.
SALES: Celluloid Dreams. PRODUCTION
COMPANIES: Offside, RAI Cinema.
CAST: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Filippo
Timi, Fausto Russo Alesi, Michela Cescon,
Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Corrado
Invernizzi, Paolo Pierobon, Bruno Cariello.
DIRECTOR: Marco Bellocchio.
SCREENWRITERS: Bellocchio, Daniela
Ceselli. PRODUCER: Mario Gianani.
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Daniele
Cipri. PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Marco
Dentici. MUSIC: Carlo Crivelli. COSTUME
DESIGNER: Gaetano Carito. EDITOR:
Francesca Calvelli. No rating,
129 minutes.
THR.com/cannes
the highly chronicled era without going too far over the top or
reconstructing elaborate sets.
The director also pulls
career-high performances from
Mezzogiorno and Timi that are,
respectively, tragic and mesmerizing. They deserve kudos
for making such controversial
personalities engaging and real,
and they lift the film notches
above standard biopic fare.
“Vincere” belongs to Mezzogiorno, as Timi disappears once
Mussolini renounces Ida, only
to reappear later as the dictator’s grown son, who goes by a
different name and can do
uncanny impersonations of the
country’s leader.
But of all the women who
have been abandoned and all the
people unjustly institutionalized, how sorry should we feel
for Mussolini’s lover? It’s not as
if Ida Dalser was in love with a
man whose worst deed was driving her to insanity, or that her
personal tragedy offset her love
of a hoodlum-turned-dictator.
The damage done by Mussolini as he ruthlessly rose to
power in his quest for domination is so much greater than the
two destroyed lives of “Vincere” that the film simultaneously cancels the very empathy
it evokes. ∂
| New York 646.654.5000 | London +44.207.420.6139 | Hong Kong +852.60792737 | THR.com/cannes |
8
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The Hollywood Reporter | Wednesday, May 20, 2009
| reviews
‘Le roi de
l’evasion’
> Directors’ Fortnight
THE BOTTOM LINE: A slapstick sex
comedy on midlife, gay angst.
By Duane Byrge
hat’s it like to be gay,
middle-aged and a traveling tractor salesman in
the French boondocks? Clearly,
not tres grande. It is, however, a
recipe for a ripe, mid-life crisis
comedy about sexual and political mores.
Playing in the Directors’
Fornight, “Le Roi de l’evasion”
stars Lucovic Berthillot as
Armand, a pudgy solid citizen
who has tired of the “gay scene,”
such as it is, in his small town.
Armand is depressed, napping
on the job and binge eating. He’s
turned 40 and his life is going
nowhere. His employer suggests
a vacation, but it’s a chance
“rescue” of a 16-year-old girl
that snaps him back — or backward, as his friends see it.
After paying off teen thugs to
stop harassing a pretty teen,
W
REVIEW IN BRIEF
‘Eye of
the Storm’
BOTTOM LINE: Too much
narrative entanglement for
too little payoff.
t’s clear that first-time
Brazilian director Eduardo
Valente has done his homework on all the films, like
“Amores Perros,” with impenetrable, disparate narratives
that finally come together at
the end. However, this sort of
thing is easier to study than to
pull off, and Valente, obviously a promising talent, doesn’t
manage it in “Eye of the
Storm.” Commercial
prospects are slim or nonexistent, but the next time you
I
a mis-matched pairing, things
don’t go swimmingly. However,
In this amusement, it makes for
some funny, farcical sex as the
pudgy Armand and the libidinous school-girl rut around in
the woods, unable to truly consummate. The incongruity of it
all soon wears thin, as do some
other weightier issues — age of
consent, civic hypocrisy, simplistic sex-offender laws — that
are sprayed into the mix but
never coalesce. Unfortunately,
Guiraudie merely titillates with
these issues, and the film loses
potency as the extreme premise
ultimately droops.
Curly, Armand becomes an
unlikely white-knight. The
nubile girl develops a huge
crush on him and makes strong
sexual advances.
Down to story briefs, filmmaker Alain Guiraudie has crafted an amusing and often perceptive comedy about middle-aged
gay angst, and he’s stroked it
with the most incendiary comic
catalyst — the gay man tries to
transform his life by becoming
bisexual. At the same time, Curly
is trying to escape her repressive
parents, and latching onto a older
male is an obvious outlet.
As one might expect with such
What keeps it going are the
strong performances. As the
befuddled Armand, Ludovic
Berthillot is sympathetic, while
Hafsia Herzi sizzles as the
rebellious schoolgirl.
“Le Roi” is most potent in its
visual comedy. A series of scenes
in which town officials partake
of some sort of super root in the
woods and then become outrageously aroused, shedding their
clothes and performing sexual
solos on the spot, are hilarious.
Ultimately, “Le Roi de l’ Evasion” evades its more serious
underside for its momentary
farcical romps. ∂
‘Like You
Know It All’
see this director’s
name attached to a
film, go see it.
“Storm” begins
with a semi-rousing
action scene in which
a policeman accidentally kills a man being
held hostage. What
follows is a series of
(seemingly) utterly
unrelated glimpses
into the exceedingly banal
domestic life of four different
families. We watch with
increasing irritation as
unknown people keep asking
each other how they are, and
keep being reassured that
“everything is fine.”
These short scenes of
everyday life gradually, very
gradually, begin to cohere in
small ways that may keep the
hardiest of viewers going. By
the end of the film, we come
to realize that three or four of
the stories we’ve been follow-
> Un Certain Regard
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Genial comedy on film festival
flings and frivolities.
ing actually precede the opening scene, while the central
story line, that of the policeman, follows it.
Figuring all this out is
much less fun than it sounds.
The vast majority of the individual scenes are not
emphatic enough to hold a
viewer’s interest, and lethargy quickly sets it. When the
mediocre payoff finally
comes, it’s not worth all the
work that you’ve had to put
into it.
— Peter Brunette
ilm festivals and cinema
workshops come across as
hotbeds of drunken
brawls, fulsome schmoozing
and adulterous sex in “Like
You Know It All” — Korean
auteur Hong Sang-soo’s pertly
observant and endearingly
droll send-up of the film and
intellectual scene. Like all his
works, clever symmetries of
character, plot and mise-enscene abound but “Like” more
readily indulges the audience
with easy comedy and features
a central character (possibly
fleshed out from some percontinued on page 10
F
9
day 8
5/19/09
5:27 PM
Page 10
| reviews
REVIEW IN BRIEF
‘Marching Band’
> Market
THE BOTTOM LINE: Marching
Band breaks formation from
the college ranks to a statement on the Obama election.
“Like You
Know it
All”
results in sexual indiscretions
that end on a very sour note.
Twelve days later, Ku is invited
to give a seminar organized by
the local film commission. Simisonal experience) that makes
one care more than one normally lar social drinking ensues with
equally rowdy effects. Hong’s
would in a Hong Sang-soo film.
sharp ear for intellectual posers
Those who feel that Hong is
results in some hilarious diagetting stuck in a pretentious
logue.
rut as he expands his oeuvre
The formalistic refinement of
might rediscover some of the
Hong’s two-part structure
debonair charm of earlier works
becomes apparent when Ku has
in “Like.” However, it will still
a reunion with Yang, an elderly,
only make ripples in festival and
renowned painter who taught
art house circuits.
Art house director Ku Kyung- him in college, and finds out that
Yang’s new wife is his old flame
nam (Kim Tae-woo) arrives in
Sun. The neat, self-consciously
the provincial town of Jecheon
artificial parallel between the
to officiate as juror of a film festival (which really exists). He has two risqué episodes recalls “The
Turning Gate” and “A Tale of
some amusing exchanges with
Cinema.” But he varies it with
the pretty festival programmer
visually refreshing contrast
(Uhm Ji-won) and members of
between an enclosed rural setthe jury. Smarmy professional
ting (Bu’s ancestral home) and
networking descends into
wide-open ocean backdrops (a
drunken, flirtatious revelry and
seaside restaurant in Jeju).
erupts into a messy scene. With
Ambling at a rhythm that is
its insiders’ parody of critics,
neither too brisk nor too slow,
filmmakers and industry
this human comedy invites tolwannabes, the first half hour is
the most appealing to those who erant interest in the petty struggles and minor mishaps of Ku, a
have done festival rounds.
vain, self-preserving wannabe.
Ku runs into Bu, a friend who
Zany scenes of women bursting
has admired his talent and tried
into hysterical fits and
to help his business in
men pummeling each
the past. When he visits
other at the slightest
Bu’s home and meets his
provocation, simply adds
cute and devoted New
Expanded
Age wife, Ku’s mild con- review and full to the bemused attitude
to human foibles.
tempt for Bu’s loser life
list of credits
turns into envy and
—Maggie Lee
arching Band” is a mixed melody. A documentary about
two U.S. collegiate marching bands, both from the state
of Virginia, the film veers off from a musical glimpse into university marching bands, to a whole other movement, the
recent U.S. presidential election.
Using the two bands as a prism to shed light on Barack
Obama’s historic rise to the presidency, French filmmaker’s
Claude Miller, Helena Cotinier and Pierre-Nicolas Durand
took advantage of the electoral circumstances in the swing
state of Virginia to add another rich layer to their tale.
The two bands of focus in this ambitious project are from
two Virginia public universities: the University of Virginia,
founded by Thomas Jefferson and one of the country's most
revered schools, and Virginia State University, an historically
black institution, populated by many first-generation college
students with disadvantaged backgrounds.
In this often stirring market entry, the three filmmakers take
us straight into the full-blast middle of the marchers, capturing the energy and talent of the young musicians. Although the
demographic make-up of the two bands contrasts vividly, they
are on common ground in their kinship and bonding with their
fellow band members. For the elite-scholars of UVA, membership in the band rounds out their college life with a strong
bonding experience; for the students of VSU, membership in
the band provides a respite from often tumultuous lives. For
both, the band is like a family.
Mixing interviews with individual band members from both
schools with inter-cuts of the respective campuses, which
shows the drastic contrast in school environs, Miller, Cotinier
and Durand convey the importance that membership in a
group means to young students, regardless of social upbringing or academic ability.
Since “Marching Band” was filmed in the fall of 2008, when
Barack Obama spoke in Richmond, the capital of that up-forgrabs electorate, Miller slants onto the political reverberations that
accompany both band’s seasons. While this tends to skew the narrative focus of the film, it is often moving, especially in a stirring
crescendo as Virginia State students wildly celebrate the Obama
victory. Their gleeful pride is itself a thunderous victory march.
“M
‘Know’
enis Villeneuve’s “Polytechnique” is a dispassionate retelling of the massacre of
14 young women at a school in
Montreal by a deranged young
man with a high-powered rifle
in December 1989.
Filmed in black and white,
the French-language film does
not set out to comprehend the crime other than
to suggest that the shooter (played with a vacant
stare by Maxim Gaudette) was a pathetic loser
who chose to blame women for his empty life.
D
REVIEW IN BRIEF
‘Polytechnique’
THE BOTTOM LINE:
Laudable testament to students
who died in a Montreal school
massacre lacks insight.
— Duane Byrge
The focus is on what happens to two survivors of the incident. Jean-Francois (Sebastien
Huberdeau) is the only person in the huge,
10
day 8
day8_p11-13_screenings c
5/19/09
4:47 PM
Page 11
>>> festival
screenings
Competition films in black; titles in bold
>TODAY
8:30 Inglourious Basterds,
U.S., Competition, 160 mins,
Grand Theatre Lumiere;
Tulum, Croatia, 15 mins,
Whisper With the Wind, Iraq, 77
mins, Critics Week, Salle Bunuel
9:00 La terre de la folie,
France, Directors’ Fortnight,
90 mins, Palais Stephanie
11:00 Tales From the Golden
Age, Romania, Un Certain
Regard, 138 mins, Salle Bazin;
La Famille Wolberg, France,
Directors’ Fortnight, 82 mins,
Palais Stephanie; Logorama,
France, 16 mins, Altiplano,
Belgium-U.K., 110 mins, Critics
Week, Espace Miramar
11:30 Eyes Wide Open, Israel,
Un Certain Regard, 91 mins,
Salle Debussy; Le roi de
l’evasion, France, Directors’
Fortnight, 99 mins, Cinema les
Arcades Salle 1
Broken Embraces, Spain,
Competition, 129 mins, Salle
du Soixantieme
14:00 Nymph, Thailand,
Un Certain Regard, 109 mins,
Salle Debussy; Here, Singapore,
Palais Stephanie; Tulum,
Croatia, 15 mins, Whisper With
the Wind, Iraq, 77 mins, Critics
Week, Theatre La Licorne
14:30 Cinefondation Program
1 (Kasia, 11 mins; The Horn,
THR.com/cannes
24 mins; Traverser, 5 mins;
By the Grace of God, 37 mins),
Cinefondation, Salle Bunuel
16:00 Wild Grass, FranceItaly, Competition, 104 mins,
Seeds of the Fall, Sweden, 18
mins, Bad Day to Go Fishing,
Uruguay-Spain, 100 mins,
Critics Week, Studio 13
16:30 Prince Yeonsan,
South Korea, Cannes Classics,
133 mins, Salle Bunuel
17:00 A Brand New Life, South
Korea, Specials, 92 mins, Salle
du Soixantieme; Eyes Wide
Open, Israel, Un Certain Regard,
91 mins, Salle Debussy; La terre
de la folie, France, Directors’
Fortnight, 90 mins, Palais
Stephanie
17:30 Logorama, France, 16
mins, Altiplano, Belgium-U.K.,
110 mins, Critics Week, Espace
Miramar
18:00 Tomorrow at Dawn,
France, Un Certain Regard,
100 mins, Salle Bazin
“Inglourious Basterds”
La Famille Wolberg, France,
Palais Stephanie
20:00 CanalPlus Collection
Short Films, France, Critics
Week, 95 mins, Espace Miramar
20:30 Don Giovanni, Cinema
de la Plage, 176 mins, Plage
Mace
19:15 L’avventura, Italy, Cannes
Classics, 143 mins, Salle Bunuel
22:00 Vincere, Italy-France,
Competition, 128 mins, Salle
du Soixantieme; Here,
Singapore, Directors’ Fortnight,
86 mins, Palias Stephanie;
Amreeka, U.S.-Canada-Kuwait,
19:30 Eye of the Storm, Brazil,
Specials, 113 mins, Salle du
Soixantieme; La Pivellina,
Austria, Directors’ Fortnight,
100 mins, Cinema 13
Studio 13
22:30 Drag Me to Hell, U.S.,
99 mins, Out of Competition,
Grand Theatre Lumiere; Nymph,
Thailand, Un Certain Regard, 109
mins, Salle Debussy; I Love You
Phillip Morris, U.S., Directors’
Fortnight, 96 mins, Cinema les
Arcades Salle 1; Logorama,
France, 16 mins, Altiplano,
Belgium-U.K., 110 mins, Critics
Week, Espace Miramar
Roger Friedman
Controversial. Evocative. Qualified.
Showbiz411.com I Now Exclusively with The Hollywood Reporter
Los
Angeles 323.525.2000 |1 New York 646.654.5000
roger_friedman_quart_horiz.indd
| London +44.207.420.6139 | Hong Kong +852.60792737 | THR.com/cannes
| dayAM
8
5/18/09 9:43:10
11
5/19/09
4:59 PM
Page 12
>>> market
screenings
>TODAY
THR.com/cannes
“A Thousand Oceans”
8:30 Whisper With the Wind,
Iraq, 77 mins, Dreamlab, Bunuel;
Inglourious Basterds, U.S.,
Competition 148 mins,
Universal Pictures, Grand
Theatre Lumiere
9:00 Mental, Japan, 135 mins,
Films Boutique, Palais J; Land of
Madness, France, 90 mins, Doc
& Film International, Palais
Stephanie
9:30 The Dust of Time,
Greece, 125 mins, the Match
Factory, Olympia 4; Frag, U.S.,
88 mins, ID Communications,
Palais D; The Last Applause,
Germany, 88 mins, Sola
Media/Atrix Films, Riviera 2; The
Two in Tracksuits, Japan, 93
mins, Open Sesame, Palais H;
The Outcasts II, Iran, 90 mins,
Documentary and Experimental
Film Center, Palais B; Children
of the Pyre, India, 74 mins,
Fortissimo Films, Gray 2; My
Name Is Dindi, Brazil, 85 mins,
Cinema Do Brasil, Palais F;
Heaven, Hell … Earth, Slovak
Republic, 95 mins, Film Europe,
Riviera 4; Polytechnique,
Canada, 76 mins, Wild Bunch,
Arcades 3
10:00 Endgame, U.K., 104
mins, Target Entertainment
Group, Palais I; The Cursed,
U.S., 93 mins, Tricoast
Worldwide, Palais E; Father of
My Children, France, 110 mins,
Les Films Du Losange, Riviera 3;
Eccentricities of a Blond Hair
Girl, France, Pyramide
International, Palais G; La premiere etoile, France, 90 mins,
Other Angle Pictures, Palais C;
Eloise, Spain, 100 mins, Filmax
International, Lerins 1; Henry of
Navarre, Germany, 15 mins,
Bavaria Film International, Lerins
2; Blood, Japan, 85 mins,
Bogeydom Licensing, Gray 3; In
Your Veins, Sweden, 92 mins,
Svensk Filmindustri AB, Gray 1;
Daniel & Ana, Mexico, 90 mins,
Fortissimo Films, Olympia 6;
Lost Persons Area, Belgium,
109 mins, UMedia, Riviera 1;
Leningrad, U.K., Nonstop Sales
AB, Palais K “Bory”
11:00 The Wolberg Family,
France, 82 mins, Pyramide
International, Palais Stephanie;
Altiplano, Belgium, 108 mins,
Meridiana Films, Miramar; Tales
From the Golden Age, Romania,
122 mins, Wild Bunch, Bazin
Minerva Pictures Group, Gray 3;
Slovenian Girl, Slovenia, 87
mins, Slovenian Film Fund,
Palais C; Marching Band,
France, 100 mins, Les Films du
Losange, Lerins 2; Blame It on
Mum, France, 110 mins,
StudioCanal, Riviera 3; Edgar
Allan Poe’s Ligeia, U.S., 90
mins, Darclight Films, Palais E;
Before Twilight, Poland, 96
mins, Booboo Films, Riviera 1;
Mediterranean Food, Spain,
102, RTVE, Gray 1; Ashes From
the Sky, Spain, 92 mins, Bausan
Films, Palais I; Irene, France, 85
mins, Pyramide International,
Palais G; The Back Door,
Russia, 78 mins, Sovexportfilm,
Palais K “Bory”
11:30 Silent Wedding,
Romania, 90 mins, Bac Films,
Arcades 3; Doll, Chile, 90 mins,
Latido, Palais H; King of
Escape, France, 100 mins, Les
Films du Losange, Arcades 1;
Short Cut to Hollywood,
Germany, 94 mins, Bavaria Film
International, Riviera 2; The
Rebel: Louise Michel, France,
90 mins, Wide Management
Enterprise, Palais F; Dumbeast,
Japan, 106 mins, Gaga
Communications, Gray 2; Sweet
Rush, Poland, 85 mins, Les
Films du Losange, Riviera 4;
She Could Be You, U.S., 102
mins, Diamond Lion Production,
Palais B; The Happy Cricket
and the Gigantic Insects,
Brazil, 86 mins, Cinema Do
Brasil, Palais D; Eyes Wide
Open, Israel, 100 mins, Films
Distribution, Debussy; The
Rejection, Ukraine, 90 mins,
Ukrainian Cinema Foundation,
Gray 4
Universal Pictures, Grand
Theatre Lumiere; Broken
Embraces, Spain,
Competition, 129 mins, Focus
Features International, Salle
Du 60eme
11:35 The Day of Defeated,
Ukraine, 94 mins, Ukrainian
Cinema Foundation, Gray 4
13:30 Unfailing-New
Director’s Cut, France, 90 mins,
Wide Management Enterprise,
Palais B; Crime or
Punishment?!?, Japan, 110
mins, Open Sesame, Palais H;
Killing Is My Business, Honey,
Germany, 109 mins, Beta
Cinema, Riviera 2; A History of
Israeli Cinema, Israel, 180 mins,
Films Distribution, Gray 2; Good
Bye, My Secret Friend, Japan,
11:45 Looking for Eric, U.K.,
Competition, 117 mins, Wild
Bunch, Star 1
12:00 Verso, Switzerland, 100
mins, Tarantula Suisse SA,
Arcades 2; Days and Clouds,
Italy, 116 mins, Adriana Chiesa
Enterprises, Olympia 4; Life
Sentence, n/a, 90 mins,
107 mins, Kadokawa Pictures,
Palais D; Croatian Short Films
2009, Croatia, 90 mins,
Croatian Audiovisual Centre,
Palais F; The Other Bank,
Georgia, 90 mins, D2A, Riviera 4;
Four Ages of Love, Russia, 97
mins, Sovexportfilm, Palais J;
Prince of Broadway, n/a, 102
mins, Elephant Eye Films, Gray 4
14:00 Black Out, France, 90
mins, Bac Films, Gray 3; Coco,
France, 105 mins, StudioCanal,
Lerins 1; Ex, Italy, 100 mins, RAI
Trade, Palais C; Solomon’s
Kingdom, Iran, 120 mins, Farabi
Cinema Foundation, Palais E;
Miracle Seller, Poland, 110 mins,
Fabryka Spolka Realizatorow
Filmowych I Telewizyjnych,
Lerins 2; Yuki & Nina, France,
90 mins, Films Distribution,
Riviera 1; Who Is Afraid of the
Wolf, Czech Republic, 90 mins,
Film Europe, Palais G; April
Showers, Portugal, 90 mins,
Insomnia World Sales, Palais I;
My Neighbor My Killer, U.S.,
80 mins, Cinephil, Palais K
“Bory”; Dogtooth, Greece, 96
mins, MK2 S.A., Star 1; Kinatay,
Philippines, 100 mins, the Match
Factory, Arcades 2; Nymph,
Thailand, 109 mins, Un Certain
Regard, Debussy; Here,
Singapore, 86 mins, Visit Films,
Palais Stephanie
15:30 31 North 62 East (Too
Close to the Truth), U.K., 99
mins, Fact Not Fiction Films,
12
day 8
5/19/09
4:55 PM
Page 13
Palais J; November Child,
Germany, 95 mins, Beta Cinema,
Riviera 2; Corked!, U.S., 90 mins,
Tricoast Worldwide, Palais D;
Master Key, Canada, 104 mins,
E1 Entertainment International,
Palais H; Stolen Lives, U.S., 90
mins, Arclight Films, Gray 4; A
History of Israeli Cinema, Israel,
Gray 2; The French Kissers,
France, 83 mins, Other Angle
Pictures, Arcades 3;
Cheburashka, Japan, 80 mins,
Frontier Works, Palais F
15:45 Masons, Spain, 80 mins,
Kevin Williams Associates,
Palais B
16:00 Wild Grass, France,
Competition, 104 mins, Coach
14, Grand Theatre Lumiere;
Taarka, Estonia, 99 mins,
Estonian Film Foundation,
Palais C; Soundtrack for a
Revolution, U.S., 83 mins, Wild
Bunch, Palais K “Bory”; Ashes
and Blood, France, 95 mins,
Alfama Films, Riviera 1; United
Red Army, Japan, 190 mins,
Blaq Out, Riviera 3; Friends
Forever, Germany, 77 mins,
StudioCanal, Lerins 1;
Soundless Wind Chime, China,
100 mins, Wide Management
Enterprise, Palais G; Heliopolis,
Egypt, 92 mins, Film House
Egypt, Gray 1; Refractaire,
Luxembourg, 100 mins, Iris
Productions SA, Palais I;
As Blue as the Lilac, Iran,
100 mins, Farabi Cinema
Foundation, Palais E; Ouled
Lenine, Tunisia, 81 mins, Les
Cinemas du Monde, Gray 3
16:30 Prince Yeonsan, South
Korea, 133 mins, Cannes Classic,
Bunuel
17:00 A Brand New Life, South
Korea, 93 mins, Fine Cut, Salle Du
60eme; Eyes Wide Open, Israel,
Debussy; Land of Madness,
France, 90 mins, Doc & Film
International, Palais Stephanie;
L’chaim Israel, 4 mins, Short
Film Corner 2009, Palais F
17:30 Black Water Transit, U.S.,
95 mins, Capitol Films, Palais J;
Crackie, Canada, 90 mins,
Kickham East Prods., Palais H;
Sometime in August, Germany,
92 mins, Bavaria Film
International, Riviera 2;
Albakiara, Italy, 93 mins, Wide
Management Enterprise, Palais
F; Eyecons: Rape of the Soul,
Canada, 110 mins, ID
Communications, Palais B;
Cluster, U.S., 105 mins, Open
Source Pictures, Palais D; Sister
Smile, Belgium, 120 mins, Roissy
Films, Riviera 4; Fatal Relation,
Greece, 125 mins, Gerasimos
Kandilis, Gray 2; Altiplano,
Belgium, 108 mins, Meridiana
market | screenings
Films, Miramar; Vortex, n/a,
Lietuvos Kinas, Gray 4
a date with
18:00 I Was Here, Estonia,
90 mins, Estonian Film
Foundation, Palais C; A
Woman’s Way, Greece,
Olympia 3; A Thousand
Oceans, Switzerland, 90
mins, Iris Productions SA,
Palais I; Sanpei the Fisher
Boy, Japan, 118 mins, Toei,
Riviera 1; Hardly Bear to
Look at You, U.K., 92 mins,
Feinschmecker Films, Gray 3;
Meat Grinder, Thailand, 110
mins, the Federation of
National Film Associates of
Thailand, Palais E;
Generazione 1000 Euro,
Italy, 101 mins, RAI Trade, Gray
1; Tomorrow at Dawn,
France, 90 mins, Films
Distribution, Bazin; Politist,
Adjectiv, Romania, 108 mins,
Coach 14, Lerins 1
Hungary?
@ No.104 International Village
U.S., Competition, 148
mins, Universal Pictures,
Grand Theatre Lumiere
19:15 The Wolberg Family,
France, 82 mins, Pyramide
International, Palais
Stephanie; L’avventura, Italy,
143 mins, Cannes Classics,
Bunuel
Friday 22nd
2.30 p.m.
THEATRE
CROISETTE
19:30 Germany 09,
Germany, 151 mins, the Match
Factory, Riviera 2; Eye of the
Storm, Brazil, 118 mins,
Specials, Salle Du 60eme
20:00 Dracula’s Stoker,
Ireland, 112 mins, Eurofox
Pictures, Palais J; Nightmares
in Red White & Blue, U.S., 96
mins, Screen Media Ventures,
Palais D; Soldiers of Peace,
Australia, 85 mins, Longtale,
Palais B; 1989, Colombia, 40
mins, Colombo Films, Palais K
“Bory”; Thomas, Finland,
73 mins, Acid, Arcades 1;
CanalPlus Collection, 95
mins, Critics Week, Miramar
Saturday 23rd
7.30 p.m.
STUDIO 13
Lost
Persons
Area
20:30 Don Giovanni, 176
mins, Cinema de la Plage
Wednesday 20th
10 a.m. RIVIERA 1
Contact:
Hungaricom
@ LERINS 5
22:00 Vincere, Italy,
Competition, 128 mins,
Celluloid Dreams, Salle Du
60eme; Here, Singapore,
86 mins, Visit Films, Palais
Stephanie
22:30 I Love You Phillip
Morris, U.S., 102 mins,
Europacorp, Arcades 1;
Altiplano, Belgium, 108 mins,
Meridiana Films, Miramar;
Nymph, Thailand, 109 mins,
Un Certain Regard, Debussy;
Drag Me to Hell, U.S., 99
mins, Out of Competition,
Grand Theatre Lumiere
More information:
HUNGARIAN PAVILION
No.104, International Village
+ 33 (0) 492 590 210 filmunio@filmunio.hu
13
day 8
5/19/09
5:27 PM
Page 14
| reviews
REVIEW IN BRIEF
‘Irene’
> Un Certain Regard
THE BOTTOM LINE: A director
grabs a video camera and goes
in search of his late wife with
poignant results.
t’s hard to imagine a film more
simple than Alain Cavalier’s
“Irene,” yet one that cuts to an
emotional core with such acuity.
To dismiss this as a home movie
would be a serious error, not
only because its author is an
accomplished filmmaker, but
more important, Cavalier invites
an audience participation that
lets both him and his viewers
struggle to understand a central
figure who is completely absent.
“Irene” is a splendid film for
any festival, but it’s hard to
imagine it will enjoy much theatrical life due to its special
nature.
The subject is Cavalier’s late
wife, actress Irene Tunc, who
died in a road accident in 1972.
She is glimpsed briefly in one film
clip and a few photos. Otherwise,
the film ponders the void her survivor still feels years later.
Cavalier takes a lightweight
video camera to the house
where he last saw his wife take
off in a car, too impatient to
wait for her husband to come
down from a bedroom. He takes
it to her hometown of Lyon, to
rooms they occupied and Paris
streets where he lived before he
married her.
He can’t imagine casting
someone to play her or recreating scenes from their marriage.
Only Irene can be Irene. The
I
‘I Killed My Mother’
things. The real guts of the
movie concern the conflicting
THE BOTTOM LINE: Uneven but
feelings that all of us feel toward
funny and audacious adolescent
those we love the most, and in
comedy from a talented beginner.
this area, Dolan shows himself
to be wise beyond his tender age.
By Peter Brunette
He also has seen a lot of
movies, and is not shy about
n “I Killed My Mother,” 20borrowing freely from them.
year-old Quebecois newThe basic idea of telling his
comer Xavier Dolan has given
teacher that his mother is dead
us a somewhat uneven film that
(the source of the title) comes
demonstrates a great deal of talfrom Truffaut's first film, “The
ent. In the vein of “Ma Vie en
400 Blows.” Delicate moments
Rose” (if not quite as polished
that mix accentuated slowand mature) and other gay adomotion bodily movement with
lescent coming-of-age films of
a heavily stringed orchestral
comic rebellion, it’s a congeries
score were obviously inspired
of brilliantly achieved cinematic
by Wong Kar-wai’s “In the
moments and repetitive, masMood for Love.” But none of
sively self-indulgent gestures of
this really matters, because
acting out. In any case, the film
Dolan’s delight at having disis entertaining enough to attract
covered cinema is infectious.
paying customers and imaginaDolan also invents a few
tive enough to attract critical
tricks of his own, some of which
support as well. It should be
work better than others. The
given a look by distributors in all
many scenes set at dining tables
territories and will have a full and
(the locus classicus of cinematic
happy life on the fest circuit.
family squabbles) are weirdly
Hubert, superbly played by
shot with mother and son side
Dolan himself, is a talented 16by side. Perhaps this is because
year-old who feels superior to
it was just easier for a tyro
his doltish classmates. He’s also
director to frame the shots this
just discovering his gay sexualiway, but it more likely bespeaks
ty and wars constantly with his
a conscious attempt to heighten
mother, Chantal (Dorval), at
the film's artificiality. Another
whom he rails throughout the
technique is the black-andfilm. Their mammoth fights are
white moments of self-reflecoften hilarious, at least at first,
tion that tend toward the philoas they pile on mountains of
sophical and give the film
mutual insults. Eventually,
whatever heft it possesses.
Hubert is sent to a boarding
The biggest faults are inconschool, an act which precipisistent characterization, a
tates whatever tension the slim
wavering tone, and occasionally
plot manages to conjure up.
unclear character motivation.
The camera obviously likes
But these storytelling problems
Dolan, and Hubert comes across
are relatively easy to overcome,
as attractive and sympathetic,
and certainly will be overcome
even when he's screaming. The
in Dolan's next film.
gay theme is overt and
What is more difficult to
unashamedly offered,
acquire, and which
but underplayed and
Dolan already has in
handled with enough
Expanded
delicacy to make it seem review and full spades, is such an exuberant cinematic and
relatively unimportant in list of credits
comic imagination. ∂
the general scheme of
I
‘Polytechnique’
crowded building who appears
to do something to help while
Valerie (Karine Vanasse) is an
engineering student who
somehow survives being shot
at point-blank while her fellow students die beside her.
The impact on them is
quite different and, as they
are composite characters, it
could be said that they represent the guilt of the men, who
were not targeted, and the
determination of the women
portrait is often disturbing.
Irene apparently had a troubled
childhood in Lyon, but her husband can only guess what the
cause may have been. She
would talk of suicide. He wonders if he might even have
wanted her dead. Her death, he
confesses, taught him much.
Irene even invited his physical abuse; he could not supply
it. Photos show a beautiful
woman and much of her marriage to Cavalier, her second
marriage, seems happy — at
least on the surface.
The point of view is always the
camera itself. Cavalier shoots
pages from his diaries before and
after her death and reads to us
from them. He shoots a painting
that perfectly captures her look.
He uses a carved watermelon
and an imbedded egg to explain
the difficulty of Irene’s birth,
which lead to her being sterile,
clearly a traumatic situation she
interpreted as her own failure.
Cavalier falls down while
shooting on a Metro escalator
and not only keeps the jumbled
footage, he shows us the bruises
on his face and hand. Cavalier is
now an old man while his wife is
forever young.
He finally
allows himself
to ponder her
Full list of cast
life and death.
and credits
He never actually says he
misses her but then he doesn’t
need to.
Irene’s absence is palpable.
She’s everywhere in these settings — and she is nowhere. The
impression she makes is fleeting, perhaps even ghostly. She is
forever an enigma. “Irene” is a
love poem to her memory.
— Kirk Honeycutt
who survived to honor their
dead schoolmates and push
on with their lives.
The 76-minute film, produced by Remstar and Don
Carmody Prods., and handled
by Wild Bunch, is as much a
memorial as it is a docudrama
and as such it will interest educators and students, and make
for sober television. It’s a pity,
though, that more of an
attempt wasn’t made to understand the killer and explain
such things as why no one
apparently thought to phone
for help or hit the fire alarm.
— Ray Bennett
14
day 8
day8_p2,15_news
5/19/09
7:58 PM
Page 15
| news
Korea
Basterds
Strahovski
did Films for German-speaking Europe and Benelux, to
Showbox Media Group for
the U.K., to Horizon International for Turkey to Catchplay for Taiwan. The film,
from director Kim Yongkyun, stars Cho Seung-woo
and Su Aeand and will be
delivered in the fall.
Crime drama “The Scam”
(from Bidangil Pictures,
producers of “The Chaser”)
was sold to Melting Culture
for China, Catchplay for
Taiwan, Hwa Yea Multimedia for Malaysia and Brunei
and Horizon International
for Turkey.
“More Than Blue” was
sold across Asia, with HGC
Entertainment taking rights
in China, Intercontinental
Films taking Hong Kong and
Macau, Catchplay taking
Taiwan, Hwa Yea Multimedia taking Malaysia and
Brunei, BHD taking Vietnam
and Way Rich Source Asia
taking Mongolia.
Taiwan’s Catchplay
bought packages of titles
from both Korean groups.
From Showbox it bought 21
new and library titles,
including the upcoming
Australia-set thriller “A
Million” and kidnap thriller
“Missing.” “Missing” also
was sold to the U.K.’s Showbox Media.
Throughout the market,
Showbox continued to add
to its slate with the addition of the summer horror
genre movie “Possessed,”
which is set for local release
in July. ∂
cut a minute. But I won’t know
what’s in or out until the premiere.”
The version of “Basterds”
that bows in Cannes, however,
is unlikely to match the one
that Universal and the Weinstein Co. roll out at a multiplex
near you. Today’s screening
clocks in at 2 hours and 40
minutes — reassuringly long
for cast members worried
about ending up as cuttingroom dross — but a programming challenge for distributors.
So “Basterds” in Cannes
could resemble a test screening, with a leaner, perhaps
meaner cut going up in
August. ∂
port for the project garnered on
the back of public outcry over
the issue of toxic air in airplane
cabins.
He said the movie, budgeted
at $7 million, is “70%
financed” and that he plans to
shoot the project around Strahovski’s TV commitments.
Loraine, whose documentary sparked a public inquiry
into the issue of passenger
flights, has been dubbed the
Erin Brockovich of aviation,
having been medically retired
from flying.
Loraine said the project is
beginning to feel like a charitymusic event, with more and
more people putting their
names to it, offering support
and backing to the feature version.
His script follows the true
story of a soldier who discovers one of the biggest coverups in aviation history when
he sets out to find the truth
about a plane crash that kills
all aboard, including his exgirlfriend.
During this year’s European
Film Market in Berlin, the project taxied toward takeoff with a
slew of talent — including Talia
Shire, John Rhys-Davies and
Marina Sirtis — putting their
names to it.
Loraine’s production banner
Fact Not Fiction Films is partnering with Australia’s Courage
Films to produce the picture as a
U.K.-Australia co-production.
The script, co-written by
Loraine and Viv Young, has
secured development funds
from U.K. screen agency
Screen South. ∂
PIFF
am deeply glad that we will
collaborate ever more closely over the dailies at the 14th
edition of PIFF,” festival
head Kim Dong-ho said.
Added Eric Mika, THR
publisher and vp Nielsen
Entertainment Group:
“THR is delighted that
once again it is recognized
for its quality editorial and
commitment to the international marketplace. We
are very proud to have
been selected by Pusan to
be the exclusive and official festival and market
daily.”
Zentropa signs
trio of top helmers
By Scott Roxborough
Zentropa International
Norway, the Oslo-based
outlet of Lars von Trier’s
Danish production house,
has signed three of Norway’s top directing talents.
ZIN is coming aboard
upcoming projects from
Petter Naess, director of the
Nordic hits “Elling” and
“Gone With the Woman”
who made his U.S. debut
with the 2005 Josh Hartnett
starrer “Mozart & the
Whale”; “Music for Weddings and Funerals” director Unni Straume; and Jens
Lien, who in 2006 won an
ACID award in Cannes for
“The Bothersome Man.”
Dabis
Dan Halsted brokered the deal.
Funding will come from the
same private source that
financed “Amreeka.”
Dabis’ films also will go
through the banner.
“Amreeka” was well received
at the Sundance Film Festival
and subsequently acquired by
National Geographic for theatrical distribution. The film,
which she wrote and directed,
takes a light but serious look at a
Palestinian single mother and
her son who settle with family
in rural Illinois. ∂
would like to thank
for generously providing Clautiere Vinyard wine for the THR Terrace
Los
Angeles 323.525.2000 | New York
646.654.5000
THR_at_Cannes_microsite_quart_horiz.indd
1
| London +44.207.420.6139 | Hong Kong +852.60792737 |
15
| dayAM8
THR.com/cannes
5/19/09 9:10:10
day8_p16-17_partyline b
5/19/09
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Page 16
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he promise of a party open until 4:30 a.m. kept partygoers streaming in until a late hour even by Croisette standards. That was good
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beach at the back of the venue or grab a drink at the bar, where lines
often went three deep. But the energetic, international crowd meant
the crowds were dancing and the party pulsating in one of the better
displays of what the fest has to offer.
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> Attendees: Asia Argento, who hosted the event, and famous
siblings Julian and Sean Lennon (the latter performed a short set).
>Cuisine: Shot-glasses of a thick, cold gazpacho were a welcome item on a warm night in a steamy venue, but food was generally scarce past midnight, and even the Cannes standards —
eclairs, torts and other dessert items — were hard to find.
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>Highlights/lowlights:The crowds near the bar and out back by
the beach made it difficult to move without risking a spilled drink.
But the venue’s well-placed side rooms offered a potential safety
valve, including one room where inebritated partygoes could scribble messages in magic marker on the side wall./The abrupt end —
the party shut down earlier than billed — cast a damper, and the
deejay switched tunes as often as every 10 seconds (and points off
for playing Tiffany), but the large crowd managed to keep the dancing and partying going even over the unwelcome strains.
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— Steven Zeitchik
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he pulsating rock beat spun by DJ
Stephane Pompougnac welcomed the
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beautiful crowd Monday as Chopard co-
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president Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele entertained her Euro-riche friends at
the plush Baoli club. Buckets of wine and champagne were stationed
around the club, while a spacious seating area of banquets created a
relaxed ambiance and allowed guests to watch the TV monitors showing
the red-carpet arrivals.
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> Attendees: Hilary Swank, Rachel Weisz, Isabel Huppert, Marion Cottilard, Asia Argento, dancer Eleanora Abbagnato, Evangeline Lilly, Harvey Weinstein, Georgina Chapman, Gilles Jacob
and Chopard ambassadress Eva Herzigova, as well as this year’s
Trophee Chopard winners Leas Seydoux and David Kross.
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>Cuisine: If you were on a diet (to slip into those figure-hugging
gowns) this was a good place to be. Although there was plenty of
Moet and Boizel champagne and Provencal wine, food was limited. Mini canapés were served at the tables and plates of pasta
appeared about 1 a.m.
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>Highlights/lowlights: A host of celebrities, the beautiful crowd
and the Chopard fashion show was a feast for the eyes. While gift
bags from El Raphael contained beauty cream and a skin care gift
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16
THR.com/cannes
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day 8
day8_p16-17_partyline b
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Page 17
• FREE INTERNET & WI-FI
• TERRACE CAFÉ
• FREE EVENTS
ine
THR.com/cannes
certificate. However, the non-stop pounding music and lack of
food prompted many to depart before the bags and pasta arrived.
EVENTS PROGRAMME
— Mira Advani
BBC Films cocktails
@ 3.14 Beach
2.5 martinis
et some food before it runs out was the order
of the day, delivered with a wink and a knowG
ing smile by one of the hosts on arrival. Once again, BBC Films delivered a
cocktail party that felt like a must for anyone capable of speaking English.
Awash with wine and beer, delicious ham and cheese pasties and prawns
wrapped in deep-fried pastry, attendees ticked each other off the handshake and how are you list. Sort of like speed dating crossed with the
largest wedding ever. Film London joined BBC Films in hosting this year.
WEDNESDAY 20 MAY
> Attendees: Miramax Films chief Daniel Battsek could be seen
rubbing shoulders with former BBC Films chief David Thompson and current BBC heads Jane Wright and Christine Langan,
while Universal Pictures International president David Kosse
and Ealing Studios chief Barnaby Thompson held court.
MAKE THE MOVE: PRODUCING
YOUR FIRST FEATURE FILM
11.00 - 12.00
Are you prepared to take this next step in your
filmmaking career? What do you need to consider
when developing your feature length projects and
seeking funding? How do you go from feature
length script to the big screen?
>Cuisine: This is the cocktail party where food takes second
billing to drinking, a serious British pastime. But this year the
finger food was of a high standard and did provide attendees
with the opportunity to take a bite without fear of a misplaced
stain down the front of their shirts.
Moderated by Mia Bays, (producer Oscar® winning
short film Six Shooter), speakers: Lenny Crooks
(Head of New Cinema Fund, UK Film Council); Chris
Collins (UK Film Council); Zorana Piggott (producer
Together); Soledad Gatti-Pascual (producer
Unmade Beds); will discuss packaging your
project, planning, funding opportunities, financial
considerations, the distribution process and what
they believe is the best strategy for making the
jump from shorts to features.
>Highlights/lowlights: The highlight of this party was the fact
that there was one. A real triumph of keeping calm and carrying
on, a Brit mantra from WWII, the BBC and Film London made
the right move in continuing the tradition and keeping the flag
flying for polite cocktailing.
— Stuart Kemp
JEREMY THOMAS IN CONVERSATION
German Films
@ Carlton Beach
ormally big spenders on the Cannes party front,
German Films deliberately lowered expectations
N
ahead of this year’s bash. The invite blamed budget
14.00 - 15.00
Jeremy Thomas, one of the UK's most successful
producers and an Oscar®-winner for The Last
Emperor, will be interviewed by emerging
producing team, Al Clark and Rachel Robey
(London to Brighton, Better Things, the
forthcoming Crying With Laughter). Thomas has
worked with Bernardo Bertolucci, David
Cronenberg, Richard Linklater, Terry Gilliam and a
list of talented directors. This mentoring interview
gives Al and Rachel the opportunity to discuss the
career choices he has made to date, from script
selection, development and casting to financing
and choosing a distributor.
2 martinis
cuts for the decision to party on the beach, instead of in the group’s usual
villa, and amenities were as sparse as a Chemnitz housing block.
> Attendees: The entire German film industry, more or less.
From TMG mogul Herbert Kloiber to Senator Film head Helge
Sasse to über producers Stefan Ardnt and Martin Moszkowicz.
Information available on:
• UK companies and producers
• UK films for sale in Cannes
• Filming in the UK
>Cuisine: German Films’ usual lavish spreads were the first to
get the chop. Hungry pundits were left with soon-emptied
bowls of olives, nuts and potato chips. But the bean counters
drew the line at the booze, which flowed freely.
We are located in the International Village, Pavilion No.120
Opening hours 09:00 - 18:00 Tel: +33 (0) 4 93 99 86 17
email: cannes@ukfilmcouncil.org.uk
>Highlights/lowlights: A long, pseudo-patriotic opening
speech by Cultural Minister Bernd Neumann evoked memories
of a GDR party rally. But the beach front location at least meant
you didn’t have to wait for those damn buses to get home.
www.ukfilmcentre.org.uk
— Scott Roxborough
17
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| news
Hector
Magnolia hears call to arms
Lelord.
The books follow Hector, a
psychiatrist who travels the
world in search of what it is
that makes people happy.
“These will be the ultimate
feel-good movies,” Egoli Tossell president Jens Meurer
said.
The first three “Hector”
novels, soon to be published in
English, are huge international
best-sellers in Europe and
Asia.
Egoli Tossell, Warners in
Germany and Bac subsidiary
Manny Films will co-produce the films, budgeted at
By Patrick Frater
Magnolia Films has picked up North American rights to “The Warlords,” a big-budget
historical actioner that features Asian superstars Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
The deal was struck after protracted negotiations with Hong Kong studio Media Asia, which
was one of the lead investors in the picture and
handled sales duties in multiple territories.
Li
The film, directed by Peter Chan Ho-sun
was released in China in late 2007 and scored
more than $28 million at the local boxoffice.
Magnolia is looking to give the film a platform release at
year’s end, though it also might use an outing at a U.S. festival to build awareness.
Wrap
Palais screenings, to the
Croisette party scene, the mood
has been subdued.
There was less glitz at the
galas,though that may turn
around with movies starring
Brad Pitt (“Inglourious Basterds”) and Johnny Depp (“The
Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus”)
still set to unspool.
The market for agency packages did not take off, but did get a
little boost Monday when “The
Men Who Stare at Goats,” the
CAA-packaged project starring
George Clooney, closed a deal
with U.S. mini-major Overture
Films.
Pre-buys for projects that
have been peddled here — such
as Stephen Gaghan’s “Blink” and
George Gallo’s business drama
“Middle Men” — probably won’t
materialize in the coming days,
but they did gain enough traction
that a spate of deals could happen before or at Toronto.
Still, the slow market for
packages could foretell a period
when a whole clutch of starladen films sit without distribution at festivals.
“Get ready for big stars without distribution,” said one
buyer, who also noted that some
of those stars could persuade
the studios where they have
overall deals to pick up films as
part of their larger relationship.
U.S. film sellers have had better luck abroad, although
Cannes’ usual flood of international pre-sales has been more
of a trickle.
Egoyan’s “Chloe,” which has
virtually sold out, though U.S.
buyers have yet to bite.
Studiocanal topper Harold van
Lier said the French giant has
done “between 8 and 10 times
the business we did last year.”
U.S. projects expected to close
big territory deals before the
market wraps include Inferno’s
“Killer Elite,” which has Jason
Statham attached; Summit’s
“Fair Game”; IM Global’s
“Blink”; John Cameron
Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole”; and GK
Films’ Johnny Depp starrer “The
Rum Diaries.”
For buyers selling foreignlanguage art house to the world,
This year has seen a
strengthening of a long-simmering trend of the big distributors — Constantin, Alliance,
Canal Plus — cherrypicking
titles instead of buying in bulk.
“It’s still a buyers market.
There are fewer companies out
there that can put up the money
for bigger titles and we can
afford to be choosy,” said Markus
Zimmer, managing director at
Germany’s Concorde Films.
“What we’re hearing from
the buyers is ‘I’m only buying a
must-have movie,’ ” Lionsgate
Motion Picture Group president
Joe Drake said. “For them, a
must-have movie is one that a
“What we’re hearing from the buyers is
‘I’m only buying a must-have movie.’ For them,
a must have movie is one that a distributor believes
can compete against major studio films.”
— Joe Drake , Lionsgate
business has been slow but
steady.
Prokino’s German pick-up of
Joann Sfar’s upcoming biopic
“Gainsbourg” from Kinology,
the Match Factory’s sale of
Israeli/German co-production
“Ajami” to the U.K. (Vertigo)
and France (Ad Vitam) have
been typical of the sort of
bread-and-butter deal memos
that have defined this market.
Similarly, Asia’s sellers have
scraped through Cannes with
just adequate performances.
Korean majors CJ and Showbox (see story on Page 2) and
sales house Fine Cut each man-
distributor believes can compete against major studio films.”
Lionsgate found eager buyers
for such titles as the stillshooting “Five Killers,” a Robert
Luketic-helmed action-adventure romantic comedy starring
Ashton Kutcher and Katherine
Heigl; Mandate’s romantic
comedy “The Baster,” starring
Jennifer Aniston and Jason
Bateman; and sequel “Saw 6.”
Two Studiocanal titles were
hot sellers: The animated 3-D
turtle film “Around the world in
50 Years” sold across the globe,
with Universal Music Group
taking U.S. rights, and Atom
€11 million ($14 million)
apiece. Principle photography on the first entry, “Hector’s Journey or the Search
for Happiness” is set to begin
in January, with shooting
planned in China, Southeast
Asia, South Africa, Germany
and California.
Warners likely will release
the films in German-speaking Europe through its current agreement with Egoli
Tossell.
Maria von Heland, who
penned the script to Egoli
Tossell’s “Hilde,” has delivered a screenplay for the first
“Hector.”
A director and cast are
expected to be confirmed in
the coming weeks. ∂
aged a combination of highprofile and volume deals. Ditto
for Media Asia, which is repping
many of the biggest Hong Kong
and Chinese titles.
But prices and attitudes have
been soggy.
“Overall the market was
slow,” said Ricky Tse, Media
Asia’s head of sales. “We can
feel that many people were not
here and that has been reflected
in lower prices and caution all
round.”
If the market sometimes
exceeded low expectations, the
U.S. appetite for festival titles
has been weak.
While some were predicting a
boutique-buyer binge, the acquisition market has proved slow in
the first seven days of the Cannes
action. Only three movies (“The
White Ribbon,” “Tales from a
Golden Age” and “Coco Chanel
and Igor Stravinsky”) that played
in a Cannes section were picked
up by a U.S. distrib.
Still, a good screening for
“The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” on Friday could jumpstart talks for that film, while
other titles in play — including
Alejandro Amenabar’s “Agora”
and Jacques Audiard’s critics’
fave “A Prophet” — were both
showing movement.
And a late-fest buyer rush
would not be atypical.
“Buyers like IFC, Magnolia
and Sony Classics tend to buy in
clusters toward the end of a festival, so I wouldn’t be surprised
to see a few more deals,” one
U.S. buyer said.
Rebecca Leffler, Stuart Kemp,
Gregg Kilday and Patrick Frater
contributed to this report.
18
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| news
Pattinson
DIGEST
Summit Entertainment will begin
production because of the actor’s
jam-packed shooting schedule.
Fans have been hoping for a
movie version of the fourth
novel from Stephenie Meyer’s
best-sellers, so Pattinson’s
commitment is the biggest fillip
yet. The fourth book (caution —
spoiler alert) centers on Bella
and Edward’s marriage and her
subsequent pregnancy.
Dropping in on the Croisette
Ozon’s ‘Ricky’ heads to U.S.
IFC Films has acquired North American rights to
Francois Ozon’s thriller “Ricky,” adapted from the
short story “Moth” by the English novelist Rose
Tremain. The film, which premiered in Berlin, stars
Alexandra Lamy and Sergi Lopez, and was produced by Chris Bolzli, Claudie Ossard and Vieri
Razzini.
Ozon
Blandini to oversee Cinecitta/Luce combo
Italy’s Cinecittà Holding and Istituto Luce’s newly merged efforts will
be overseen by Gaetano Blandini, the director general of the ministry
for cultural assets and activities, it was announced here Tuesday. The
newly enlarged body, which will operate under the Cinecitta Holding
banner, also has appointed a new board.
“You’re playing a figment in
Bella’s imagination,so I was
trying to do it in a 2-D way.I
hope it doesn’t translate
onscreen as being boring.”
Higuchi-Zitzmann leaves Telepool
Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann is stepping down as head of theatrical operations at Telepool after less than six months on the job. HiguchiZitzmann, formerly head of acquisitions at Constantin Film, joined
Telepool in January. She said she plans to take a break from the business to take care of her son, who was born last year. Anja Uecker and
Thomas Sierk will take over for Higuchi-Zitzmann, jointly running
Telepool’s German sales operations.
— Robert Pattinson
on his way to shooting the final
four days of “New Moon” in Italy
on Friday, Pattinson said he is
heading back to Vancouver in
Cinema Libre, Corsan head into Laboratory
Los Angeles-based Cinema Libre Studio has struck a production partnership with Belgium-based Corsan to produce three feature films per
year through new production entity Global Talent Laboratory. The
first film, to begin production in November, is Philippe Diaz’s “The Last
Days of Karl Marx,” a co–production between Paul Breuls’ Corsan and
Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Cargo Films.
October to finish up “Twilight:
Eclipse,” the third installment in
the series. In between, the British
actor, who turned 23 last week,
plans to star in his passion project,“Remember Me,” which
Summit also is producing.
The script adaptation for
“New Moon” beefs up his character’s role considerably — in
the book, Edward is a “a voice in
Bella’s head,” he said.
“You’re playing a figment in
Bella’s imagination, so I was
trying to do it in a 2-D way,”
Pattinson said with a laugh. ”I
hope it doesn’t translate
onscreen as being boring.”
The hardworking actor is taking a few days off after completing “Moon” before the start of
the “Remember Me” shoot. He
plans three days off after an
eight-week planned shoot for
“Remember Me” before finishing “Eclipse” before October.
Pattinson said that while
“Remember Me” is very difficult to describe, it’s very much
about him and, after reading the
script last summer, felt a connection with it. ∂
‘Shoes’ dances into 20 territories
ITV Global Entertainment have struck more than 20 new international home entertainment licenses for the digital film restoration of
Michael Powell’s masterpiece “The Red Shoes,” which premiered in
Cannes on Friday.
Tartan catalog finds U.S. home
Vivendi Entertainment has acquired the U.S. home video, digital and
mobile rights to Palisades Tartan’s catalog, marking the first time the
library will be available digitally to U.S. audiences. The package
includes films from two labels: Asia Extreme and the Palisades Tartan
International Art House collection.
Moving along nicely
Moving Pictures Film and Television has scored output deals, ranging
from 30-50 titles from its catalog, with Polyphony for Australia,
Septieme Factory for France and Cinema Novo CRL for Portugal.
Cinemavault open for business
Michelle
Monaghan
Canuck sales outfit Cinemavault has closed
multiple territories on “Newsmakers,”
Andres Banke’s Russian-language
remake of Johnnie To’s “Breaking News.”
Cinemavault has sold “Newsmakers” to
Showbox in the U.K., New Select for
Japan, Beijing United for China, ECS for
the Mid-East and Horizon for Turkey.
Cinemavault also locked multiple
territories on Michelle Monaghan
drama “Trucker,” including sales to
High Fliers in the U.K., Falcon for
the Middle East, HBO for Eastern
Europe and Village for Greece.
19
THR.com/cannes
|
day 8
022_THRD8_abouttown c
5/19/09
10:45 AM
Page 1
about town
2
4
5
7
1
1: SIMON JAMES/GETTY IMAGES; 2: JOHN SHEARER/GETTY IMAGES; 3, 6-7: PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/GETTY IMAGES;
4 5, LENNON: MICHAEL BUCKNER/GETTY IMAGES; 8: SPANDAU BALLET, PATTINSON: FRANCOIS DURAND/GETTY IMAGES
3
6
1. Dita Von Teese arrives at — where else? — the Dita Von Teese Party at the VIP Room/Palm Beach 2. Daya Fernandez and Penelope
Cruz at the “A Night of Hollywood Domino” fundraiser at the House 3. Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne focus on their Cinema Masterclass
at the Salle Bunuel 4. BBC Films head of business Isabel Begg and managing director Jane Wright talk it up during the BBC Films and Film
London Party at 3.14 Beach 5. Emma Clarke and Dan MacRae at the BBC Films party 6. Marion Cotillard presents the Chopard Trophy to
“The Reader’s” David Kross during a ceremony at the Martinez 7. Chopard vp Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele 8. “Antichrist” co-star Willem
Dafoe and Giada Colagrande attend the premiere of Lars von Trier’s latest film 9. Ayush Mahesh Khedekar at the Palais for the
Competition screening of “Looking for Eric,” along with the film’s 10. Gerard Kearns, Steve Evets, Eric Cantona and his wife Rachida
Brakni 11. Lucy-Jo Hudson, 12. Clotilde Courau and 13. Hilary Swank grace the red carpet
14. “Eric” director and past Palme d’Or winner Ken Loach
MAKING THE SCENE
< Spandau Ballet bandmates Gary Kemp, John
Keeble, Steve Norman,
Tony Hadley and Martin
Kemp hit the water before
they hit the stage at
the Nikki Club.
20
< Sean Lennon sings
for his supper at the
Cha Cha Club during the
OneDreamRush Party.
THR.com/cannes
|
day 8
022_THRD8_abouttown c
5/19/09
10:46 AM
Page 2
THR.com/cannes
wednesday, may 20, 2009
‘Eric’ gives
fest a kick
10
13
9
8
12
11
14
Palme d’Or in 2006 with
Irish war drama “The Wind
That Shakes the Barley,”
returned to the red carpet
Monday to present his latest
Competition film, the slightly
less serious “Looking for
Eric,” which is being pegged
as the British director’s
most mainstream effort.
The Palais screening drew
the film’s stars, including
former Manchester United
soccer icon Eric Cantona, who
plays himself in the comedic
drama about a man’s
quest to get his life back
together. The timing of the
film couldn’t be better,
with Man U fans — already
happy with their team’s
recent clinching of the
domestic title and
spot in next week’s
Champions
League final —
a sure bet
to lead the
charge to the
boxoffice.
< Meyers Film Entertainment president
Bobby Meyers, distribution consultant
Peter Elson, Fortissimo Films chairman
Michael Werner, Media 8
Entertainment’s Larry Meyers, AB Svensk
Filmindustri boss Rasmus Ramstad and
SF Bio’s John Bernhardsson during a
Svensk dinner at Moulin de Mougins.
< “Twilight” star
in broad daylight:
Robert Pattinson
poses during a
photo call at
Majestic Beach Pier.
For slideshows
of Cannes daily
events, go to THR.com/cannes
21
day 8
9: VALERY HACHE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; 10: DAVE HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES; 11: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; 12-14: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES
Ken Loach, who won the
FCTP TO
OUD RTED
R
P
IS
PPO
U
S
HAVE INCERE CCHIO
V
LLO
E
B
R C O SELECTION
A
M
B Y OFFICIAL CANNES
I
FEST
D
VAL
E
IN PIEDMONT WE’VE GOT EVERYTHING.
Film Commission Torino Piemonte for whatever service and location. Possible or not.
FILM COMMISSION
TORINO PIEMONTE
Our new address: Via Cagliari 42 | 10153 - Italy | Ph: +39 011 2379201 | info@fctp.it - www.fctp.it
Film Comm Torino D8 052009.indd 1
5/8/09 11:18:40 AM

Cannes - The Hollywood Reporter

Transcription

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