15th Les Étoiles d'Or du Cinéma Award Winners

As every year and just before the awards César ceremony (next Friday) the more than 400 specialized press journalists that belong to l’Académie des Étoiles d’Or du Cinéma Français announced their award winners and as everyone has been expecting Kechiche's master opus won the top awards.

Perhaps what is more interesting is that last year top award was given to Audiard's film instead of Haneke's which did not happen at the César, so does this means that Kechiche will not win next Friday? Well, I do not think so as his movie, La Vie d' Adèle, will surely collect honors at the upcoming César awards.

These are the winners that you can also check at the official site.

Best Film: La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2

Best Director: Abdellatif Kechiche for La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2
Best Debut Film: Les garçons et Guillaume, à table !, Guillaume Gallienne

Best Actress: Adèle Exarchopoulos in La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2
Best Actor: Guillaume Gallienne in Les garçons et Guillaume, à table !
Best Female Newcomer: Adèle Exarchopoulos in La vie d’Adèle chapitres 1 & 2
Best Male Newcomer: Vincent Macaigne in La Bataille de Solférino

Best Screenplay: Albert Dupontel and Laurent Turner for 9 mois ferme
Original Score Compositor: Alexandre Desplat

Best Documentary: La Maison de la Radio, Nicolas Philibert

Industry Awards
Production: Wild Bunch
Distributor: Wild Bunch Distribution

Indeed last year Audiard's film won top award and Michael Haneke won best director, but this year we can clearly see that Kechiche master opus won four awards which undoubtedly suggests that the Cannes Palm d'Or winner has really good chances to be highly honored next Friday. Let's hope so and also let's hope that we can see the live streaming, sigh.

39th César Awards Nominations

A few minutes ago at Fouqet's restaurant on Champs Elysees (ahh!), the French Academy announced the nominations for this year edition and fear no more, Abdellatif Kechiche master opus has many (8) nominations along with some excellent movies that were released in France during 2013 and yes, 2013 was another extraordinary year for French Cinema.

When we consider all nominations there are 47 that come from Cannes films and most were honored at the festival with award(s). That's another reason why these nominations show incredible high cinema-quality. Nevertheless La Vie d'Adèle is not the film with more nominations (8) but is the film where most nods come from "main" categories; Cannes honored and box office success, Me, Myself and Mum leads the tight pack with 10 nods, and L'inconnu du Lac also got 8 nods as La Vie d'Adèle. These three films are the top contenders. Still remember that more nominations doesn't necessarily mean more awards, at least in this award as just have to check last year where the most nominated film got no awards at all.

Perhaps the major snubs for me are the few nominations for Jeune & Jolie and Grand Central plus some surprises like Jimmy P nominated for Best Film, but most complex -at least for me because who are nominated- are categories like actress in a lead role, female newcomer, and actor in a lead role as there are some excellent performances being honored. Still have my favorites and -of course- hope Léa Seydoux gets the honor, as well as Adèle Exarchopoulos and Mads Mikkelsen.

Can't help but to share that most social media (and now general news!) is talking about one peculiar issue that obviously is NOT related to cinema, Julie Gayet nomination! Well, is great to have a good laugh so early in my morning.

Awards ceremony will be on February 28 at Châtelet, with François Cluzet acting as President and my favorite Cécile de France as Maîtresse de Cérémonie. Ceremony is stream live by Canal + and as every year will be and odyssey to find a stream available worldwide, sigh.

These are the nominations for the twenty-two (22) categories.

Best Film
9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech) by Albert Duponel
Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum) by Guillaume Gallienne
L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake) by Alain Guiraudie
Jimmy P. (Psychothérapie d'un Indien des Plaines) (Jimmy P.) by Arnaud Desplechin
Le Passé (The Past) by Asghar Farhadi
La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur) by Roman Polanski
La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color), Abdellatif Kechiche

Best First Film
La Bataille de Solférino (Age of Panic) by Justine Triet
La Cage dorée (The Gilded Cage) by Ruben Alves
En solitaire (Turning Tide) by Christophe Offenstein
La fille du 14 juillet (The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu) by Antonin Peretjatko
Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum) by Guillaume Gallienne

Best Animated Film
Aya de Yopougon (Aya of Yop City) by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie
Loulou l'Incroyable Secret by Eric Omond
Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill (My Mummy is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill) by Marc Boreal and Thibaut Chatel

Best Foreign Film
The Broken Circle Breakdown by Felix Van Groeningen
Blancanieves by Pablo Berger
Blue Jasmine by Woody Allen
Dead Man Talking by Patrick Ridremont
Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino
La Grande Bellezza by Paolo Sorrentino
Gravity by Alfonso Cuarón

Best Director
Albert Dupontel for 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Guillaume Gallienne for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Alain Guiraudie for L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Arnaud Desplechin for Jimmy P. (Psychothérapie d'un Indien des Plaines) (Jimmy P.)
Asghar Farhadi for Le Passé (The Past)
Roman Polanski for La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur)
Abdellatif Kechiche for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Actress
Fanny Ardant in Les Beaux Jours (Bright Days Ahead)
Bérénice Béjo in Le Passé (The Past)
Catherine Deneuve in Elle s'En Va (On My Way)
Sara Forestier in Suzanne
Sandrine Kiberlain in 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Emmanuelle Seigner in La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur)
Léa Seydoux in La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Supporting Actress
Marisa Borini in Un Château en Italie
Françoise Fabian in Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Julie Gayet in Quai d'Orsay
Adèle Haenel in Suzanne
Géraldine Pailhas in Jeune & Jolie

Best Female Newcomer
Lou de Laâge in Jappeloup
Pauline Etienne in La Religieuse (The Nun)
Adèle Exarchopoulos in La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Golshifteh Farahani in Syngué sabour - Pierre de patience (The Patience Stone)
Marine Vacth in Jeune & Jolie

Best Actor
Mathieu Amalric in La Vénus à la Foururre (Venus in Fur)
Michel Bouquet in Renoir
Albert Dupontel in 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Grégory Gadebois in Mon âme par toi guérie (One of a Kind)
Guillaume Gallienne in Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Fabrice Luchini in Alceste à bicyclette (Cycling with Moliere)
Mads Mikkelsen in Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)

Best Supporting Actor
Niels Arestrup in Quai d'Orsay
Patrick Chesnais in Les Beaux Jours (Bright Days Ahead)
Patrick d'Assumçao in L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
François Damiens in Suzanne
Olivier Gourmet in Grand Central

Best Male Newcomer
Paul Bartel in Les Petits Princes
Pierre Deladonchamps in L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Paul Hamy in Suzanne
Vincent Macaigne in La fille du 14 juillet (The Rendez-Vous of Déjà-Vu)
Nemo Schiffman in Elle s'en va (On My Way)

Best Original Screenplay
Mariette Désert and Katell Quillévéré for Suzanne
Albert Dupontel for 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Asghar Farhadi for Le Passé (The Past)
Philippe Le Guay for Alceste à bicyclette (Cycling with Moliere)
Alain Guiraudie for L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Antonin Baudry, Christophe Blain and Bertrand Tavernier for Quai d'Orsay
Arnaud Desplechin, Julie Peyr and Kent Jones for Jimmy P. (Psychothérapie d'un Indien des Plaines) (Jimmy P.)
Guillaume Gallienne for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
David Ives and Roman Polanski for La Vénus à la Fourrure (Venus in Fur)
Abdellatif Kechiche and Ghalya Lacroix for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Cinematography
Thomas Harmeier for L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet (The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet)
Claire Mathon for L'inconnu du Lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Jeanne Lapoirie for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Mark Ping Bing Lee for Renoir
Sofian El Fani for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Editing
Valèrie Deseine for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Jean-Christophe Hym for L'Inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Christophe Pinel for 9 mois ferme (9 Month Strech)
Camille Toubkis, Albertine Lastera and Jean-Marie Lengellè for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Juliette Welfling for Le Passé (The Past)

Best Original Soundtrack
Jorge Arriagada for Alceste à bicyclette (Cycling with Moliere)
Loïk Dury and Christophe "Disco" Minck for Casse-tête chinois (Chinese Puzzle)
Etienne Charry for L'Ecume des Jours (Mood Indigo)
Martin Wheeler for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Alexandre Desplat for La Vénus à la Fourrure (Venus in Fur)

Best Sound
Marc-Antoine Beldent, Loïc Prian, Olivier Dô Hùu for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Philippe Grivel and Nathalie Vidal for L'inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake)
Jean-Pierre Duret, Jean Mallet and Mélissa Petitjean for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Lucien Balibar, Nadine Muse and Cyril Holtz for La Vénus à la fourrure (Venus in Fur)
Jérôme Chenevoy, Fabien Pochet and Jean-Paul Hurier for La Vie d'Adèle - Chapitres 1 et 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color)

Best Costumes
Olivier Bériot for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Pascaline Chavanne for Renoir
Anina Diener for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Florence Fointaine for L'Ecume des Jours (Mood Indigo)
Florence Fontaine for L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet (The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet)

Best Set Design
Yan Arlaud for Michael Kohlhaas (Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas)
Benoit Barough for Renoir
Aline Bonetto for L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet (The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet)
Sylvie Olivé for Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (Me, Myself and Mum)
Stéphane Rozenbaum for L'Ecume des Jours (Mood Indigo)

Best Documentary
Comment j'ai détesté les maths by Olivier Peyon
Le dernier des injustes (The Last of the Unjust) by Claude Lanzmann
Il était une forêt by Luc Jacquet
La maison de la radio by Nicolas Philibert
Sur le chemin de l'école by Pascal Plisson

Best Short Film
Avant que de tout perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) by Xavier Legrand, 29'
Bambi by Sebastien Lifshitz, 58' (this is not a short film! - is a documentary)
La fugue by Jean-Bernard Marlin, 23'
Les Lézards by Vincent Mariette, 14'
Marseille la nuit by Marien Monge, 40'

Best Animated Short Film
Lettres des Femmes by Augusto Zanovello
Mademoiselle Kiki et les Montparnos (Kiki of Montparnasse) by Amélie Harrault

If you wish to check nominations at official site go here but have to downlowad a pdf file.

Most surprising nomination is for Bambi by Sebastien Lifshitz not because is not good, as a matter of fact is an excellent must be seen documentary (!), but because is nominated as a short film (!) with 58 minutes! Go figure, hope they fix this.

There are a few films that I have not seen, some because decided not to see and now maybe will, others because escaped my radar and one/two that I'm dying to see and haven't seen them yet. Still the "important" (lol) ones have seen them and yes, they're fantastic films! Most interesting, from those that escaped my radar, is the second film by Katell Quillévéré (remember Un Poison Violent?) Suzanne that not only has a very interesting story but also Adèle Haenel performs.

I suppose that this will be the only -non LGBT- major award where a lesbian interest movie will be competing with a gay interest movie for the top award! Doubt we will soon see this milestone again and -obviously- believe that the lesbian interest movie is highly superior to the gay interest film and to the others in the race for best film.

2014 César Awards - Les Révélations Selection

Today the César Awards nominations were unveiled and there were no big surprises with the actors nominated as Newcomers in the female and male categories. Perhaps the most predictable César category is Best Female Newcomer as we all know Adèle Exarchopoulos HAS TO and WILL win; but I'm sure that if she was not nominated the award would have gone to Marine Vacth for her incredibly good performance in Jeune & Jolie.  But then Pauline Etienne and Golshifteh Farahani also have excellent performances.

I am not crazy about L'Inconnu du Lac but have to recognize that Pierre Delandonchamps performance is outstanding so I hope he wins the César category; if he does think will be the first time that two newcomers performing LGBT characters win.

César nominees are in *BLUE.

---///---
1/16
Last Monday was the Soirée des Révélations in Chaumet where the Révélations photo exposition was inaugurated. The Révélations list was released last November 2013 with 32 actors that made the selection for this year Newcomers. Now French Academy members will vote to select the nominees in the 2014 César Awards Best Female Newcomer and Best Male Newcomer categories.

Actresses
Margot Bancilhon in Les Petits Princes
Flore Bonaventura in Casse-­‐tête chinois
Pauline Burlet in Le Passé
*Lou de Laâge in Jappeloup
Laetitia Dosch in La Bataille de Solférino
*Pauline Etienne in La Religieuse
*Adèle Exarchopoulos in La vie d’Adèle Chapitres 1 & 2
*Golshifteh Farahani in Syngué sabour – Pierre de patience
Esther Garrel in Jeunesse
Ariane Labed in Une place sur la terre
Charlotte Le Bon in La Marche
Chloé Lecerf in Vandal
Anamaria Marinca in Un nuage dans un verre d’eau
Pauline Parigot in Les Lendemains
Vimala Pons in La fille du 14 juillet
*Marine Vacth in Jeune & Jolie

Actors
*Paul Bartel in Les Petis Princes
M'Barek Belkouk in La Marche
Swann Arlaud in Crawl
Zinedine Benchenine in Vandal
*Pierre Deladonchamps in L'inconnu du Lac
Alain-Fabien Delon in Les rencontres d’après minuit
Idrissa Diabaté in La Cité Rose
Youssef Hadji in Mohamed Dubois
*Paul Hamy in Suzanne
Tewfik Jallab in La Marche
Ibrahim Koma in La Cité Rose
*Vincent Macaigne in La fille du 14 juillet
Hamza Meziani in Les Apaches
Driss Ramdi in Je ne suis pas mort
Jules Sagot in Tu seras un homme
*Memo Schiffman in Elle s'en va

Les Révélations 2014 by Antoine Carlier - The Video


Les Révélations 2014, par Antoine Carlier .

Les Révélations 2014 by Antoine Carlier - The Album

19th Prix Lumières Winners

With what seems was a more serious ceremony, at least from previous years, but unfortunately unlike what happened in previous editions, there was no live streaming the foreign press based in Paris gave their awards and the big winner is excellent La vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 et 2 that now not only has a Palme d'Or but also a Panther and wouldn't surprise me if movie also gets a César. Great.

The Prix spécial de la Commission supérieure technique de l’image et du son that honors the best cinematographer was given to Thomas Hardmeier (AFC) for L' Extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet de Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

The Jury Special Prize went to Grand Central by Rebecca Zlotowski.

Winners are not listed yet at official site but eventually will be here as well as the video of the ceremony that yes, obviously will watch when becomes available. I'm listing winners from Prix Lumières Twitter account here and news from Allocine.

Winners are in *BLUE.

---///---
12/18/13
Today the foreign press based in Paris announced the nominations for the current edition that honors French and Francophone films. Award ceremony will be January 20. 2014 at 9:00pm in l'Espace Cardin.

Leading the pack is Quai d'Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier with 5 nominations followed by La Vie d'Adèle and 9 mois ferme with 4 nods each. It is simply fantastic to find Léa Seydoux nominated along great performances by Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve , Emmanuele Seigner as even if her role is less "colorfull" than of her protagonist, she has an outstanding performance in Kechiche's Blue is the Warmest Color.

Perhaps I'm a bit strict but agree with these nods as even when Adèle Exarchopoulos has an extraordinary performance, I can't place her along the Best Actress nominees, so it is great that she is nominated in the Newcomer category, which obviously will win even do there are other extraordinary performances in category, like the ones from Pauline Etienne and Marine Vactch.

Best Film
9 mois ferme by Albert Dupontel
Grand Central by Rebecca Zlotowski
*La vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 et 2 by Abdellatif Kechiche
L’Ecume des jours by Michel Gondry
Quai d’Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier
Renoir by Gilles Bourdos

Best Foreign Film in French
Aujourd’hui by Alain Gomis, France and Senegal
*Les Chevaux by Dieu de Nabil Ayouch, France, Morocco, and Belgium
Le Démantèlement by Sébastien Pilote, Canada
Dead Man Talking by Patrick Ridremont, Belgium, France, and Luxembourg
Gabrielle by Louise Archambault, Canada
Le Repenti by Merzak Allouache, Algeria and France

Best Director
Gilles Bourdos for Renoir
Albert Dupontel for 9 mois ferme
Michel Gondry for L'Ecume des jours
*Abdellatif Kechiche for La vie d’Adèle
Bertrand Tavernier for Quai d'Orsay
Rebecca Zlotowski for Grand Central

Prix Heike Hurst to Best First Film
Au-delà du sang by Guillaume Tauveron, France and, Japan
Comme un lion by Samuel Collarday
En solitaire by Christophe Offenstein
*Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! by Guillaume Galienne
La tête la première by Amélie van Elmbt, France and Belgium
Nous irons vivre ailleurs by Nicolas Karolszyk

Best Screenplay (Original or Adaptation)
Le passé by Asghar Farhadi
Quai d’Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier
9 mois ferme by Albert Dupntel
La Marche by Nabil Ben Yadir
*La Vénus à la fourrure by Roman Polanski
Arrêtez-moi by Jean-Paul Lilienfeld

Best Actress
Juliette Binoche in Camille Claudel, 1915 by Bruno Dumont
Catherine Deneuve in Elle s’en va by Emmanuelle Bercot
Sandrine Kiberlain in 9 mois ferme by Albert Dupontel
Emmanuelle Seigner in La Vénus à la fourrure by Roman Polanski
Christa Theret in Renoir by Gilles Bourdos
*Léa Seydoux in Grand Central by Rebecca Zlotowski AND La vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 et 2 by Abdellatif Kechiche

Best Female Newcomer
Pauline Etienne in La Religieuse de Guillaume Nicloux, France, Germany and Belgium
*Adèle Exarchopoulos in La vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 et 2 by Abdellatif Kechiche
Alice de Lencquesaing in La tête la première by Amélie van Elmbt
Candy Ming in Henri by Yolande Moreau
Vimala Pons in La fille du 14 juillet de Antonin Peretjatko
Marine Vactch in dans Jeune & Jolie by François Ozon

Best Actor
Michel Bouquet in Renoir by Gilles Bourdos
Guillaume Canet in Jappeloup by Christian Duguay
Romain Duris in L’Ecume des jours by Michel Gondry
*Guillaume Galienne in Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! by Guillaume Galiene
Thierry L'Hermitte in Quai d’Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier
Tahar Rahim in Grand Central by Rebecca Zlotowski

Best Male Newcomer
Pierre Deladonchamps in L’Inconnu du lac de Alain Guiraudie
Paul Hamy in Suzanne by Katell Qquillevere
Tewfik Jallab in La Marche by Nabil Ben Yadir
Vincent Macaigne dans La fille du 14 juillet de Antonin Peretjatko
*Raphaël Personnaz in Quai d’Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier AND Marius de Daniel Auteuil
Niels Schneider in Désordres d’Etienne Faure

Have seen a few films but there are some that I'm looking forward to see soon. If you wish to read the news available only in French go here or go to Official Site but nominations are NOT up yet.

2013 Prix Louis-Delluc Winners

Today the jury members of the most prestigious award in France had their annual meeting at Fouquet in Paris with Gilles Jacob, Cannes Festival president, announcing that this year winner is extremely well deserved and is the second Delluc that Kechiche wins in only five years, as his first was for excellent La Graine et le mulet in 2007 and now for La Vie d'Adèle.

Prix Louis Delluc for Best Film: La Vie d'Adèle (Blue is the Warmest Color), Abdellatif Kechiche

For reference these were the films considered for the award.

Elle s'en va by Emmanuelle Bercot
Jimmy P. by Arnaud Desplechin
Camille Claudel 1915 by Bruno Dumont
Mon âme par toi guérie by François Dupeyron
9 mois ferme by Albert Dupontel
Le Passé by Asghar Farhadi
L'inconnu du lac by Alain Guiraudie
La vie d'Adèle by Abdellatif Kechiche

Prix Louis Delluc for Best First Film: Vandal, Hélier Cisterne

To read the news in French go here.

2013 Lux Prize Winner

A few minutes ago in the European Parliament session the winner of the LUX Prize was announced and is none other than Belgium's submission to Oscar, The Broken Circle Breakdown by Felix Van Groeningen. An excellent drama that recommend as must be seen for those that enjoy great European cinema and strongly suggest you do not get put off by the Alabama Monroe title in some countries nor by the American music in film as the first is one character name and the second is there but absolutely fits narrative.


EP President Martin Schulz congratulated the winner and all the finalists: "By telling stories about who we are or who we could be, European films help to create a cultural consciousness for Europe. Film makers do not need us, European politicians, but we politicians need you, the film makers. Stories and emotions can help to develop identity. European films boost a feeling of togetherness in Europe."

Even though MEPs have already picked their favourite film, the public can still vote for theirs on the LUX prize website or on the LUX Prize Facebook page. One lucky winner will be invited to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in June/July 2014 where the 10 films competing for next year’s prize will be revealed. To vote go here.

The following news were also announced today: Starting 8 March 2014, French/German broadcaster ARTE will make the film "Die Fremde" by Feo Aladag available online for FREE for three months. The film, which won the LUX Prize in 2010, will be available in all 24 EU languages. If you haven't seen it strongly suggest you do.

---///---
8/27
From the ten films chosen to become the 2013 Official Selection that were announced during the 2013 Karlovy Vary fest, three films continue as finalists for the award that will be announced during a formal sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on December 11th. The three films were recently announced and will be screened during Venice fest in the Venice Days (Giornate degli Autori) section.

For the first time a British film has been shortlisted and it is the second time an Italian director is running for the award which is none other than Valeria Golino's directorial debut.

Miele (Honey), Valeria Golino, France and Italy (Cannes Ecumenical Jury Award-special mention - Un Certain Regard)
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix Van Groeningen, Belgium (Winner of the Berlinale Audience Award)
The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnad, UK (Cannes Directors' Fortnight)

French government to seize copyright on out-of-print books published before 2001

A curious French plan known as 'reLIRE' is in the offing which could have serious consequences for authors - SFF or otherwise - who have published books in French prior to 2001.

Under this plan, if you published a novel, novella or short story in France prior to 2001 and it is now out of print, the work would now be considered 'orphaned'. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France is placing all such works on an online database. Writers and copyright-holders have six months to check the list and register that the story is still in copyright. If they do not, the works will be auctioned off to publishers to use as they see fit, with them keeping almost all of any resulting profits.

If you do have such works, you have to fill out a form (currently only available in French) and provide a valid French ID card number or a passport number. If you don't have a passport, tough. If you don't spot the story on the database in the first six months, tough. If the author has died and his or her family or heirs fail to act on any of this, tough.

So far, works by SFF authors including Robert Silverberg, George Alec Effinger, Ursula LeGuin, Samuel R Delany, Vonda McIntyre, and Roger Zelazny have been found on the database.

The initial database list was issued on 21 March. This means that authors, their representatives and heirs have only four months from now, until 21 September, to act on the issue or risk losing control of their works in France.

More on this alarming story here and from the Science Fiction Writers of America here.

66th Festival de Cannes Official Selection Lineup - Update 1

Today organizers announced five (5) more films in the Official Selection, with Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive (with Tilda Swinton) going into the Competition, Claude Lanzmann's Le Dernier des Injustes out of competition and three (3) films in Un Certain Regard: Lucia Puenzo's Wakolda, Hiner Saleem's My Sweet Pepperland and Katrin Gebbe's Tore Tanzt.

4/18/13
A few minutes ago the Official Selection lineup was unveiled and yes, there are some very positive surprises for me even when most films in the main competition are the ones everyone was buzzing and speculating will make the selection. The surprises: the latest film by master filmmaker Jia Zhangke, one of my favorite Sixth Generation Chinese directors, and none other than Amat Escalante that even when his films are quite violent, truly mesmerizes me with his particular and peculiar style. Fantastic!

My biggest non-positive surprise is to find Steven Soderbergh latest film in the Official Selection (?!) not only is a TV movie (is HBO) but the film stills and promotion material seems truly awful representation of Liberace. Obviously now I know will expect more from this movie that will premier Sunday, May 26 at 9pm on HBO.

As have been doing in previous years in one post will list ALL films that made this year selection and will update as soon as they announce new films in any section.

Competition

Behind the Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh, USA
Borgman, Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands
Grisgris, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France and Chad
Heli, Amat Esclante, Mexico
Inside Llewyn Davis, Ethan and Joel Coen, USA
Jeune et Jolie, François Ozon, France
Jimmy P. (aka Jimmy Picard) (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), Aranud Desplechin, USA
La Vie d'A Adèle (aka Le Bleu est une coleur chaude), Abdellatif Kechiche, France
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Paolo Sorrentino, Italy and France
La Vénus à la fourrure (Venus in Fur), Roman Polansky, France
Le passé (The Past), Asghar Farhadi, France
Michael Kohlhaas, Arnaud des Pallières, France and Germany
The Immigrant (aka Lowlife), James Gray, USA
Nebraska, Alexander Payne, USA
Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch, USA
Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn, France and Denmark
そして父になる Soshite chichi ni naru (Like Father, Like Son), Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
天注定 Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch of Sin), Jia Zhangke, China
Un château en Italie, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, France
藁の楯 わらのたて Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw), Takashi Miike, Japan

Out of Competition
Opening Film: The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann, Australia and USA
Closing Film: Zulu, Jérôme Salle, France
All is Lost, J.C. Chandor, USA
Blood Ties, Guillaume Canet, France and USA
Le dernier des injustes, Claude Lanzmann, France and Austria

The Jury
President: Steven Spielberg, director, USA
Naomi Kawase, director, Japan
Cristian Mungiu, director, scriptwriter and producer, Romania
Lynne Ramsay, director, scriptwriter and producer, UK
Ang Lee, director, scriptwriter and producer, Taiwan
Daniel Auteuil, actor and director, France
Christoph Waltz, actor, Austria
Nicole Kidman, actress and  producer, Australia
Vidya Balan, actress, India

Un Certain Regard

Opening Film: The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola, USA
Anonymous, Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
As I Lay Dying, James Franco, USA
(*) Bends, Flora Lau, Hong Kong and China
Death March, Adolfo Alix Jr., Philippines
(*) Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler, USA
Grand Central, Rebecca Zlotowski, France
(*) La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada-Diez, Mexico
Les Salauds, Claire Denis, France
L'Image Manquante, Rithy Panh, Cambodia
L'Inconnu du lac, Alain Guiraudie, France
(*) Miele, Valeria Golino, France and Italy
My Sweet Pepperland, Hiner Saleem, Turkey, Iran, Irak
Norte, Hanggan ng kasaysayan (Norte, The End of History), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Omar, Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine and USA
(*) Sarah préfère la course, Chloé Robichaud, Canada
(*) Tore Tanzt, Katrin Gebbe, Germany
Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo, Argentina, Spain, France, Germany and Norway

Un Certain Regard Jury
President: Thomas Vinterberg, director, scriptwriter and producer, Denmark

Special Screenings
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, Stephen Frears, USA (TV movie)
Seduced and Abandoned, James Toback, USA (Documentary)
Stop the Pounding Heart, Roberto Minervini, Italy, Belgium and USA
Week End of A Champion, Roman Polanski, UK, 1972 (Documentary)

Midnight Screenings
盲探 Man Tam (Blind Detective) , Johnnie To, Hong Kong
(*) Moonsoon Shootout, Amit Kumar, India and UK

Cannes Classics
Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958

Jerry Lewis' Tribute
Max Rose, Daniel Noah, USA

Gala Screening, Tribute to India
Bombay Talkies, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee, India

Short Films Competition
37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'

Cinéfondation Selection
Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)

Special Screening
(*) Otdat Konci (Bite The Dust), Taisia Igumentseva, Russia

Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Jane Campion, director, New Zealand
Majida Abdi, actress, director and producer, Ethiopia
Nicoletta Braschi, actress and producer, Italy
Nandita Das, actress, India
Semih Kaplanoğlu, director, writer and producer, Turkey

(*) First film competes for the Camera d'Or

Main Competition, Out of Competition, Special Screenings and Tributes info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Un Certain Regard info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.

Read basic info for all films but will continue finding more information, film stills and/or trailers and will upload them at MOC. So will update links to each section asap.

21st L'ACID Selection

Reliable news have already the ACID selection even when it is not posted at the official site of L'Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion, so I'm doing post and will confirm as soon as they publish at official site plus will add the special screenings and any other event they program for this year.

Update
The announcement is up at official site thus films are confirmed.

These are the nine (9) feature films in the 2013 selection

Au Bord du Monde, Claus Drexel, France
Braddock America, Jean-Loic Porton and Gabriella Kessler, France (documentary)
C’est eux les chiens, Hicham Lasri, Morocco
Deux automnes, trois hivers, (Two Autumns, Three Winters), Sébastien Betbeder, France

La Bataille de Solferino, Justine Triet, France
Ô Heureux Jours!, Dominique Cabrera, France (documentary)
Swandown, Andrew Kötting, UK
The Strange Little Cat, Ramon Zürcher, Germany
Wajma, Barmak Akram, France and Afghanistan

For me it is a big surprise to find in L'ACID selection Barmak Akram's film Wajma, which won an award at 2013 Sundance as its presence in this section means that has no distribution.

Around minute 2 the list of movies begin with images in the below video, but if you wish to see the photos pleas go here.

45th Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Lineup

Today Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director, announced the Directors' Fortnight selection that includes comedies, thrillers, 2 horror films, and 3 documentaries. A total of 21 features will screen with 17 world premieres selected after checking 3,311 titles.

There are some surprises as Yolande Moreau's first solo film, Sebastian Silva's film, the only Romanian film in all Cannes (a short) plus the most surprising duo of Jodorowsky films (!) one by him and another about him.  But most impressive is the fact that I have seen one of the films in the selection, fabulous short film Swimmer by Lynne Shelton!

Feature Films
Opening Film: The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, France and Belgium
Closing Film: Henri, Yolande Moreau, France and Belgium

A Strange Course of Events, Raphaël Nadjari, Israel and France
(*) Les Apaches, Thierry de Peretti, France
(*) Ate ver a luz (After The Night), Basil Da Cunha, Switzerland
Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier, USA
La Danza de la Realidad, Alejandro Jodorowsky, France, Chile and Mexico
(*) L'Escale, Kveh Bakhtiari, France and Switzerland (documentary)
(*) La Fille du 14 Juillet, Antonin Peretjatko, France
(*) Ilo Ilo, Anthony Chen, Singapore
(*) Jodorowsky's Dune, Frank Pavich, USA (Documentary)
(*) Last Days on Mars, Ruairi Robinson, UK and Ireland
(*) Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table!, Guillaume Gallienne, France
Magic Magic, Sebastián Silva, USA and Chile
On The Job, Erik Matti, Philippines
The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard, UK
Tip Top, Serge Bozon, France
Ugly, Anurag Kashyap, India
Un Voyageur, Marcel Ophuls, France
El Verano de los Peces Voladores, Marcela Said, France and Chile
We Are What We Are, Jim Mickle, USA

(*) Competing for the Camera d'Or

Short Films
Gambozinos, João Nicolau, France and Portugal
Lágy Eső, Dénes Nagy, Belgium and Hungary
Le quepa sur la vilni, Yann Le Quellec, France
Man kann nicht alles auf einmal tun, aber man kann alles auf einmal lassen, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, Switzerland
O umbra de nor, Radu Jude, Romania
Pouco mais de um mês, André Novais Oliveira, Brazil
Que je tombe tout le temps?, Eduardo Williams, France
Solecito, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Colombia, Denmark and France
Swimmer, Lynne Ramsay, UK

Beyond the selection, Directors’ Fortnight will host a range of peripheral events this year. These include the Taipei Factory, a joint initiative between Directors Fortnight and the Taiwan Film Commission to team four Taiwanese directors with four other filmmakers from around the world. The resulting shorts will be screened at Directors’ Fortnight.

Taipei Factory

The Pig, Singing Chen (Taiwan) and Jero Yun (Korea)
Silent Asylum, Midi Z (Taiwan) and Joana Preiss (France)
A Nice Factory, Shen Ko-Shang (Taiwan) and Luis Cifuentes (Chile)
Mr. Chang’s New Address, Chang Jung-Chi (Taiwan) and Alireza Khatami (Iran)

Other events includes a Tribute to Jane Campion, who this year will receive the Carrosse d'Or and the Directors' Assembly consisting of two panels to discuss key issues impacting the film industry today.

Directors' Assembly Program

Session 1 - Saturday May the 18th
Independent directors’ experiences worldwide

From their experiences, directors will talk about film production conditions and financial support schemes for cinema worldwide. It can be about the independent cinema in the United States, financing schemes in India, China, Brazil, and about everything directors wish to point out as well… They will talk about new creative and economic momentum that they conjure up to make their films. Daring productions sometimes turn away from cinema support schemes, as their heaviness and slowness weigh on creative energy. It will be about putting those systems and those different context to the test of the filmmaking reality and the work methods of each.

A new global and multipolar cinema leads to rapid mutations of our professional practices…

Session 2 - Tuesday May 21st
The European crisis and its consequences on its Member States’ cultural policies

Often in Europe, institutional stakeholders, producers and distributors script debates about cinema economics in which directors have a hard time finding their rightful place. Re-assessment of national cinema support schemes, coproductions difficulties, European funds shrinking… what role can they play in discussions about cultural policies ?

Cinema is not just an industry, neither is it an industry like any other : between cultural ambition and economic power, how to solve the visible contradiction between regulation, competition and cultural exception ?

Will check all films for info, original names, etc. and will update post accordingly ASAP.

52nd Semaine de la Critique Lineup

A few minutes organizers released a video with Charles Tesson, Semaine Artistic Director, announcing this year selection with films that seem will be the usual "strange" films, which is absolutely Great!

As always there are seven (7) films in the Selection of 1st or 2nd films.

For Those in Peril, Paul Wright, UK
Dabba (The Lunchbox), Ritesh Batra, India, France and Germany
Le Démantèlement (The Dismantlement), Sébastien Pilote, Canada
Los Dueños, Agustin Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky, Argentina
Nos héros sont morts ce soir, David Perrault, France
Salvo, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, Italy and France
МАЙОР The Major, Yury Bykov, Russia

Special Screenings
Opening Night: Suzanne, Katell Quillévéré, France
Closing Night: TBA
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery, USA
Les Rencontres d’après minuit, Yann Gonzalez, France

Short Films
Agit Pop, Nicolas Pariser, France
Breathe Me, Han Eun-young, South Korea
Komm und Spiel (Come and Play), Daria Belova, Germany
La lampe au beurre de Yak, Hu Wei, France and China
Océan, Emmanuel Laborie, France
Pátio, Ali Muritiba, Brazil
Pleasure, Ninja Thyberg, Sweden
Tau Seru, Rodd Rathjen, India and Australia
The Opportunist, David Lassiter, USA
Vikingar, Magali Magistry, France and Iceland

Check info, stills and/or trailer @MOC

Film info is not yet at site, but will check the net to find what is available for each film. In the meantime see the video with the announcement (has English subtitles) to check photos from some of the films.

2013 Cannes Film Festival News

In last Thursday press conference besides announcing the lineup a few more things happened that are worth sharing. First was the release of "A Word From The President" were Gilles Jacob tells us about his vision for current edition and second, a hosting fund raising auction with Plantu & Friends in an event called Cartooning For Peace.

A Word From The President

Everyone knows the Cannes event that changes every year: poster, films, juries, prizes; behind its walls, there’s also an attitude which, decade in decade out, guarantees the continuing existence of this institution. The idea is one I particularly like, and it sees the festival as a shelter for endangered artists. Our influence has a long history: in the 1970s, already, Robert Favre le Bret and Maurice Bessy fou ght over Andrei Tarkovski; next, with Pierre Viot, we invited film makers harassed in their own countries, but who would be protected by the aura of the festival. Such watchfulness set precedents. I’m not going to list the names of those who benefitted, from Eastern Europe, Asia or the Middle East, but when we come across them, even years later, the warmth of their friendship is proof of their gratitude. And our doors remain open, both to them and to others... To all the others ...

Cannes, land of welcome. The 2013 edition illustrates – quite literally – this trait of ours. Indeed, we’ve invited press cartoonists to attend, they who have their own unique way to fight for liberty. On the press floor, under the eye of Plantu, there’ll be an exhibition of satirical, sharp and talented drawings on the theme of cinema. You’ll find a note about it in your press books.

And, so it is, that cartoonists from countries where freedom of expression is not a given will be rubbing up against each other. It’s like a signal: in the freest of countries, isn’t the ultimate dream of those in power for critics of their actions to be completely ignored? We must do all we can to ensure that the light of cartoonists, their art which consists in withholding nothing while summarizing fully in a single image, that that light never goes out: it’s the very last bastion against the despotism and dictatorship of the strong over the weak. By programming an event within which lies inherent a call to insurrection, the festival should perhaps fear that one day it might fall victim itself!

There is another philosophy that leaders should never forget, and that’s the hard work over many years that has enabled the identifying, help with developing, the encouraging, confidence-building and the time-saving given to successive generations of young film makers. We’ve been at this task of sifting and educating, or monitoring, rather, for a long time via a consistent process which became the Caméra d’or, the Cinéfondation and it’s Résidence, and the Atelier... I never miss a chance to say: sow and you shall reap the Fellinis of tomorrow. And the Bergmans and Buñuels. And the Jane Campions.

We thank the great artists who give of their time, expertise and enthusiasm to our young green shoots by heading up the Cinéfondation and short film jury. Helping burgeoning film makers dodge difficulties, get their projects known , and find the money to make them: that’s vocational for a few generous artists who find helping the newcomers to be vocational.

Thus, our good fairy this year is Jane Campion, who loved the idea of presiding over this jury, in the wake of Scorsese, Kusturica, the Dardenne brothers, Hou Hsiao Hsien, and all the others... Lady Jane, as I’ve been calling her since we met, is power, unity, harsh poetry and violence. She knows what she’s talking about. The three shorts of hers that we screened as a group when she first came in ’86 encapsulated everything about her world. They were great for all of the qualities mentioned, but they were also great because they were not copies of things that already existed. And then, 7 years after
Peel, The Piano won the Palme d’Or. What a beautiful example, what an inspiration for our filmmakers of tomorrow... At her side will be Maji-daAbdi, the Ethiopian director and producer, Nicoletta Braschi, the Italian actress, Nandita Das, the Indian actress and Semih Kaplanoglu, the Turkish director.

And now, it’s time to switch on the projectors, the official selection is about to be revealed...

Gilles Jacob

So, besides giving us his vision about this years' festival, praising Jane Campion and presenting us the complete Short Films and Cinéfondation jury, he announced an event that hopefully we will be able to see the works online, as yes I am curious to see the cartoons, especially those of many of my favorite directors.

The Event: Les dessins de la Liberté

The Festival de Cannes is hosting a fund raising auction sale on Monday, 20th of May at the Festival Agora to support Cartooning for Peace. This event, co-organized by Piasa, will present cartoonists Willis from Tunis (Tunisia), Dilem (Algeria), Kichka (Israel) and Plantu (Le Monde and L’Express) and will be conducted by the auctioneer James Fattori. For this unprecedented meeting between editorial cartoons and films, original collector artwork will be put on sale. The funds raised will benefit Cartooning for Peace to support their action.

Created in 2008 by Kofi Annan and Plantu, Cartooning for Peace aims to promote a better understanding and mutual respect between people of different cultures and beliefs using editorial cartoons as a universal language, by subtly shaking politically correct mindsets.

The exhibition linked to the benefit event, will be presented at the Palais des Festivals, during the whole festival.

A selection of eighty cartoons portrays legendary films, the film industry and famous film directors such as Fellini, Bergman, Spielberg or Haneke, in a light and satirical tone. Some cartoons also remind us that cinema creativity is still threatened in countries such as Iran or Algeria. If a film director has a problem with authorities, cartoonists from all over the world will take his defense and report freedom of expression violations.

Freedom of expression is under the spotlight to defend artistic freedom!

Nice work Cannes.

Cheers!!!

66th Festival de Cannes Short Films and Cinéfondation Lineup

While the Official Selection of feature films for the 66th Festival de Cannes will be revealed on Thursday 18th April, the list of Short Films is unveiled today.

As we already know the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Jane Campion, will announce the award winners for the Short Film Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection.

Short Films Competition

This year, the Selection Committee received 3,500 short films, representing productions from no fewer than 132 countries.

Nine films will compete in 2013 for the Short Film Palme d’Or, to be awarded by Jane Campion, President of the Jury, at the Closing Ceremony of the 66th Festival de Cannes on 26th May. For the first time, a Palestinian film will take part in the Short Films Competition.

37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'

Cinéfondation Selection

The Cinéfondation Selection selected 18 films (14 fiction films and 4 animated films) among the 1,550 submitted this year from 277 schools from all around the world

By focusing on the quality of work submitted by lesser-known institutions, the Selection is a true reflection of the diversity of film schools. This year sees a particularly significant broadening of scope, with a third of the schools being selected for the first time and one country – Chile – which has never previously been selected.

The following are the short films in competition; the schools are in parenthesis.

Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)

The three Cinéfondation Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony prior to the screening of the winning films on Friday 24th May in the Buñuel Theatre.

Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.

After reading, see film stills and/or trailer for all short films, can say that some seem very interesting; unfortunatelly not all have trailers and/or film stills but will be frequently checking to post at MOC trailers when they are released.

Cheers!!! Cannes has started.

2013 Cannes Wish List

As next Thursday April 18 we will learn the Cannes Official Selection let me share with you all my wish list with films that hopefully will make any section of the festival but IF they don't still believe that most films will be must be seen.

The Masters

Le Passe (The Past) by Asghar Farhadi.
Know director became famous for his Oscar winner film but I follow him closely since his 2006 Fireworks Wednesday and this is must be seen for me for him and because Tahar Rahim is the lead. Let's hope Bérénice Bejo acts better here than in her other films, sigh.

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) by Paolo Sorrentino.
Absolutely must be seen for me as teaser has such beautiful images of Rome on top the star is none other than Toni Sevillo. (Photo)

Nymphomaniac by Lars Von Trier.
Soon we will know if director deeply tarnished his relationship with the festival or not. If film is not in Cannes then surely will be in Venice. Who can resist Charlotte Gainsbourg performing a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac? Not me.

Malavita by Luc Besson.

Female Master Directors

Abus de faiblesse (Abuse of Weakness) by Catherine Breillat.
The star is none other than Isabelle Huppert so we know that the story has to be intense and perhaps much more as Breillat adapted her novel -with the same name- about her true personal experience with professional conman Christophe Rocancourt.

Les Salauds (The Bastards) by Claire Denis.
With Chiara Mastroianni and Vincent Lindon. Not crazy about director but this revenge drama seems could be interesting. (Photo)

Serena by Susanne Bier.
The great Danish director took a break from her amazing dramas to direct light Love is All You Need; now she plays again with the English language to tell a very American story. The catch is that the leads are none other than Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper; but has great British actors too.

Bird People by Pascale Ferran.
Nude Area by Urszula Antoniak.
Wakolda by Lucia Puenzo.

Great Filmmakers ("walking" to become Masters)

Le Bleu est une couleur chaude (Blue is the Earmest Color) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
Really enjoy his movies and more if the star is none other than Léa Seydoux and has a story that seems will have lesbian interest (!!!). (Photo)

A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn.
Images suggest that Corbijn kept his peculiar fabulous style in this adaptation of John le Carre's espionage thriller starring none other than Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn.
Trailer impressed me but I was more impressed by Kristin Scott Thomas as hardly recognized her. Director regular Ryan Goslin (recall Drive?) is also here in a film that I suspect will be even more violent than Drive.

Twelve Years a Slave by Steve McQueen.
McQueen's regular, great Michael Fassbender stars in this very American slavery story that know will have director impressive style (has to). My only concern is that Brad Pitt also stars in film. Still, European buzz wonder if film will be ready for Cannes.

Tom à la ferme (Tom at the Farm) by Xavier Dolan.
Cannes "enfant not-so-terrible" maybe will make his dream come true this year IF his latest film finally makes the Official Selection; but no matter where it lands, film has to be his most drama intensive when he tells about a grieven man meeting his lover's family, who were not aware of this son's sexual orientation. The best, Dolan also acts (I enjoy his performances). If film makes Cannes be sure that film will compete for a Teddy. Just read that "maybe" film will NOT be in Cannes, shame.

Jeune et jolie by François Ozon.
Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Kore-Eda.
Nine Minutes Interval by Corneliu Porumboiu.

In English

Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet.
Yes he is directing his first English language film and is a remake of Les Liens du Sang where he was the main actor. Perhaps the only good thing film has is his wife acting in film.

The Buttler by Lee Daniels.
After being highly impressed with the Paperboy this tale about a butler who served eight different American Presidents at the White House could be better than what I imagined before seeing the Paperboy; so the great cast (John Cusack, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, etc) could make this movie (hopefully) good.

The Congress by Ari Folman.
Highly impressed with his Waltz with Bashir but as some do Folman went to America to do an English movie with American stars and Sci-Fi genre. Still story (an aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job...) could be interesting specially when Robin Wright plays a version of herself who travels to the future.  The Great news, film is a blend of live action (70 mins) and animation (50 mins) that looks/feels like his previous film.

The list could grow exponentially but let's stop here as we only have to wait 5 days to learn which film made the Official Selection plus the selection in the parallel sections and beyond. Can't wait for Cannes and know you can tell.

Cheers!!!!

5th La Fabrique Les Cinémas du Monde

Located at the heart of Cannes Film Festival’s international village, the pavilion is a unique venue dedicated to filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Near and Middle East. As a platform for working and networking opportunities, it has become the place to be for artists, professionals and international institutions seeking information on world cinema during the festival.

Since 2009, the Cinémas du Monde Pavilion has been run by the Institut Français in partnership with the International Organisation of La Francophonie, the Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France – composed of RFI, Monte Carlo Doualiya, France 24, and the partner French-language channel TV5 Monde. With their shared desire to promote cultural dialogue and diversity, the pavilion’s partners have contributed resources and expertise enabling world cinema to have its own workspace and networking area at the biggest international festivals.

A delegation of young directors and their producers have been invited to take part in the Fabrique Les Cinémas du Monde, a programme supporting talented new filmmakers. Its excellent workshops and abundant professional contacts have already helped several films and projects find co-production and international distribution opportunities.

In 2013, just like in the previous editions, a renowed cinema personnality will sponsor the Pavilion. He will brilliantly follow in the footsteps of his prestigious predecessors : Maria De Medeiros, Elia Suleiman Elsa Zylberstein, Pablo Trapero, Sandrine Bonnaire, Rithy Panh, and Juliette Binoche and Abderrahmane Sissako.

Raoul Peck will be the patron of the 2013 edition of the La Fabrique Les Cinémas du Monde. He will share his experience with young directors and hold a master class.

The 2013 selection

9 talented young directors from emerging countries, and their producers, will will be able to take advantage of personalised project support through one-to-one meetings with key players in the film industry.

Before Leaving, Mohammed Latrèche, Algeria
Territoria, Nora Martirosyan, Armenia
Loveling, Gustavo Pizzi, Brazil
The Siren of Faso Fani, Michel K. Zongo, Burkina Faso
The Taste in our Tongues, Monica Bravo, Colombia
Carmen, Pierre Lucson Bellegarde, Haiti
Jambula Tree, Kahui Wanuri, Kenya and South Africa
The Sigbin Chronicles, Joanna Arong, Philippines
The Mercy Of The Jungle, Joel Karekezi, Rwanda

4 countries will be represented for the first time: Armenia, Burkina Faso, Haiti and the Philippines. To learn more about the program and/or each of the projects please go to official site.