The Cannes Film Festival: it's not just for croissants and movie premieres! It's also where tons of films go to find distribution. Barely a day old, the 64th edition of Cannes has already seen some future awards contenders and possible blockbusters sold to happy bidders. Ahead, a rundown of the spending spree thus far, and which films could find distribution next.
The Cannes Film Festival is the biggest and splashiest film festival in the world. It's also the most terrifying, particularly if it's your first time here, as it is mine. In the past few days I've had many generous friends and colleagues leap to my aid with advice and guidance along the lines of "It's horrible at first, and then it's fun, until it's just exhausting," "Don't get jacked up on the free espresso" and -- my personal favorite -- "You'll cry at some point in the middle -- don't worry, it's not just you." When friends and acquaintances learn it's my first time here, they look at me with a mixture of pity and protectiveness, as if I were a virgin -- hardly! -- being prepared for the big human sacrifice.
As hella violent movie marketing art goes, the ad selling The Expendables 2 to foreign buyers at the Cannes market isn't quite in league with the splattery new Conan poster. But conceptually anyway, a skull with a "2" exploding out of it is pushing the next level of... something.
Unlawful Killing, actor/filmmaker Keith Allen's documentary that bills itself as "an inquest of the inquest" after Princess Diana's death, will debut at the Cannes Film Festival with not just a new conspiracy theory regarding Diana's 1997 death, but also a grisly photo following her Paris car crash. Allen's efforts are backed by Mohamed Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi Al-Fayed was killed alongside Diana, his girlfriend. Anyone else particularly un-enticed by all of this? Video preview after the jump.
You know you're mere hours away from the launch of the Cannes Film Festival when the breeze on the Croisette is redolent of musty old critical gripes. Take the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, still fuming over Lars Von Trier's 2000 Palme d'Or winner Dancer in the Dark: "I think it is still one of the most exasperatingly awful films I have seen in Cannes, up there, or rather down there with Vincent Gallo's legendary The Brown Bunny and Pupi Avati's syrupy Il Cuore Altrove from the same annus horribilis of 2003." Damn. Pupi and syrupy? Where do I sign up? [Guardian]
Just which Hollywood heavyweights have to decide what film will take home the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 64th Annual Festival de Cannes in May? Jude Law and Uma Thurman. The pair have been added to the jury at Cannes, along with actress-producer Martina Gusman, producer Nansun Shi, critic-writer Linn Ullmann, and directors Olivier Assayas, Johnnie To and Mahamat Saleh Haroun. Robert De Niro will act as jury president. [Deadline]
What a difference a year makes. After shutting out women filmmakers entirely in 2010, the recently announced Cannes Film Festival competition will welcome four female directors next month on the Croisette -- a new record for the 64-year-old event.
Movieline's submission for a Godard-centric poster to represent this year's Cannes Film Festival went unrecognized, alas, and the world must make do with a 40-year-old image of Faye Dunaway. We could all unite in our outrage -- were she not so gorgeous.
The worst-kept secret (or most obvious development, however you want to read it) of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival was confirmed today: Terrence Malick's long-delayed The Tree of Life will debut on the Croisette in May. The film joins Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris as the only selections officially set for this year's fest, though its status in or out of competition remains unknown. Tree of Life opens Stateside in limited release on May 27. [Thompson on Hollywood]
How will Carla Bruni's bread-holding skills be received by the Cannes crowd? Festival organizers have announced that Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris will open the 64th annual Festival de Cannes on May 11. "Midnight in Paris is a wonderful love letter to Paris", said Festival director Thierry Frémaux in the press release. "It's a film in which Woody Allen takes a deeper look at the issues raised in his last films: our relationship with history, art, pleasure and life. His 41st feature reveals once again his inspiration." As Guy Lodge pointed out on Twitter, the last Allen film to open the fest was Hollywood Ending. Fingers crossed for a better result. [Deadline]
Congratulations to Robert De Niro, who was announced this morning as the jury president for this year's edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The selection is the latest paths-crossing of the festival and the legendary actor, who has appeared in two Palme d'Or winners (Taxi Driver and The Mission) and will reportedly be recognized this year for his own fest-organizing acumen at Tribeca. These deliberations will be awesome: "Well, I don't know, Bob, I really liked Tree of Life." "Jesus, Deneuve, we were doing deeper impressionism 40 years ago..." So on, so forth. [Variety]
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