Wednesday, May 16, 2007

As Cannes 2007 kicks off...

What I'm paying attention to as the Cannes Film Festival kicks off today.

  • The first film of the festival is famous Asian director's Kar Wai Wong's English-language travelogue staring Norah Jones, called My Blueberry Nights. Will Norah Jones' role be Academy Award worthy come year? Some favorite buzz actors also make appearances in this film: Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, David Straitharn, and Natalie Portman also appear alongside Jones in this film. (Jude Law and Jones pictured in the movie still above)
  • Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country For Old Men will be chosen...is this crime drama (staring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Woody Harrelson) a Fargo or The Lady Killers?
  • Former Golden Palm winner Gus Van Sant (Elephant), will be premiering his film Paranoid Park about a teenage skateboarder who accidentally kills a security officer.
  • The Yard Director James Gray directs and writes the little talked about film We Own The Night staring recent academy nominees Mark Wahlberg and Jaoquin Phoenix, alongside Hollywood favorite Robert Duvall. Will Cannes help give this film some buzz?
  • Zodiac (David Fincher), and Quentin Tartino's segment from Grindhouse, while they have already had a US release are included in this years competition.
  • Ocean's 13, A Mighty Heart, Michael Moore's upcoming documentary Sicko will both be exhibited at the Cannes, although they are not in the competition. (I'm not sure whether the run-ins that Moore has had with the US Treasury regarding the Cuba segment will effect which cut of the film is shown at the festival).
  • Stephen Frears represents the UK as president of this years festival. Maggie Cheung represents Hong Kong, Toni Collette represents Australia, Sarah Polley represents Canada. Other voters for this years feature film competition come from Portugal, Turkey, Italy, France and Mauritania.
  • Last years Cannes Films that went on to score academy awards and nominations: Babel (7 noms, 1 win), Pan's Labryinth (6 noms, 3 wins), Indigenes (1 nom), Marie Antionette (1 nom, 1 win), Volver (1 nom).

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2 comments:

Will said...

Thanks for the update, RC!
Alison and I are looking forward to next year or the year after that, actually trying to GO to Cannes.

Now won't that be heaps of fun?

Anonymous said...

I forgot Cannes was happening now. Thanks for the rundown on what's happening.