There are few things left in life that are as predictable as the Competition line-up of the Cannes Film Festival. Almodovar, von Trier, van Sant, Allen, Ceylan, Cavalier, Malick, Moretti. While these are all great film makers, no doubt, should it not be the aim of a film festival to discover new talent, to give new directors a showcase for their films? Granted, there are a number of relatively new names to be found in thus year's line-up, yet the surprises are few and far between.
What Berlin doesn't have enough of, Cannes is having in spades - glamour and big names. But to bank on glamour and big names only, means turning what once was the world's most prestigious film festival into yet another star-studded extravaganza which may draw gazillions of paparazzi and attract coverage from (all the wrong) media while increasingly missing the point of a film festival in the process. The focus on glitz and glamour is almost blatantly reflected in the poster which - admittedly - is beautiful. Very stylish. Very tasteful. Very Cannes. It shows a still of Faye Dunaway - in her day, one of the most beautiful actresses I can think of and, as all blog-followers will know, also a longtime favourite of mine - in Puzzle of a Downfall Child, a film from 1967 by Dunaway's then-lover Jerry Schatzberg. Schatzberg's film - then also shown in Cannes - is about the downsides of being a model. Dunaway's role in the film anticipated the scandals and the notoriety that would surround Kate Moss some 30 years on. The poster aptly, and almost ironically, symbolises the shift of focus in what the Cannes Film Festival is all about. No longer a mere film festival for the sake of it, to celebrate film as art - today, Cannes is a free-for-all for anybody who has sufficient clout - not to mention dough - to generate headlines and ensure a maximum of coverage. Media coverage translates into cold hard cash in the form of ads, commercials, and most of all: Sponsors. As such, it is indeed a reflection of the world we're living in where it's all about money, marketing and packaging, while substance and content have been relegated to the back burner ...
Opening Film
Woody ALLEN, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (Out of Competition)
COMPETITION
Pedro ALMODÓVAR, LA PIEL QUE HABITO
Bertrand BONELLO, L'APOLLONIDE - SOUVENIRS DE LA MAISON CLOSE
Alain CAVALIER, PATER
Joseph CEDAR, HEARAT SHULAYIM
Nuri Bilge CEYLAN, BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA
Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE, LE GAMIN AU VÉLO
Aki KAURISMÄKI, LE HAVRE
Naomi KAWASE, HANEZU NO TSUKI
Julia LEIGH, SLEEPING BEAUTY -
MAÏWENN, POLISSE
Terrence MALICK, THE TREE OF LIFE
Radu MIHAILEANU, LA SOURCE DES FEMMES
Takashi MIIKE, ICHIMEI
Nanni MORETTI, HABEMUS PAPAM
Lynne RAMSAY, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Markus SCHLEINZER, MICHAEL
Paolo SORRENTINO, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
Lars VON TRIER, MELANCHOLIA
Nicolas WINDING REFN, DRIVE
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Gus VAN SANT, RESTLESS - Opening Film - 1h31
Bakur BAKURADZE, THE HUNTER
Andreas DRESEN, HALT AUF FREIER STRECKE
Bruno DUMONT, HORS SATAN
Sean DURKIN, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
Robert GUÉDIGUIAN, LES NEIGES DU KILIMANDJARO
Oliver HERMANUS, SKOONHEID
HONG Sangsoo, THE DAY HE ARRIVES
Cristián JIMÉNEZ, BONSÁI
Eric KHOO, TATSUMI
KIM Ki-duk, ARIRANG
Nadine LABAKI, ET MAINTENANT ON VA OÚ ?
Catalin MITULESCU, LOVERBOY
NA Hong-jin, THE YELLOW SEA
Gerardo NARANJO, MISS BALA
Juliana ROJAS, Marco DUTRA TRABALHAR CANSA
Pierre SCHOELLER, L'EXERCICE DE L'ETAT
Ivan SEN, TOOMELAH
Joachim TRIER, OSLO, AUGUST 31ST
OUT OF COMPETITION
Xavier DURRINGER, LA CONQUÊTE
Jodie FOSTER, THE BEAVER
Michel HAZANAVICIUS, THE ARTIST
Rob MARSHALL, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES
