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Big unknown: Cannes festival contenders
2009-03-22
PARIS (AFP) - Two months before the curtain goes up on the Cannes film festival, the movie world is swirling with rumours on the films that will line up for the event's coveted Palme d'Or. Likely contenders are new movies by directors Jane Campion, Johnnie To and Quentin Tarantino, as well as Ken Loach and Pedro Almodovar, which expected to be ready in time for the award. "On paper there is an enticing list," Thierry Fremaux, who heads the festival, told AFP. "But there are always surprises in a selection, and Cannes is known for its discovery of new talent." For the first time in the festival's history, a 3D animation by US studio Pixar, "Up", will open the May 13 to 24 event, underpinning the growing popularity of the genre. But the score of movies selected to officially compete for the prestigious palme award for best film will only be announced April 23. Tarantino, who scooped a palme in 1994 for "Pulp Fiction", announced some time ago that he aimed to complete in time for this year's Cannes festival his "Inglorious Basterds", starring Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger. Oscar-winning Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodovar could also be back for a new try with his just-completed "Broken Embraces", his first feature since 2006. New Zealander Campion, who in 1992 became the first woman director to take home the palme for "The Piano", is also rumoured as a likely contender for this year's prize with a movie currently in post-production about romantic poet John Keats, "Bright Star". Frequent Cannes contenders from the US, however, the Coen brothers and Steven Soderbergh, are unlikely to make the cut because their current movies seem far from ready -- "A Serious Man" for the former and both "The Girlfriend Experience" and "The Informant" from prolific Soderbergh. The same goes for Mexico's Alejandro Gondalez Inarritu, who has only just finished shooting "Biutiful", leaving little time to cut and edit ahead of the film fest. Asian favourites for selection at the Riviera festival include a new torrid tale of love titled "Spring Fever" by controversial Chinese director Lou Ye, at odds with the nation's censors, and a thriller from Johnnie To starring ageing French rock icon Johnnie Hallyday, titled "Vengence." Also possible from Asia are Korea's Park Chan-wook, whose "Old Boy" wowed the Cannes crowd in 2004, with "Thirst" and Korea's Boon Jong-ho with "Mother". A handful of European film-makers are also being tipped as almost sure bets -- Britain's Ken Loach, back with "Looking for Eric", a movie on and with football star Eric Cantonna, Denmark's Lars von Trier with "Antichrist" starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Austria's Michael Haneke with "Das Weisse Band" (The White Ribbon). Also in the running are hot German-Turkish director Fatih Akin and his new comedy "Soul Kitchen" and Italy's Marco Bellocchio with a film currently in post-production on Benito Mussolini's illegitimate son, titled "Vincere". And last but not least from Europe is 2007 Palme d'Or winner, Romania's Cristian Mungiu, who could be on hand with "Tales from the Golden Age". France, which each year gets three films into the official selection but last year scooped the top prize for the first time in two decades, could see an environmental documentary up for honours -- "The Syndrome of the Titanic" by green activist Nicolas Hulot. Other possibilities are Bruno Dumont's "Hadewijch", Jacques Audiard's "Le Prophete", Robert Guediguian and "L'armee du Crime" or Alain Resnais and "Les Herbes Folles".
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