MOONRISE KINGDOM, the new film by American Wes Anderson, will open the 65^thFestival de Cannes on Wednesday, 16 May in the Grand théâtre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals, with the Jury presided over by Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti in attendance.

MOONRISE KINGDOM was filmed on an island in New England. It recounts a tormented and surprising story of children and adults during the stormy days of the summer of 1965.

Born in 1969, Wes Anderson is the director of Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2011), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).

Thierry Frémaux, the Festival’s General Delegate, commented: “Wes Anderson is one of the rising powers of American cinema, to which he brings a highly personal touch, particularly in MOONRISE KINGDOM, which once again is a testimony to the creative freedom in which he continues to evolve. Sensitive and independent, this admirer of Fellini and Renoir is also in his own right a brilliant and inventive filmmaker.”

Gilles Jacob, President of the Festival, is glad to proclaim: “With Wes Anderson opening the 65^th Festival de Cannes, young American cinema will be celebrated on the Croisette.”

Distributed in France by Studio Canal, the film will be released in cinemas on 16 May, the same day as its screening in Cannes. For the second consecutive year, with the agreement of its partner Canal+ and the support of the Fédération Nationale des Cinémas Français, the Festival de Cannes will make the Opening Ceremony available to all the cinemas that request it, so that spectators can experience “live” the full programme of the opening night of the Festival. In the USA, the film will be released on 25 May

I will have the reviewed list of official selection (Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition) on Thursday, 19 April.

As much as we feel that we can somehow manoeuvre things into place to predict an outcome…we still have faith to deal with. That’s the lesson of my second day at the festival.  I had planned to be awake early to attend a few early screening but as my luck be – I slept in. However, I must admit I needed extra snooze – it was my first night sleeping in Cannes after the long trip and the plan to force myself to stay awake so I can handle the jetlag seemed to have been too much to handle.

However, after pulling myself together I made my way towards the Palias (Festival Venue) I stopped to have something to eat & found the best “make your own salad” in the city. I sat down in the sun and enjoyed my creation. I spot a lady next to me who is feverishly making notes on films to watch…this scene had tiff (Toronto Intl Film Festival) familiarity stamped all over it. I finally made my way to the Canada Pavilion where I was greeted by beautiful young French lady who has returned for the 7^th year as receptionist for the Pavilion. So what is a Canada Pavilion?… It’s a space that all Canadians are welcome to set up meeting and leave marketing materials on their film projects at the display area. It is also a place where you can access wifi to keep in touch with your staff or colleagues back in Canada. The Pavilion is funded my all provincial funding agents and Telefilm Canada.  It’s our home away from home where other citizens are welcome to drop by and have a drink with us.

director and cast members of Restless

While at the Pavilion I ran into a young producer/director Reza Dahya who has a short film playing in the Short Film Corner. We decide to catch the opening night film for the section Un Certain Regard. American director Gus Van Sant had the honour of opening the festival with his romantic film “Restless”. The film is about unconventional romance between a cancer-stricken young woman and an orphaned teenager whose closest confidant is the ghost of a kamikaze pilot. It’s not the Gus Van Sant that we are familiar with in Milk or Elephant. If you are looking for his unique stamp on this film you will be pleasantly surprise of where he and producer Bryce Dallas takes you. The L.A Times was not a fan after seeing the film and all I could add is a quote from the film to sum up my feeling on it…”It’s ok and if it’s not ok it will be ok” Annabel (Mia Wasikowska “Restless” and also “Alice in Wonderland“)

Restless Trailer below check it.

After seeing such a moving and touching story I was famish and I was in need of some food. Called a friend and she brought with her another to dinner. The three of us eat at a beautiful seafood restaurant and tried to debate if we should go to the Calvin Klein Party. Finally the answer was yes even though we thought we were under dress for the occasion.

Upon arrival we were greeted by a mob of paparazzi and a sea of people. My thought was – damn I’m so not dress properly…but I let that go and realized that I was coming from a long day of meetings and screenings.  We got in and were greeted by a silver tray of champagne flutes filled to the brim. My first champagne for this trip in Cannes – I finally arrive I thought to myself. But just before I can finish that thought actor Owen Wilson of the Woody Allan’s film Midnight in Paris brushes by me. Also at the party social columnist Shinan Govani of the National Post a young lady that looked very much like Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding- and Tom from Indiewire. I stayed for a bit & dance to the sounds of the dj crazy selections. About 40 minutes in I was starting to feel the alcohol so I decided it was time to go. As I was existing the party I was given a goodie bag containing wonderful products by the designer Mr. Klein. so my lesson was take moment to have NO PLANS – I went with the flow and felt I was quite rewarded.

Director Xavier Dolan

Is the new trend in the Canadian film industry solicitation for public funding directly from the public?

Years after American producers (Hollywood studios) developed the private sector financing stream for films it seems as we have just arrived with our virtual coin can in hand. But the real question should be, is the public ready to dig deep into their change purse for films that are rarely support according to box office figures? Maybe not so much in English Canada but Quebec filmmakers could just benefit greatly. With a long standing support for the francophone stories, the star system and their culture, this may just be a clever idea.

touscoprod.com, with the support of Telefilm Canada has launched the first participatory co-production website in Canada. Anyone interested can invest funds from $10 to $100 online toward films in development or pre-production. The most interesting film in this line-up is Xavier Dolan’s next film, Laurence Anyways, Dolan is Canada’s next hot young director. After leaving his mark on Cannes Film Festival twice with the films I Killed My Mother and Heartbeats, the young genius from Quebec is back. This time, Dolan will stay behind the camera to direct and offer up an impossible love story.

If you would like to support this young Canadian director, just visit www.touscoprod.ca become a coprod of his third film and be part of his world; or at the very least you can say “I produced that”!

There was a time not long ago when having John Woo’s name on a film would generate instant excitement, but after a string of mediocre American action films throughout the ’90s and early 2000s; it looked like his career was running out of steam for good. Then came the release of Red Cliff, which seemed to prove that the problem wasn’t with John Woo, but with Hollywood — big surprise. Now John Woo is co-directing and co-producing another action movie originating from his homeland of China called Reign of Assassins, and an early promo trailer has found its way online.

The movie stars Michelle Yeoh as a retired assassin who just can’t escape her former life. The film seems to take on a more traditional martial arts action with a slice of romance on the side. This is apparently quite different from the Hong Kong gangster flicks that Woo is best known for. Of course, he is serving primarily as a mentor to writer-director Chao-Bin Su (Silk), so it’s hard to say how much influence he will have on the film. The movie co-stars Woo-sung Jung (The Good, The Bad, The Weird), one of the most clever film I’ve seen in years. It also stars Barbie Hsu, Kelly Lin, and John Woo’s daughter Angeles. The film is expected to be released sometime this fall but there is a good chance that you may see it sooner at TIFF in September.

Check out the trailer and tell me what you think.

OMDC is digitally transforming the way we do business and making it easier for you, our clients to apply for tax credits and to our programs by going green in 2010-11 with a paperless, secure Online Application Portal (OAP).

Now, you will be able to apply online (including uploading and storing corporate documents), track the status of your applications and communicate with OMDC regarding your applications through the OAP.

OAP training sessions are now scheduled for Feb 24 to March 26: If you have any questions regarding the OAP, please contact the OMDC at  applyhelp@omdc.on.ca or (416) 642-6617.