Brad & Angelina-Inglorious Bastards

The line-up for the 63 Festival de Cannes was announced in Paris this morning.

The big news: Canada’s award winning director Xavier Dolan will make a return to Cannes with “Les Amours imaginaires”- three close friends who are involved in a love-triangle.  Xavier was selected in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. Xavier is best known for his film “J’ai tué ma mere”(a story about the turbulent relationship between mother and son) which won Director’s Fortnight in Cannes last year. The film was selected to represent Canada in the foreign film category in considerations for the Academy Awards nomination jury but sadly did not make the nominee list and to a greater extent it was also shut out at the Genies.

Other names that top the list for the festival’s In Competition, Out of Competition and Un Certain Regard are Mike Leigh, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jean Luc Goddard, Stephen Fears, Oliver Stone and Woody Allan.  However on the list of directors that didn’t make it this year were some surprises. For example Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life”is not among the films that will play on the Croisette. This may not be a huge surprise, as many know that the film is still in the editing room and we can only hope that the films get a special last minute inclusion. And what about Peter Weir, “The Way Back”, Darren Aronofsky “Black Swan” and the remarkable Johnnie To “Death of A Hostage” -perhaps only to been seen at TIFF 2010.  We can only hope that there is something magical in the selection this year because the list isn’t much to speak of, and in general this isn’t as exciting a lineup as last year’s. The full list of films can be reviewed below.

And finally the festival wasn’t without its latest controversy: It signed exclusive video contracts with sponsors Canal Plus and Orange, causing a boycott at the press conference by the Associated Press, Reuters, Getty Images and other video/photography outlets – quel dommage! 

IN COMPETITION

“Another Year,” U.K., Mike Leigh                                                                                                                  
“Biutiful,” Spain-Mexico, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
“Burnt by the Sun 2,” Germany-France-Russia, Nikita Mikhalkov
“Certified Copy,” France-Italy-Iran, Abbas Kiarostami
“Fair Game,” U.S., Doug Liman
“Hors-la-loi,” France-Belgium-Algeria, Rachid Bouchareb
“The Housemaid,” South Korea, Im Sang-soo
“La nostra vita,” Italy-France, Daniele Luchetti
“La Princesse de Montpensier,” France, Bertrand Tavernier
“Of Gods and Men,” France, Xavier Beauvois
“Outrage,” Japan, Takeshi Kitano
“Poetry,” South Korea, Lee Chang-dong
“A Screaming Man,” France-Belgium-Chad, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
“Tournee,” France, Mathieu Amalric
“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” Spain-Thailand-Germany-U.K.-France, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
“You, My Joy,” Ukraine-Germany, Sergey Loznitsa

 UN CERTAIN REGARD

“Adrienn Pal,” Hungary-Netherlands-France-Austria, Agnes Kocsis
“Aurora,” Romania, Cristi Puiu
“Blue Valentine,” U.S., Derek Cianfrance
“Chatroom,” U.K., Hideo Nakata
“Chongqing Blues,” China, Wang Xiaoshuai
“The City Below,” Germany-France, Christoph Hochhausler
“Film Socialisme,” Switzerland-France, Jean-Luc Godard
“Ha Ha Ha,” South Korea, Hong Sang-soo
“Les Amours imaginaires,” Canada, Xavier Dolan
“Life Above All,” France, Oliver Schmitz
“Los labios,” Argentina, Ivan Fund, Santiago Loza
“Octubre,” Peru, Daniel Vega
“Qu’est-il arrive a Simon Werner?,” France, Fabrice Gobert
“Rebecca H.,” France, Lodge Kerrigan
“R U There,” Taiwan, David Verbeek
“The Strange Case of Angelica,” Portugal, Manoel de Oliveira
“Tuesday, After Christmas,” Romania, Radu Muntean
“Udaan,” India, Vikramaditya Motwane

 OUT OF COMPETITION

“Robin Hood,” U.S.-U.K., Ridley Scott - Opening Film
“Tamara Drewe,” U.K., Stephen Frears
“Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,” U.S., Oliver Stone  & “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” U.K.-Spain, Woody Allen

Source: Kirk Cooper/film consultant