2 Cdn. films to compete at Cannes
PARIS (CP) – Canada’s premier film directors, Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg, will be going head to head for the top prize, the Golden Palm, at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival next month.
Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies, said to be his most commercially accessible film to date, will compete for the top honour with David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence at the 12-day festival which opens May 11.
The two Canadian titles will be among 20 from 13 countries in competition at the 58th festival, organizers announced Tuesday. The Golden Palm winner will be announced May 21.
A third Canuck entry will screen out of competition. Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream is a documentary by Toronto-based newcomer Stuart Samuels. All three will be world premieres.
Egoyan and Cronenberg had films at Cannes in 2002. Cronenberg’s Spider was in competition, however, while Egoyan’s Ararat was not. Cronenberg also entered Crash in competition in 1996 while Egoyan entered Exotica in ’94, The Sweet Hereafter in ’97 and Felicia’s Journey in ’99. The last time two Canadian filmmakers were in competition was 33 years ago, in 1972, says Stephen Lan, a spokesman for Telefilm Canada.
This year’s festival is headed by the Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica. The festival opens with one of three French films, Dominik Moll’s Lemming.
Other selections include Last Days by American director Gus Van Sant, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada by actor Tommy-Lee Jones, Don’t Come Knockin’ by Germany’s Wim Wenders, Manderlay by Denmark’s Lars Von Trier, and L’enfant by Belgium’s Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.
Movies by two legendary American directors beloved to the French will be among those presented out of competition: Woody Allen’s Match Point and George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
A British movie, Chromophobia by director Martha Fiennes, will close the night of honours on May 21, although a rerun of the winning movie be shown on the final day, May 22.
A History of Violence stars Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and William Hurt and is based on the graphic book by John Wagner. It is the story of a quiet small-town man whose act of heroism plunges him into the media spotlight and the kind of exposure he doesn’t want.
Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies stars Colin Firth, Kevin Bacon, Alison Lohman and Maury Chaykin in a noirish story set in the 1950s about the decadent side of fame and fortune and how two decades later a writer decides to unearth a buried scandal.
Egoyan was reported to be rushing to have the film completed in time for its Cannes screening.
Here are the 20 films competing in the 58th Cannes Film Festival, starting May 11. Films are shown according to country and in alphabetical order:
Canada
-David Cronenberg, A History of Violence
-Atom Egoyan, Where the Truth Lies
China
-Johnny To, Election
-Xiaoshuai Wang, Shanghai Dreams
Belgium
-Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenner, L’Enfant (The Child)
Denmark
-Lars Von Trier, Manderlay
France
-Dominik Moll, Lemming (festival opener)
-Michael Haneke, Austrian, Cache (Hidden)
-Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Peindre ou Faire l’Amour (Paint Or Make Love)
Germany
-Wim Wenders, Don’t Come Knockin’
Israel
-Amos Gitai, Free Zone
Iraq (Kurdistan)
-Hiner Saleem, Kilometer Zero
Italy
-Marco Tullio Giordana, Quando Sei Nato Non Puoi Piu Nasconderti (Once You Are Born)
Japan
-Masahiro Kobayashi, Bashing
Mexico
-Carlos Reygadas, Batalla en el Cielo (Battle in Heaven)
Taiwan
-Hsiao-Hsien Hou, The Best of our Times
United States
-Jim Jarmusch, Broken Flowers
-Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
-Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, Sin City
-Gus Van Sant, Last Days
Out of Competition
Great Britain
-Martha Fiennes, Chromophobia (festival closer)
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