| Day
2 - Thursday, May 14
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| Festival
in Full Swing
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| The Cannes Festival was in full swing today. The Directors’ Fortnight
opened its doors for the 30th time. This parallel section grew out of the
social, political and cultural discontent in France in May 1968, which,
by the way, brought the festival to a halt in mid-course that year. The
Societe des Realisateurs, a radical organization that marched
with the students and workers, was created and the new event with it. The
Quinzaine des Realisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight) intended to open
up the Cannes Festival to little-known filmmakers and national cinemas
and allow the directors to be discovered in complete freedom.
Indignation would qualify the opening of Critics’ Week. As is true for all of the parallel sections, they were banished from the Palais des Festivals this year. The Critics’ Week public found themselves in the Arcades Theatre where the comfort and quality of the screenings left much to be desired. The Film Market was busy setting up in the MIF Pavilion, a tent city housing a large number of the market companies. The statistics are impressive: 4,255 people from 1,421 companies in 71 countries had registered by opening day. 5,000 participants are expected to sign up by the market’s end. Patrice Chereau’s Ceux qui m’aiment Prendront le Train screened today in the official selection and seemed to warm the hearts of the European critics. This black comedy based on a true story about the burial of a painter stars Jean-Louis Trintignant who, at 67 and a 40-year acting career, has declared this return to the screen as his last. Young actor Vincent Perez is winning praise for his role as a transgender in the film. The other film in competition, The Rose Seller by Victor Gaviria, has been pegged as a grim dose of reality. Thirteen year old Lady Tabares plays the rose seller and is part of a band of street urchins in the streets of Medellin, city of social despair with no way out. Arriving in Cannes yesterday – the first time out of her country, Tabares told the press, “The film imitates our life.” Among those arriving in Cannes were Willian Hurt starring in Dark City (out of competition) by Alex Proyas , Roman Polanski, Sophie Marceau, Julie Delpy, William Defoe, the much awaited Johnny Depp, Roger Corman, Claudia Schiffer. Paul Auster also arrived for the showing of his film Lulu on the Bridge in the Certain Regard section. He characterized his film as “a laboratory of human madness” and after Cannes was going back to work on his next book. And of course, les soirees. The party highlight last night was the
last episode of Seinfeld. The American Pavilion hosted the 4 a.m. broadcast
in Cannes as the fans gathered around the TV for the last act.
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| The
line up for Friday, 15 May
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Dance Me To My Song
Dark City (out of competition)
UN CERTAIN REGARD
Little Tony
DIRECTORS' FORTNIGHT
Spring In My Hometown
CRITICS' WEEK
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