Editor

Films, stars, special events, discover all the bare facts of the 2002 Cannes
Film Festival.

55th Birthday Events

For its 55th birthday, the Cannes Film Festival will unite past and present
through an original idea: run 7 films of those selected for the 1939 festival,
which were never screened because of the war. The festival organizers have even
gathered together a jury of 4 festival directors (Alberto Barbera ) for award
considerations. The 7-film selection includes 3 Academy Award winners (Wizard
of Oz, Goodbye Mr Chips, Union Pacific) and a nominee (The Four Feathers
by Zoltan Korda).

2002 Main Competition Jury

Six directors and three actresses compose the official jury of the 2002 festival,
with four prior Cannes winners (David Lynch, Bille August, Claude Miller and
Raoul Ruiz). The actress trio comprises "Crouching tigress" Michelle
Yeoh, ice pick star Sharon Stone and Indonesian star Christine Hakim, last seen
in Nan Achnas's Whispering Sands in the Rotterdam 2002 competition.

Facts & Figures

This year, the organizers viewed 2,281 films (939 feature films and 1342 short
films), compared to 1,798 (854 feature films and 944 short films) in 2001 and
1,397 (681 feature films and 716 short films) in 2000, a 27% increase. In 1997
"only" 861 films were viewed! The 939 feature films represent 89 different
countries compared to 76 last year. The Official Selection will present 55 feature
films representing 33 countries: 21 films in competition (23 in 2001) from 15
different countries (12 last year), with 18 international premieres. The Certain
Regard section will present 21 films from 17 different countries with 19 international
premieres and six first-feature films. Among the 55 feature films, 48 will be
international premieres.

2002 Main Competition Selection

Well-known Cannes regulars will be in competition for the Golden Palm this
year at Cannes. This "big name" showcase includes 3 Golden Palm winners
(Jean Pierre Dardenne, Abbas Kiarostami, Mike Leigh), 5 Golden Palm nominees
(Marco Bellocchio, Amos Gitaï, Im Kwon-taek, Aki Kaurismaki & Michael
Winterbottom), 3 Jury Prize & FIPRESCI winners (David Cronenberg, Ken Loach,
Manoel de Oliveira) and one Best Script winner (Aleksandr Sokurov). Two younger
wolves - Jia Zhang-ke and Paul Thomas Anderson - with an already nice Award
record (respectively Golden Montgolfiere and Berlin Golden Bear), will try to
prove themselves up to the mark. Selector Thierry Frémeaux insisted on
the high social and political commitment of the directors, the peace message
of Amos Gitaï in a daring film about the creation of Israel, and the light
tones of the 2002 selection thanks to Woody Allen's overture film, the musical
screening of the new Dreamworks animation feature Spirit (aka Spirit:
Stallion of the Cimarron), and the enchanting power of the Bollywood epic
Devdas by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Out of Competition Selection and Special Screenings

While the Out of Competition selection includes more prior Palm nominees such
as Barbet Schroeder and Atom Agoyan (with Ararat), the Special Screenings
will see Rosanna Arquette's first directorial effort Searching for Debra
Winger, inspired by Winger's six-year departure from Hollywood at the height
of her career, and the surprising comeback of Kiju Yoshida (aka Yoshishige Yoshida),
one of the spearheads of the Japanese Nouvelle Vague, formerly in Cannes in
1988 with Onimaru.

Martin Scorcese's Work in Progress

Martin Scorcese is the head of the Cinefoundation jury this year, together
with Judith Godreche, Tilda Swinton, Abbas Kiarostami and Jan Schütte.
The great American director will also present and comment upon 20 minutes of
his latest film, the epic Gangs of New York. The director will be accompanied
by the two stars of the film, Leonardo di Caprio and Cameron Diaz.

Un Certain Regard Selection

This selection is certainly the most innovative and multicoloured of this year's
festival, with films by young directors coming from Brazil, Algeria, Taiwan,
China, Iran, Mauritania, Chile, Thailand. Not all directors are unknowns on
the festival circuit : Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul was notably in Vancouver,
Marseille and Yamagata with Mysterious Object at Noon (2000); Chile's
Pablo Trapero won many prizes with Crane World, while Bhaman Ghobadi
won a FIPRESCI Award at Cannes with A Time for Drunken Horses.

Paul Morrissey's Trashy World

The Cannes Film Festivall will pay homage to Paul Morrissey and Joe d'Allessandro
with the special screenings of Flesh, Trash and Heat, three cult
films which Andy Warhol produced in the sixties and seventies. Paul Morrissey
is no stranger to Cannes having already presented Heat, Trash and Forty
Deuce.

Jacques Tati's Big Day

Jacques Tati's comedy classics such as Mr Hulot's Holiday and My
Uncle and will be screened on the beach. Special decorations such as bathing
huts evoking Monsieur Hulot's Holiday will be arranged on the beach for
the duration of the festival. A special restored 70mm copy of Playtime
will be screened on Sunday 19 in the Palais, while scores of Tati's films will
be played at the Cannes bandstand under Philippe Bender's conducting.

From Hollywood to Bollywood

A special homage will be awarded to director Raj Kappor, one of the princes
of Bollywood, with the screenings of Aag, Barsaat and Awaara.
This programme, plus the out of competition screening of Devdas signals
the overture of the Cannes film festival to Bollywood after Locarno and Venice,
which respectively screened Hey!Ram (2000) and Asoka (2001).

Stars in Progress

Among the stars awaited at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival are: Leonardo di Caprio,
Cameron Diaz, Emily Watson, Sergio Castellito, Adam Sandler, Ralf Fiennes, Gabriel
Byrne, Timothy Spall, Adrian Brody, Matt Damon, Brian Adams, Alain Chabat, Charles
Aznavour, Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas, Claudia Cardinale, Rosanna
and Patricia Arquette, Antonio Banderas, and Bollywood legends.

Restored Films

Special screenings of restored classics will take place at the Salle Bunuel
on the fifth floor of the Palais. This selection includes Kagemusha by
Akira Kurosawa, The Lady Without Camelias by Michelangelo Antonioni and
Come Drink With Me by King Hu with Crouching Tiger star Cheng Pei Pei.