Cannes festival films unveiled

THE FILMS featuring at Cannes this year have been revealed.

Film Festival President Gilles Jacob, and the festival's artistic director Thierry Frémaux, presented the complete programme at a press conference this morning, which will open on May 14 with the screening of Olivier Dahan's biopic Grace of Monaco.

In total, the official programme includes 49 films from 28 countries.

Just 18 films feature in the competition because the European Elections are forcing the 67th Film Festival to close a day earlier than usual
British directors Mike Leigh and Ken Loach have both been entered in the competition section of the prestigious annual film festival on the French Riviera.

Both have won the Palme d’Or before. They will be up against David Cronenberg, Jean-Luc Godard, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylon and French film-maker Olivier Assayas.

Loach has been nominated for what is reportedly his final film, Jimmy’s Hall, a biopic of Irish communist leader James Gralton, while Leigh’s film Mr Turner follows the life and times of artist JMW Turner.

The only female director in the competition is Alice Rohrwacher, whose film Le Meraviglie has been recognised. Outside the competition, films from 15 female directors will be screened.

Ryan Gosling's directorial debut Lost River will screen in the Un Certain Regard section, along with other first films from young filmmakers, including Snow In Paradise, by rising British director Andrew Hulme.

Twilight co-stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart both have films in the competition. Pattinson has teamed up again with director David Cronenberg in Maps to the Stars, while Stewart stars alongside Chloe Grace Moretz in Olivier Assayas' Clouds of Sils Maria.

The Salvation, which stars Eva Green and Eric Cantona and The Rover, Pattinson's second film at Cannes, will both receive a Midnight Screening.

Meanwhile, Dreamworks will mark its 20th anniversary by screening How To Train Your Dragon 2 out of competition.

The Festival will be presented by Lambert Wilson, while Jane Campion - the only woman to have won a Palme d’Or, for her film The Piano, will head the judges.

Here is the list of films in the competition. More films will be announced “in the coming days”, according to Festival President Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux, the Festival's director:

OPENER
Grace of Monaco Olivier Dahan

COMPETITION
Goodbye to Language Jean-Luc Godard
The Captive Atom Egoyan
Clouds of Sils Maria Olivier Assayas
Foxcatcher Bennett Miller
The Homesman Tommy Lee Jones
Jimmy’s Hall Ken Loach
La Meraviglie Alice Rohrwacher
Leviathan Andrei Zvyagintsev
Maps to the Stars David Cronenberg
Mommy Xavier Dolan
Mr Turner Mike Leigh
Saint Laurent Bertrand Bonello
The Search Michel Hazanavicius
Still the Water Naomi Kawase
Timbuktu Abderrahmane Sissako
Two Days, One Night Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Wild Tales Damian Szifron
Winter Sleep Nuri Bilge Ceylan

OUT OF COMPETITION
Coming Home Zhang Yimou
How to Train Your Dragon 2 Dean DeBlois
Les Gens du Monde Yves Jeuland

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Amour fou Jessica Hausner
Bird People Pascale Ferran
The Blue Room Mathieu Amalric
Charlie’s Country Rolf de Heer
Dohee-ya July Jung
Eleanor Rigby Ned Benson
Fantasia Wang Chao
Harcheck mi headro Keren Yedaya
Hermosa Juventud Jaime Rosales
Incompresa Asia Argento
Jauja Lisandro Alonso
Lost River Ryan Gosling
Party Girl Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis
Run Philippe Lacote
The Salt of the Earth Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado
Snow in Paradise Andrew Hulme
Titli Kanu Behl
Tourist Ruben Ostlund

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
The Rover David Michod
The Salvation Kristian Levring
The Target Yoon Hong-Seung

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
The Bridges of Sarajevo various directors
Eau Argentee Mohammed Ossama
Maidan Sergei Loznitsa
Red Army Polsky Gabe
Caricaturistes – Fantassins de la democratie Stephanie Valloatto

© AFP/Connexion