Day 5

Transcription

Day 5

5
Cannes
daily
the
Sunday, May 16, 2010
thr.com/cannes
DFI D5 051610.indd 1
5/13/10 2:18 PM
AT CANNES 2010
Please visit us in Cannes at
Marché du Film, Riviera H 9
Phone +33 (4)9299 -3216
eMail [email protected]
www.bavaria-film-international.com
LIFE, ABOVE ALL
by Oliver Schmitz
WORLD PREMIERE
Tuesday, May 18th 11.15 h
Salle Debussy
for private screening information please contact our sales team
MARKET PREMIERE
private buyers screening
please contact our sales team
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BAVARIA_D5_05_16_10.indd 1
Today 15.30h
Riviera 2
Today 17.15h
18.5. 09.15h
Riviera 2
Riviera 4
17.5.
18.00h
Riviera 3
14.05.2010 13:38:43 Uhr
5/14/10 10:42 AM
day5_p1,47,48,49 n1_b.qxd:001THRD5_n1
Q&AS
< Bernard Travernier
talks about his
latest trip into
the past.
>
SEE PAGE
6 AND 15
Lee Changdong takes
poetic license
with a truelife tale.
5/15/10
8:41 PM
Page 1
daily
Cannes
the
Sunday
May 16, 2010
THR.com/cannes
5
Film finds a sugar daddy
‘Song’ tunes
up Hoffman, TV financing
Hopkins duet pays hybrid bills
By Scott Roxborough
A
nthony Hopkins and
Dustin Hoffman are
attached to topline “The
Song of Names,” the new
drama from “House of Sand
and Fog” director Vadim
Perelman. Nick Hirschkorn
of U.K.’s Feel Films is producing together with Jens Meurer
of Berlin-based Egoli Tossell
and Dave Valleau from Canada’s Foundation Features.
“Song” is based on the
award-winning novel of the
same name by Norman
Lebrecht. It is the story of
two Jewish boys — the Brit
Martin and Dovidl, a Polish
refugee and violin prodigy.
Dovidl vanishes on the eve of
his international debut. 40
years later, Martin gets his
first clue about what hapcontinued on page 49
By Scott Roxborough
and Stuart Kemp
C
annes may be the celebration of Le Cinema,
but increasingly, European filmmakers are
turning to the small
screen to get their movies made.
Oliver Assayas’ Out of Competition entry “Carlos,” which
had its first market screening
Saturday ahead of its festival
bow, is just the latest in a flood
of hybrid productions that span
the gap between film and TV.
Examples include Swedish
crime sensation “The Girl With
the Dragon Tattoo,” the critically
continued on page 48
BLOWN AWAY
Director Woody Allen and Naomi Watts brave the
Mediterranean winds Saturday night at the gala premiere
of his “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger” at the Palais.
Signature moment
Polanski petition splits Croisette crowd
WHAT’S INSIDE
RED CARPET PHOTO: VALERY HACHE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
>Reviews PAGE 10, 12, 14,
18, 40, 41, 46
>Screening Guides
PAGE 42, 43, 44
WORLD REPORT
KOREA:
Takes new path to
Japanese market.
PAGE 21
BALKANS:
Region's projects
crossing borders.
PAGE 27
By Stuart Kemp
T
o sign or not to sign is the
big question at this year's
Festival de Cannes, and
there's not a deal memo in sight.
But then a petition in support
of director Roman Polanski, who
is under house arrest in Switzerland in connection with a 33year-old sex scandal, is always
going to set tongues wagging.
The Croisette-pounders have
even more to buzz about following new allegations leveled Friday
by British actress Charlotte
Lewis, who claimed she was sexually abused by Polanski in 1982,
when she was 16.
Just hours
before Lewis
made the claim at
a news conference in Los Angeles, Michael Douglas — in town
Polanski
this weekend for
“Wall Street: Money Never
Sleeps” — said “Non” to the
Polanski petition. It would be
“unfair” for him to sign a petition for “somebody who did
break the law,” Douglas told
French radio.
But the call is out for Compecontinued on page 49
Berlin‘Love’hurts
‘Jet’aime’creator
By Rebecca Leffler and
Scott Roxborough
“Paris, Je t’aime” producer and “Cities of
Love” franchise creator
Emmanuel Benbihy is
once again defending his
right to “Love,” sending
out cease and desist letters Saturday to Marina
Grasic’s Visitor Pictures,
Sherazade Films, and the
Very Useful Co. for copycontinued on page 49
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5/15/10
7:37 PM
Page 1
news
THR.com/cannes
Qatar makes some noise
Goodecopslead
in‘BurningMan’
Emirate-backed Doha org boasts Scorsese, Nair connection
M
artin Scorsese, Tribeca
Enterprises and filmmaker Mira Nair are sheltering under the Doha Film
Institute umbrella organization
launched here Saturday with the
blessing and backing of Qatar’s
H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa.
The Middle East Emirate state
has set up the new look org to
bring all of Qatar’s myriad film
initiatives under one banner.
The ambitious plans for the
organization, under the watchful eye of DFI executive director
Amanda Palmer, include cultural partnerships with Martin
New Films
takes flyer
on ‘Flying’
A laughing matter
Helmer Woody Allen cracks up Josh Brolin, one of the leads of his out-of-competition
comedy “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger,” which premiered Saturday at the Palais.
By Jay A. Fernandez
New Films International
has acquired U.S. and international theatrical distribution rights to Derek Magyar’s
“Flying Lessons” and Connie
Stevens’ “Saving Grace B.
Jones.” New Films Cinema
will release both films in U.S.
theaters.
Maggie Grace, Christine
Lahti and Hal Holbrook star in
“Lessons,” the story of 25year-old woman who returns
to her small hometown and
tangles with old friends and
lovers, her mother and an
Alzheimer's Disease patient.
“Jones” stars Tatum O’Neal,
Penelope Ann Miller, Rylee
Fanslar and Michael Biehn in
the story of a grieving 10year-old in 1951 New York
Los Angeles 323.525.2000
lines in mind.
“Everything we do is contingent on the idea of exchange,”
Palmer said. “We really want to
build a skills economy (in
Qatar) and promote the sustainability and credibility. The
DFI will certainly play a role in
Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation, Mira Nair’s Maisha, and
New York’s Tribeca Enterprises.
And while it will also pony up
cash for international filmmakers for productions, the wealthy
state is not aiming to become
known for being yet another oil
rich nation with funding head-
By Stuart Kemp
Matthew Goode is playing rough with a bevvy of
beauties including Bojana
Novakovic,
Rachel Griffiths, Essie
Davis, Kerry
Fox, Kate
Beahan and
Gia Carides in
writer-direc- Goode
tor Jonathan
Teplitzky's "Burning Man."
Goode plays Tom, an
English chef with a chic
restaurant on Bondi Beach
trying to put his life and his
relationship with his son
back on track while surrounded by women.
Produced by U.K. procontinued on page 50
PHOTO: PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/GETTY IMAGES
By Stuart Kemp
No ‘Stranger’ to Cannes
Allen no longer gets the girl, but still brings laughs
By Elizabeth Guider
The trick with directing
these movies is to be “a good
hirer.”
How much do you have to do
as a director? “Hardly anything at all,” said the typically
self-deprecating Woody Allen
during his hour-long
encounter with the international press Saturday following the world premiere screening of his new movie in
Cannes. “Just keep your
mouth shut and collect the pay
check.”
This from the film director
that the French consider the
American auteur par excellence.
Unlike his “Vicki Cristina
Barcelona” two years ago,
which competed in the official
Competition, “You Will Meet a
Tall Dark Stranger” screened
out of contention but, like its
predecessor, drew an equally
standing-room-only crowd of
reporters to the Palais.
Allen was flanked by the
Fiennes inks
for‘Coronet’
By Scott Roxborough
Ralph Fiennes and Bond girl
Olga Kurylenko have signed on
to star in “Coronet,” a new
romantic drama
produced by
British brothers
Dominic and Lee
Santana through
their Santana
Brothers banner.
“Coronet” is
Fiennes
the directorial
debut of Temple Clark, the storyboard artist on Stephen
Frears’ out of competition entry
“Tamara Drewe” and hot market title “London Boulevard.”
Clark also will pen the script.
Fiennes will play Guy, an English graphic designer working in
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day 5
CentralPart Nut D5 051610.indd 1
5/4/10 2:31 PM
5/15/10
7:08 PM
Page 1
news
THR.com/cannes
EMG hails Caesar, ‘Machine’
Company ramps release slate, pushes vertigal integration
E
xclusive Media Group is
partnering with producers
Mark Canton and Gianni
Nunnari on a film about Julius
Caesar, written by William
Broyles Jr. and based on Conn
Iggulden’s “Emperor Series,”
with hopes of launching a projected trilogy.
And as it ramps up to release
six-to-eight films per year
stateside, Newmarket Films,
which EMG acquired in
November, has picked up U.S.
distribution rights to the 3D,
live-action/stop-motion movie
“The Flying Machine,” which
Exclusive Film Distribution is
‘Heart’beatsfor
EuropaCorp,HP
CREDIT
By Rebecca Leffler
French film studio
EuropaCorp has partnered
with HP to make an animated feature
film version
of Mathias
Malzieu’s
novel “The
Boy with the
CuckooClock Heart” Malzieu
for a fall 2011
release.
EuropaCorp snagged the
film adaptation rights in
January 2008 for the book,
which has been translated
into more than 15 languages. Malzieu will direct
the €20 million ($25 million) project alongside
Stephane Berla, with
EuropaCorp producer and
selling in territories outside
Asia.
The moves are emblematic of
EMG’s push to become a vertically integrated film development, production, distribution
EDITORIAL OFFICE:
Hotel Montaigne,
4 rue Montaigne
and marketing business, with
production labels Exclusive
Films, Hammer Films and Spitfire Pictures, U.S. distributor
Newmarket, sales arm Exclucontinued on page 51
TERRACE:
Hotel Palais Stephanie,
Boulevard de la Croisette
PHOTO: LOIC VENANCE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
By Gregg Kilday and
Jay A. Fernandez
Cannes Daily Edition
Elizabeth Guider
Editor
David Morgan
Deputy Editor
EDITORIAL
Gregg Kilday (Film Editor),
Chad Williams (Deputy Editor, Dailies),
Patrick Hipes (Copy Chief)
REPORTERS
Stuart Kemp (UK Bureau Chief),
Scott Roxborough (Germany Bureau Chief),
Jay Fernandez (Senior Film Reporter ),
Rebecca Leffler (France correspondent)
REVIEWS
Kirk Honeycutt (Chief Film Critic),
Ray Bennett (UK Critic),
Deborah Young, Peter Brunette,
Duane Byrge, Maggie Lee and
Natasha Senjanovic
(Film Critics)
‘Year’ of the auteur
Mike Leigh, in town with Competition entry “Another Year,” bantered with the press
Saturday, arguing that tech advances will give a leg up to low-budget filmmakers.
The bright side of life
Leigh confident in future of personal cinema
By Elizabeth Guider
structured and toned around
the changing seasons of the
year. It’s a film about growing
older and the ways in which
different people cope, or not.
“Life does become clearer
and more complicated,” Leigh
told journalists at the presser
Saturday morning after the
first screening of the movie.
The event did get off to an
awkward start though when
Leigh refused to answer the very
first question from the floor,
from the Sunday Times of London arts editor Richard Brooks.
The journalist began by complimenting Leigh on this current
opus and proceeded to ask a
fairly routine warm-up question
Should we be worried that
personal films about ordinary
life and the problems of ordinary people are an endangered
cinematic species?
Not according to British
director Mike Leigh, who
believes that new technology
will, in the near future, usher in
countless movies that look at
the real world, rather than Hollywood’s plasticine fantasies,
and for very little cost.
His own Competition entry,
“Another Year,” is a consummate example of the genre, a
pic that pivots around a happily
married couple and their problem-prone friends and is
4
ART
Jackie Rubi (Senior Designer)
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Mira Advani Honeycutt (contributor)
ADVERTISING
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(International Sales Director),
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Advertising Sales Executive)
OPERATIONS + IT
Kelly Jones, Production Director,
Gregg Edwards (Senior Production Manager),
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RICHARD D. BECKMAN
Chief Executive Officer
HOWARD APPELBAUM
Chief Operating Officer
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day 5
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4/27/10 3:17 PM
5/15/10
3:46 PM
Page 1
q&a
THR.com/cannes
BERTRAND TAVERNIER
P
rolific French director Bertrand Tavernier has made more than 20 features in more than 35 years in the business. The legendary filmmaker
is a master of social commentary and drama and, above all, a time traveler who has taken audiences from 18th-century France to World War I to
the post-World War I period to World War II and just last year to the American Deep South during the Civil War era. Tavernier’s latest film “The
Princess of Montpensier,” based on a short story by Madame de La Fayette,
is a romantic tale of forbidden love that follows the tragic fate of a princess
in 16th-century France. Tavernier joined THR’s France correspondent
Rebecca Leffler to talk about princesses in love, red-carpet trepidation and
why he isn’t about to stop making movies anytime soon.
Why did you decide to tell this
particular story?
Bertrand Tavernier: It was actually my producer who proposed
the idea to me. I was very, very
touched because I saw a magnificent love story. I really
wanted to film a love story. It’s
the portrait of a young woman
who is complex, strong, touching and who is torn between
her duty and her passion. For
me, this was a real heroine.
So she’s a modern woman even
if the story takes place in the
16th century?
Tavernier: Yes, it’s complicated.
She wants to be loyal to her
husband, but she’s in love with
another man. Not to mention,
there are other suitors. In that
day, they taught men to fight,
and they taught women to sew.
But the princess wants to learn
how to write, which was rare at
the time. She’s a woman who
fights, who loves and all of that
touched me a lot.
You’ve made more personal films
and more historical films. Are
there autobiographical or personal elements in this historical epic?
Tavernier: I hope so. I think that
one can’t make movies if one
doesn’t put a lot of oneself into
it. It may be hidden or less
obvious, but I definitely identified with many of the characters in this film. Whether it was
Lambert Wilson’s character or
Melanie Thierry’s character, I
felt very close to them. I understood all of their desires and
their feelings.
controversial period?
Tavernier: Taboos still exist. A
deputy asked to prevent the
film from being screened
before he’d even seen it. We
need to give a special prize to
people like him, people who
talk without having seen a film.
It’s imbecility. It’s arrogance.
It’s sordidness. ... It proves that
politicians should be dealing
with unemployment or salary
problems, not talking about
films they haven’t seen. That’s
something that’s very French.
How do you feel being back in
Cannes after all this time? Is
there anything you’re not looking
You first came to Cannes to present a film in 1980 with “Une
Semaine de Vacances.” How has
your work changed since then?
Tavernier: Each time I’ve been
to Cannes with a film,
they’ve been very intimate projects. This is
the first time I’m coming with a historical
movie. I haven’t been
back in 22 years,
other than brief
appearances for an
homage to Philippe
Lioret and for Martin
Scorsese’s World Cinema Foundation. I have
the impression that the
films I made in the ’90s had
more of a sense of urgency —
they were less meditative
because those were the times
we were living in. Change is
perpetual. All of the films I’ve
made, even over the last 15
years, feel like first films. Every
time, I try something new. I
don’t want to follow the same
routine. I’ve made historical
films, more intimate films
and also several documentaries.
vital stats
Film: “The Princess of
Montpensier,” In Competition
Born: April 25, 1941
Nationality: French
Selected filmography:
“In the Electric Mist” (2009),
“Safe Conduct” (2002),
“Capitaine Conan” (1996), “Daddy
Nostalgia” (1990), “A Sunday in
the Country” (1984)
Notable awards: Best director
at Festival de Cannes for “A
Sunday in the Country”; Best
director Cesars for “Capitaine
Conan” and “Let Joy Reign
Supreme” (1975)
forward to?
Tavernier: I hate having to put on
a bowtie and climb the red carpet steps. I’m all of a sudden
very shy. Of course, the shyness
disappears if the audience likes
the film. I’m always a bit scared
going into it. There’s always a
tension during the screening.
I’m the same as I was when I
presented my first movie. I
haven’t changed. Nothing
is ever certain. I’m still just
as enthusiastic and still feel
just as happy to see people
who like the movie.
You filmed “In the Electric Mist”
in the U.S. Was it different working there than in France?
Tavernier: Yes, the film crews
are much more enormous and
more hierarchical. I was
incredibly impressed by the
work of the American actors in
the film. I even brought the
same cameraman from
that film to France to
work on “The
Princess of Montpensier.”
Your 1992 documentary “The War Without
a Name” focused on
the Franco-Algerian
conflict. What do you
think of the media storm
surrounding your colleague Rachid
Bouchareb’s
Competition
For more Q&A
entry that also
with Bertand
deals with this
Tavernier, go to THR.com/cannes
6
You’re very prolific.
What’s next on
your busy agenda
after Cannes?
Tavernier: I need to
rest a little bit. I just
released two books
— one is 900 pages.
I want to take 1-2
months to go and
swim on vacation
with my wife. ∂
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS MORRIS
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5/14/10 10:43 AM
– part III May 16
Daniel Burlac
Isabelle Stead
Romania
United Kingdom
Iceland
selected by Romanian Film Promotion
selected by British Council
selected by Icelandic Film Centre
Elefant Films
Calea Mosilor 123, Bucharest
cell +40 74 6242 635, cell Cannes +33 6 2765 8393
[email protected]
Human Film
ADP House, 35 Hanover Square, Leeds, LS3 1BQ
cell +44 78 3537 8454, [email protected]
www.humanfilm.co.uk
www.iraqsmissing.org
Mystery Ísland
Krókhálsi 6, 110 Reykjavík
cell +354 696 7642
[email protected]
www.mystery.is
A graduate in Film Direction
from FEMIS in Paris, Daniel
Burlac participated in the
EAVE and ACE training
programmes in 2006 and
2007, respectively. He served
as a production assistant on Alexandre Arcady‘s
Entre Chiens et Loups (2000), Costa Gavras‘
Amen, and Laurent Boutonnat‘s Jacquou
le Croquant (2005) as well as promotion
manager for Cristian Mungiu‘s Occident,
which screened in the Directors‘ Fortnight
in 2000, and Cristi Puiu‘s The Death Of Mr
Lazarescu which won Un Certain Regard‘s
Grand Prix in 2005. Since then, Daniel
was the production manager on Corneliu
Porumboiu‘s Camera d‘Or-winning 12:08 East
of Bucharest and Alexandre Iordachescu‘s
The Way Beyond and associate producer
of Mungiu‘s 2007 Golden Palm winner
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
The past two years have seen him working as
delegate producer for such films as Horatiu
Malaele‘s The Silent Wedding, Napoleon
Helmis‘ Wedding in Bessarabia and Bogdan
Apetrei‘s feature debut Outskirt.
Following five years of
working in LA in both
independent films and
the studio system, Isabelle
returned to the UK to
complete a Masters degree
in Film Production and started work on several
international co-productions that would
become the first feature films from the UK/
Dutch production company Human Film she
co-founded. They include Ahlaam, which
represented Iraq for both Oscar and Golden
Globe consideration in 2007, Iraq: War, Love,
God & Madness and Son of Babylon,
which recently screened in Sundance
and at the 60th Berlinale picking up the
Amnesty Film Award and Peace Film Prize.
As a cornerstone of the marketing of Son
of Babylon, Isabelle established the Iraq‘s
Missing Campaign to encourage governments
and the world‘s media to support the
unearthing and identification of the victims of
Saddam’s mass graves.
Isabelle is now developing her fifth feature film
The Train Station, to commence shooting
in the Middle East in 2011, along with her first
feature film to be shot exclusively in Yorkshire.
The son of renowned
editor Valdis Óskarsdóttir,
Davíð Óskar Ólafsson had
never planned on working
in the film industry. Initially,
he had wanted to become
an architect, but after visiting his mother at
film sets around the world, he was bitten by
the film bug and there was no turning back.
After graduating from high school in Denmark,
Davíð worked on two feature films before
studying Film Production at the European
Film College (EFC) in Ebeltoft. He was hired on
a one-year contract by the Icelandic company
Zik Zak Filmworks to look after their short
film department, producing two shorts as
well as working on a feature film during this
period.
After his contract expired, Davíð decided
to start his own company Mystery Ísland
with fellow EFC graduate Árni Filippusson
and Hreinn Beck. At the same time, he has
continued to do freelance work for both
Icelandic and foreign projects such as Clint
Eastwood‘s Flags of our Fathers, Eli Roth‘s
Hostel 2, and Baltasar Kormákur‘s Jar City.
Selected Films
Selected Films
Selected Films
Outskirt (Periferic), 2010
by Bogdan Apetrei (delegate produced)
Wedding in Bessarabia (Nunta in Basarabia), 2009
by Napoleon Helmis (delegate produced)
Europolis, 2009
by Corneliu Gheorghita
The Silent Wedding (Nunta Muta), 2008
by Horatiu Malaele (delegate produced)
The Way Beyond (L‘Enfance d‘Icare), 2008
by Alexandre Iordachescu (prod. management)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
(4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile), 2007
by Cristian Mungiu (associate produced)
12:08 East of Bucharest, 2006
by Corneliu Porumboiu (prod. management)
The Train Station
by Mohamed Al-Daradji (in development)
House for Sale, 2010
by Atia Al-Daradji (in post-production)
Iraq‘s Missing, 2010
by Mohamed Al-Daradji (in post-production)
Son of Babylon, 2010
by Mohamed Al-Daradji
Iraq: War, Love, God & Madness, 2010
by Mohamed Al-Daradji
with the support of the EU MEDIA Programme EFP is supported by
European Film Promotion
EFP Producers D5 051610.indd 1
Davíđ Óskar Ólafsson
Friedensallee 14–16
financial partner
22765 Hamburg, Germany
King‘s Road (Kongavegur), 2010
by Valdís Óskarsdóttir
Safe Journey (Goða ferð), 2009
by Davíð Óskar Ólafsson (short)
Country Wedding (Sveitabrúðkaup), 2008
by Valdís Óskarsdóttir
Rattlesnakes (Skröltormar), 2007
by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson (short)
project partners
[email protected]
w w w. e f p - o n l i n e . c o m
5/7/10 12:57 PM
Kamila Polit
Yorgos Tsourgiannis
Anne Walser
Poland
Greece
Switzerland
selected by Polish Film Institute
selected by Greek Film Centre
selected by Swiss Films
Prasa & Film Sp. z o.o.
21 Chelmska Street, bdg. 4, room 20,
00-724 Warsaw, cell +48 60 121 5925
[email protected]
www.prasaifilm.pl
Boo Productions SA
26, Ierou Lohou St, 151 26 Marousi, Athens
cell +30 69 3241 5705
[email protected]
www.booproductions.gr
C-Films AG
Hallenstrasse 10, Postfach, 8032 Zurich
phone +44 41 253 6555
[email protected], [email protected]
www.c-films.ch
A graduate in Sociology and
now studying for an MBA,
Kamila Polit was connected
with the arts world from
the very beginning of
her professional career.
Between 1999 and 2004, she was responsible
for PR at the ROMA Musical Theatre in Warsaw
for several of the country‘s biggest musical
productions such as ‘Miss Saigon‘, ‘Grease‘
and ‘Cats‘.
Kamila subsequently worked with one of
Poland‘s leading theatre directors Mariusz
Treliński and co-managed co-productions of
operas between Warsaw‘s Grand Theatre and
Washington National Opera (‘La Boheme‘) and
Los Angeles Opera (‘Don Giovanni‘). In 2007, she
joined forces with Jan Dworak to reactivate the
production company Prasa & Film of which she
is a shareholder and executive director.
Kamila‘s production of Jacek Borcuch‘s drama
All That I Love premiered at Pusan last
year and was then screened in Sundance‘s
World Cinema Dramatic Competition and at
Rotterdam‘s Spectrum section.
After studying in the UK
and attending the MEDIA
Programme‘s EMAM Masters
in Audiovisual Management
in Rome, Yorgos Tsourgiannis
has been producing films
and numerous TV commercials in various
capacities, both independently and with other
production companies. In May 2008, he joined
Athens-based Boo Productions as a producer
and Head of Film Production. Yorgos produced
Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Dogtooth which had its
world premiere in Cannes last year and won the
Grand Prix of the Un Certain Regard sidebar as
well as the Prix de la Jeunesse before beginning a
successful festival career, including Toronto, Pusan
and, most recently, in the 2010 season of New
Directors New Films at New York‘s MoMA. His
production of Yannis Veslemes‘ 2008 short Osiki
screened at international festivals like Puchon
and Stockholm and won the Best New Talent
and Best Art Direction awards at the International
Film Festival in Drama/Greece. Yorgos is currently
preparing Babis Makridis‘ debut feature L and
developing Michalis Konstantatos‘ Luton as well
as Christos Voupouras‘ Seven Kinds Of Rage to
begin shooting in January 2011.
French-born Anne Walser
joined C-Fims in 1999 as
a production manager
and line producer. In this
function she was responsible
for, among other things, the
Swiss part of the TV event “The Manns – Novel
of a Century“ or the controversial feature film
Grounding – The Last Days of Swissair.
Since 2005, she has worked as a producer
looking after the financing and realisation
of projects as well as with general story
development and script writing. She is mainly
concentrating on international co-productions
like the feelgood comedy Marcello Marcello,
which celebrated its world premiere at the
Locarno Film Festival in 2008, or European TV
productions such as “Der letzte Weynfeldt“,
directed by Alain Gsponer and based on the
bestselling novel by Martin Suter.
She is currently developing the Swiss/Italian/
Romanian co-production Il Diavolo sulle
Colline, based on the novel by the famous
Italian writer Cesare Pavese. Anne has been a
member of the management board at C-Films
AG since 2006 and became a partner in 2007.
Selected Films
Selected Films
Selected Films
Papusza, 2010
by Krzysztof and Joanna Krauze
(in pre-production)
Solstice
by Michał Rogalski (in development/financing)
All That I Love (Wszystko co Kocham), 2009
by Jacek Borcuch
Unfinished Congress
(Kongres Niedokończony), 2009
by Agnieszka Arnold (documentary)
What Am I Doing Here? (Co ja tu robię?), 2009
by Janusz Andreman (documentary)
Seven Kinds of Rage
by Christos Voupouras (in development)
Luton
by Michalis Konstantatos (in development)
L, 2010
by Babis Makridis (in pre-production)
Dogtooth (Kynodontas), 2009
by Yorgos Lanthimos
Osiki, 2008
by Yannis Veslemes (short)
Downlove, 2008
by Euripidis Laskaridis
(3D, short, executive produced)
Distance (Mesafe), 2006
by Sophia Exarchou (short)
Il Diavolo sulle Colline, 2011
by Fulvio Bernasconi (in development)
A Fortune Teller Told Me, 2011
by Mario Zanot
(co-producing, in development)
Klang der Stille, 2011
by Friederike Jehn
(co-producing, in development)
Der letzte Weynfeldt, 2010
by Alain Gsponer (TV)
Amok – 180°, 2009
by Cihan Inan
Marcello Marcello, 2008
by Denis Rabaglia
part IV May 17
Kamen Kalev, Bulgaria
Katie Holly, Ireland
EFP Producers D5 051610.indd 2
Tamás Liszka, Hungary
Silvia Panáková, Slovak Republic
Simone Bachini, Italy
Lizette Jonjic, Sweden
5/7/10 12:57 PM
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THR.com/cannes
> OUT OF COMPETITION
BOTTOM LINE A serviceable
Woody Allen comedy that
trifles with its characters rather
than engaging with them.
PRODUCTION: Mediapro, Versatil
Cinema & Gravier Productions present in
association with Antena 3 Films &
Antena 3 TV a Dippermouth production.
CAST: Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin,
Anthony Hopkins, Gemma Jones, Frieda
Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts.
DIRECTOR-SCREENWRITER: Woody
Allen. PRODUCERS: Letty Aronson,
Jaume Roures, Stephen Tenenbaum.
SALES: Imagina International Sales.
No rating, 98 minutes.
‘You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger’
By Kirk Honeycutt
T
he grass is always
greener in “You Will
Meet a Tall Dark
Stranger,” Woody
Allen’s roundelay of
perplexed characters chasing
illusions rather than reality. As a
film from Allen’s ongoing
British/European period, where
he spins out comic trifles or
morality plays that drift seemingly free of national context,
the comedy is more amusing
than most, though it lacks the
vibrant spirit of “Vicky Cristina
Barcelona.” This is Woody in a
bemused mood, devilishly complicating his characters’ lives
with follies and foibles of their
own making until he ties each
protagonist into a comic pretzel.
Then he takes a tea break.
Its Cannes launch can only
help “Stranger” in those European territories where his films
tend to find receptive audiences. Back home, the film will
do modest business along the
lines of most of his comedies.
The film’s multiple Londonbased stories all concern characters seeking shortcuts to hapLos Angeles 323.525.2000
While awaiting word from a
publisher on his latest manuscript, Roy spends his days gazing longingly at a new and
beautiful neighbor in the next
building. When he contrives to
meet her, Dia (“Slumdog Millionaire’s” Freida Pinto) is so
charming he falls madly in love.
But she’s already engaged.
With her husband unwilling
to commit to raising a family,
Sally takes a job in an art gallery,
where she develops a crush on
her boss, Greg (Antonio Banderas). But she can’t tell if Greg,
who has his own matrimonial
miseries, shares her feelings.
Spouses feel so disposable in
this movie. But be careful what
you wish for, Allen seems to say.
For instance, Dia does return
Roy’s ardor, but what does he
have to offer her when his marriage crumbles and the publisher rejects his novel?
But wait, a miracle appears to
Roy: A friend dies in a car crash
and Roy may just have the only
copy of the friend’s dynamite
new novel that no one else has
seen! This is so much easier
than having to sit down and
write another damn book.
piness. Each one thinks that if
only X will happen, then they
can live happily ever after. But
even if that were true, no one
has any patience: Each is determined to grab X right away.
Naturally, a fake fortune-teller
— isn’t that a redundancy? —
gets involved.
Anthony Hopkins’ Alfie
awakens one morning to discover that he’s old and married
to a wife, Helena (Gemma
Jones), of the same age. So he
bolts married life for a regimen
of strenuous workouts and
bachelor quarters. When this
doesn’t swiftly restore his
youth, he decides to marry a call
girl, Charmaine (Lucy Punch),
in hopes she will give him a son.
The couple’s daughter, Sally
(Naomi Watts), sends her mother
to a charlatan fortune-teller
(Pauline Collins) just to keep her
mom from thoughts of suicide.
The fortune-teller promises her
that she’ll meet “a stranger.” And
indeed she does in a recent widower (Roger Ashton-Griffiths).
Meanwhile, Sally’s brooding
novelist husband, Roy (Josh
Brolin), appears washed-out
after a “promising” first novel.
Not too surprisingly, though,
hookers don’t necessarily make
ideal second wives, nor does the
woman next door. Indeed the
film’s best visual image is seeing Roy, newly moved into Dia’s
flat, gazing back across the
building separation at his exwife across the way. The illusions have switched places!
There’s not much more to the
movie than this, however. Its
writer-director mines a few
good laughs from these situations along with more awkward
moments where he forces
issues or characters behave
inconsistently.
Since he has moved more or
less permanently behind the
camera and no longer acts in his
films, Allen plays God with his
characters much more. They
feel more like puppets rather
than human beings with natural
instincts and lucid senses.
True, the stories here are
about people acting irrationally.
But you always understood the
emotions behind bad behavior in
“Annie Hall,” “Manhattan” and
“Hannah and Her Sisters.” Here
decisions get made off-camera
or people act with an abruptness,
if not a frivolity, that betrays no
thought process at all.Everyone
is single-minded and obsessive to
the point a viewer can all but predict lines and attitudes before a
scene begins.
The movie ends just when
complications start to set in,
which makes you wonder how
invested Allen really is in the
little melodramas within this
comedy. ∂
10
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The Hollywood Reporter | Sunday, May 16, 2010
| review
> COMPETITION
BOTTOM LINE Mike Leigh studies
loneliness at a well-crafted but
funereal pace.
PRODUCTION: Thin Man Films, Film4,
Untitled 09 Ltd. CAST: Jim Broadbent,
Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Oliver
Maltman, Imelda Staunton.
DIRECTOR: Mike Leigh. Screenwriter:
Mike Leigh. PRODUCER: Georgina
Lowe. SALES: Focus Features No
rating, 130 minutes.
‘Another Year’
By Ray Bennett
M
ike Leigh’s latest sliceof-British-life picture is
titled “Another Year,” and
many viewers will be grateful it’s
just the one. Acutely observed
but gloomy and lacking narrative, it tells of 12 months in the
life of a decent but dull suburban
couple and their friends, most of
whom you would go out of your
way to avoid at a party.
The veteran British director
draws typically skillful performances from his cast of
mostly regulars, and there are
fine contributions from cinematographer Dick Pope and
composer Gary Yershon. It’s a
sedate film without drama that
festival juries could well fall in
love with, but moviegoers
weather are among the films
pleasures, along with Yershon’s
elegant score for string quintet,
which complements Leigh’s use
of lingering close-ups.
Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen
play happily married Tom and
Gerri, who lead industrious lives
at work and at home. He’s an
engineering geologist, and she’s a
medical counselor, and their 30year-old son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), is a community lawyer.
They tend their piece of vegetable garden at the local allotments, read and worry about the
environment, and cook dinners
for friends and family.
These include Mary, a secretary at Gerri’s clinic, who
drinks too much, talks too
much and usually overstays her
welcome. Lesley Manville
brings this sad and rather desperate character to life in a performance that will garner considerable acclaim. She pitches
might decide that their own
brand of misery is quite sufficient, thanks.
International boxoffice will
rely on Leigh’s admirers, and it
will be a tough go in his homeland, with austerity measures
under the new government
about to make people gloomy
enough already.
There’s no doubting Leigh’s
sympathy for the lonely and
unhappy characters depicted in
the film, but while he and his talented cast do their best to suggest they are worthy of attention,
it’s not easy to see especially why.
Divided into the four seasons, the
year depicted includes a birth, a
funeral and expectations of a
wedding, but the title itself
makes no promise of excitement.
Pope’s images of the changing
Mary’s voice to match her
degree of giddiness, anxiety and
need, and shows a mastery of
facial expression that conveys
her gradual awareness that she
has allowed life to pass her by.
Another friend, Ken (Peter
Wight), overweight, drunken and
divorced, is in a similar plight,
and while Gerri and Tom show
concern and tolerance, they have
little to offer either of them in the
way of concrete help. Other
Leigh veterans including Imelda
Staunton and Phil Davis show up
in small roles and, like the wonderful stage actor David Bradley
as Tom’s bereaved brother, they
are gifted in using silence and
nuanced tones to deliver Leigh’s
cryptic lines.
Broadbent and Sheen bring a
sly touch of smugness to the
apparently contented but quite
boring central couple, and perhaps Leigh intends them to be
not quite as nice as they
appear. Late in the film, an
angry and disaffected nephew
named Carl makes a brief but
striking appearance. Played
with focused intensity by Martin Savage, he’s only on screen
for a couple of scenes but when
he departs in a temper, it’s
tempting to ask the director,
would he mind terribly if we
went with him? ∂
12
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| reviews
‘LittleBaby
JesusofFlandr’
> DIRECTORS' FORTNIGHT
BOTTOM LINE Down Syndrome
actors elevate painstakingly
auteur debut.
PRODUCTION: Minds Meet.Cast:Paul
Mertens, Jelle Palmaerts, Peter
Janssens, Marc Wagemans, Gitte Wens,
Jan Goris, Georgina Del Carmen
Teunissen, Luc Loots. DIRECTOR: Gust
Van den Berghe. SCREENWRITER: Gust
Van den Berghe. PRODUCER: Tomas
Leyers. SALES: Minds Meet. No rating,
76 minutes.
By Natasha Senjanovic
T
here's already a buzz stirring in the Directors’ Fortnight for the highly auteur
“Little Baby Jesus of Flandr,” by
24-year-old newcomer Gust
Van den Berghe. Originally
begun as a student film, the
Flemish director’s low-budget
roots are apparent from the
crooked, handwritten opening
credits themselves.
“Little Baby Jesus” seems a
tribute to the kind of work on
which the Cannes sidebar made
its name and will definitely
divide viewers. A cast made up
almost entirely of actors with
Down Syndrome, a Latina devil,
a singing transvestite and a
black midget musician are just
some of the elements critics
and cineastes can lap up in the
gifts they have: scraps of food,
money and “for when the kid
grows up,” some cigarettes.
As Suskewiet grows increasingly obsessed with religion, his
friends Schrobberbeeck (Peter
Janssens) and Pitje Vogel (Paul
Mertens) take him for mad.
However, they too split ways
and shortly thereafter Pitje
Vogel, tired of being destitute,
sells his soul to the devil
(Georgina Del Carmen Teunissen) in exchange for wealth.
“Little Baby Jesus” opens
with a voice-over proclaiming
the immensity of faith, but
film. Commercial audiences are
non-existent.
Filmed in black and white and
based on a traditional Flemish
work by Felix Timmermans, the
elegiac film is divided into three
chapters: First, Second and
Third Christmas. Just before the
first of these holidays, three
drunken beggars go caroling to
earn some money and in the
woods come across what one,
Suskewiet (Jelle Palmaerts), is
convinced is the birth of the
baby Jesus. In the touching
scene, the beggars leave the
poor but happy family the only
offers no real new insight into
our eternal quest for the divine
or the Three Wise Men.
With his laudable casting
choice, Van den Berghe gives
these Down's actors something
other to play than token handicapped characters, and his film a
more original and tender tone
than the overly constructed,
underlying material might allow.
The great music — an eclectic
mix of operatic electronica, religious hymns and circus-esque
accordion tunes à la Tom Waits
— lends some oomph to many of
the bleak scenes. ∂
14
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Page 1
q&a
THR.com/cannes
“P
oetry,” Lee Chang-dong’s fifth feature film,boldly chooses an
ambivalent theme to depict an alluring allegory of pain and beauty.
The work,which will compete in Cannes’official selection,continues an exploration of forgiveness that the director began in“Secret Sunshine,” the story of a young woman whose son is murdered by his voice
teacher.The heroine in“Poetry”is a sixty-something woman named Mija
(played by Yun Jeong-hee) who rears a grandson and nurses an elderly neighbor to support herself.One day,she signs up for an amateur poetry class and,
as she tries to write her first poem,learns her grandson was involved in the
gang rape of a local schoolgirl.“There’s no particulartheme in this film,” Lee
says.But the word“poetry”emerging from the film’s opening image of a
dead body floating on tranquil river brings to mind the loss of innocence seen
in such earlier Lee works as“Peppermint Candy”and“Green Fish.” Lee spoke
with The Hollywood Reporter’s Korea correspondent Park Soo-mee about
the meaning of poetry in film.
What did Pierre Rissient say about
“Poetry” when he saw the film?
Lee Chang-dong: He seems to
have liked it, but he always does
(laughs). I don’t put much
meaning into comments you
hear from the festival team.
Often they’re really just
encouraging remarks. Personally, I have more mixed emotions about competing in the
official selection. It feels like
taking an exam, and somehow
it’s so natural to people that
Cannes selects my work. It’s
almost surprising to them if I
don’t get selected (laughs).
The film’s character of Mija often
seems somewhat indistinct. For
example, when she decides to
take (elderly neighbor) Kang’s
offer and have sex in the shower
room, you wonder whether she’s
doing it for money or she felt sympathetic to this crippled old man.
Lee: Mija’s character is more
obscure than someone like Sinae
from “Secret Sunshine.” Mija is
more passive and unstable. It’s
hard to define her character in
concrete terms. But before the
incident between her and Kang,
we see her wandering around
the river where a young girl had
died. We know the girl is a victim of gang rape by Mija’s
grandson and his friends. Then,
almost immediately after, Mija
makes an important decision to
fulfill the wish of an old neighbor who wants to be a man for
vital stats
ground. Then suddenly, it
reminded me of that horrible
incident, and the word “poetry”
and the image of a 60-year old
woman came up in my mind.
LEE CHONG DONG
In the film, one of the students in
a class shares her experience of
pain and says there’s something
beautiful about pain. Do you
agree with her?
Lee: I don’t know if pain is beautiful, but I do wonder what
beauty would mean without
pain. One of my starting questions in the film was why we
read poetry. I thought about that
a lot, and I think we’re seeking
for beauty, because the reality
isn’t beautiful. That correlation
once before he dies. The audiences are left to make their own
decisions about Mija’s intention. Sympathy might have
driven her, but she could’ve
done it to ask for money later.
That is Mija’s secret, and
also the film’s secret.
Festival entry: "Poetry" (In
Competition)
Nationality: South Korean
Born: April 1, 1954
Selected filmography: “Secret
Sunshine” (2007), "Oasis”
(2002), “Peppermint Candy”
(2000), “Green Fish” (1997)
Notable awards: Asian Film
Awards best director prize for
“Secret Sunshine”; Independent
Spirit Award best foreign film for
“Oasis”; Karlovy Vary special jury
prize for “Peppermint Candy”
intrigued me. My other question
was, why don’t we read poetry
anymore when the reality hasn’t
gotten any better? I wanted to
question whether we really
don’t need poetry or certain
kinds of films in our lives anymore.
The last five-minutes of the film
were poetry in itself. (The film
overlaps the voiceovers of the
dead girl and Mija as the camera
moves through the landscape of
the town where the girl grew up.)
How do you want audiences to
take the film’s ending?
Lee: They raise the notion of
beauty and how one should feel
when she hears a poem. When a
film visually illustrates beauty, it
often raises the perspective of
beauty. I think the film’s ending
attempts to evoke the audience
(to see) something beyond the
beauty they see on screen, like
the girl’s death. In the end, the
audiences’ perception of the
landscape is connected to
their experiences off the
screen, and that perception will likely be a reflection of their mind.
Why poetry? When you look
at your past films, is there is
a recurring theme?
Lee: Normally when I make a
film, I try to give people
something to think about.
In this case, it was poetry,
but it could well be about a
film or something invisible
that we put meaning into.
A few years ago, I learned
about the gang rape of a local
schoolgirl by teenage boys in a
small town. The incident struck
me, and stayed in my head for a
while without really knowing
why. Perhaps it was because the
story was related to so many
issues like the problems of
youth, the future of society and
morals in our everyday lives. So I
thought about different ways to
make a film about the incident.
.... Then, one night in a hotel
room while I was traveling in
Japan, I was flipping through
channels, and saw a program
which was probably for sleepless
travelers. It showed beautiful
scenes of nature — a peaceful
river, birds flying, fishermen
on the sea — with soft new
age music in the back-
What will be your next
film?
Lee: I have some ideas,
but I don’t know yet. At
this point I’m not even
sure if I should continue
making films, especially
if this film leaves too
much damage for the
investors. There’s no
promise that my next film
will do any better. ∂
15
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ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS MORRIS
day5_p15_qa lee_b.qxd:015THRD5_qa2
Festival de
C
annes - Ma
Booth: Pala
rché du Fi
is des Festiv
lm
als- Palais L
Phone num
evel 01 – 2
ber: +33 (0
6.02
)4 92 99 81
42.
t
ss

Date:
2010.05.16 20:00~23:00
Venue:
Carlton Beach
Carlton Cannes
58 Bd. La Croisette, Cannes, France
Sponser by:
www.gio.gov.tw / www.taiwancinema.com
Presenced by:
Taipei Film Commission
www.taipeifilmcommission.org
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Taiwan’s Five-Year Flagship Plan for the Film Industry
As part of an effort to develop the motion-picture industry, the government of the Republic of China has listed it among its six flagship plans for the
cultural and creative industries. In the five-year period from 2010 to 2014, NT$6.44 billion (€140 million) will be invested in the film flagship plan.
Policies to expand the foreign market for Taiwanese films
To encourage domestically produced films to integrate with and expand into global markets, the government is providing the following assistance:
1. Funding for participation in international film exhibitions:
The government offers cash prizes to makers of domestically produced films that win awards at international film festivals, with varying prize
amounts depending on the award won. In addition, funding is available to film exhibition participants to offset the cost of airline tickets, food and
accommodation, film copying, subtitling, translation and publicity that likewise is calculated based on the stature of the film festival.
2. Support for participation in international film markets:
For businesses that promote local films by taking part in international film markets, the government will offer funding to offset the cost of
airline tickets, booth fees, test screenings and exhibition passes.
3. Assistance for the international marketing of domestically produced films:
For film distribution or film production companies that promote domestic films abroad, the government will offer subsidies to offset rental fees
for screening venues, the production of marketing and publicity materials, the production of advertisements, the purchase of advertising space
and time slots, as well as translation.
Funding for motion-picture production in Taiwan by foreign firms
The central government is seeking to attract domestic and foreign production companies to film in Taiwan, to
foster an environment conducive to the shooting of films and to promote the development of the local
audiovisual industry. It has cooperated with various city and county governments on setting up a number of
mechanisms to achieve these goals. Funding is also being made available to foreign production firms filming
in Taiwan to cover relevant operational expenses such as local actors’ fees, accommodations and transportation. This year, available funding has been increased for a variety of expense categories. The amount of local
cast and crew members’ fees paid by foreign film companies that is reimbursable is to increase from 15
percent to 30 percent of the total, that for production expenses incurred in Taiwan from 15 percent to 25
percent, and that for accommodation, transportation and insurance fees from 5 percent to 15 percent.
www.gio.gov.tw / www.taiwancinema.com
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THR | Sunday, May 16, 2010
| news
‘Frankie&Alice’
By Duane Byrge
I
t’s not often that Spike TV
and the Lifetime Channel
might be interested in the
same production. Well, if
you’ve got Halle Berry playing
a stripper with multiple personalities, the venue possibilities are multitudinal.
Cable rental, and DVD seem
certain locks, but theatrically,
where is New Line when you
need them for the pickup?
With Berry cast in the role of
a sex-crazed stripper, “Frankie
& Alice” should entice male
viewers but aesthetic-minded
menfolk will grouse about
Berry’s cautious stripper costumes — it’s set in the’70s —
and its surprising lack of sizzle.
Overall, “Frankie & Alice” is a
well-wrought psychological
drama that delves into the dark
side of one woman’s psyche.
Berry is spellbinding as
Frankie, a young L.A. exotic
dancer. If stripping for a living
weren’t chaotic enough,
Frankie is plagued by gigantic
personality swings: She
switches from hard-drinking,
promiscuous lady of the night
to a teetotaling, racist Southern white belle, and, to boot, a
genius-level kid. Not surprisingly, this lands her in a lot of
trouble, personally and legally.
Crammed into a public
psych ward after an “episode,”
Frankie is left in the care of an
emotionally drained psychiatrist (Stellan Skarsgard). The
good doctor is a former LSD
“researcher” who is still trying to plug into another reality. Down to basic prognosis,
however, he’s essentially a
mope who medicates with
tuna sandwiches, jazz and
liquor. Frankie gets his professional and personal juices
flowing again.
In her terms, Frankie thinks
she’s crazy, in the doc’s lingo,
she’s a wonderful specimen —
someone who reaches other
realities through her own
chemical dysfunction. In a
sense, they are a perfect doctor-patient match. And, each
could cure the other.
Although six scribes credited with the screenplay usually
predicts erratic story and
CANNES SPOKEN
FLUENTLY HERE.
/cannes
Your festival hot spot.
Berry
mood swings, “Frankie” does
not suffer from multiple
writer disorder. Both clinically
and dramatically, it’s an
engaging titillation despite a
somewhat flat last half-hour.
Throughout, its exhibitionist proclivities are evened out
under director Geoffrey Sax’s
astute guidance and the intelligent, nuanced performances
of Berry and Skarsgard.
In addition, the supporting
performances are rock-solid,
particularly Phylicia Rashad’s
steadfast portrayal of
Frankie’s supportive but
enabling mother.
Scoped in a hard-noir
style, with mean-streets
Canada standing in for Los
Angeles, “Frankie & Alice“ is
a technically well-balanced
entertainment. ∂
18
> MARKET
BOTTOM LINE Halle Berry struts
her performance stuff as a
multiple-personality stripper.
PRODUCTION: Access Motion Pictures
CAST: Halle Berry, Stellan Skarsgard,
Matt Frewer, Phylicia Rashad, Chandra
Wilson, Melani Papalia, Emily Tennant.
Director: Geoffrey Sax.
SCREENWRITERS: Cheryl Edwards,
Marko King, Mary King, Jonathan
Watters, Joe Shrapnel, Anna
Waterhouse. PRODUCERS: Halle Berry,
Vince Cirrincione, Simon DeKark,
Hassain Zaidi. DIRECTOR OF
PHOTOGRAPHY: Newton Thomas
Sigel. PRODUCTION DESIGNERS:
Linda Del Rosario, Richard Paris. MUSIC:
Andrew Lockington. COSTUME
DESIGNER: Ruth E. Carter. EDITOR:
David Richardson.Sales: Cinesavvy. No
rating, 102 minutes.
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SPECIAL REPORT:
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“Sayonara Itsuka”
Unified
theory
As the wave of Japanese-Korean
hybrids subsides, filmmakers are
learning the value of focusing on
a single culture
By Park Soo-mee
“Beneath Hill 60”
SEOUL — The recent hit film “Sayonara Itsuka”
(Goodbye Someday) was undeniably Japanese in many
ways. Aside from the film’s shamelessly sentimental title,
the enigmatic melodrama about a timeless romance was
written by Japan’s best-selling author Hitonari Tsuji.
There’s just one thing atypical of the film’s Japanese sentiment — “Sayonara Itsuka” was produced by Korea’s CJ
Entertainment.
In the company’s mission to target the Japanese market,
CJ’s goal was clear from the beginning: it was to maximize
the film’s marketing networks and talents from both countries while making the film as Japanese as possible.
To do that, the film took an unusual path. “Itsuka,” while using Korean
investment, was made into a Japanese-language film. The film hired a
Japanese writer, a local cast and a crew to design a quintessentially Japanese drama. Added to this package was Korean-American director John H.
Lee, whose 2004 film “A Moment to Remember” was a huge hit in Japan
thanks to his jazzy camerawork and urban sensibility.
CJ’s approach improved on many past Japan-Korea co-productions,
which, through exchanges of local cast, location or joint production crews,
never identified to much with one country in an attempt to please audiences in both markets. Many ended in failures, largely due to cultural
ambiguities of the film’s unnaturally hybrid setting.
In January, “Itsuka” opened on 180 Japanese screens nationwide, and
made over 1.77 billion yen ($10.6 million) — a notable success given Japan’s
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| korea
“We’re increasingly
learning that settling on
one language and cultural
identity is the way to go in
co-production.
— Podo Film’s Chi Young-joon
“Cyborg, She”
conservative film market for foreign investors.
“It created a new model of partnership for
Korean films through a localized production system,” said Mike Suh, head of international business at CJ Entertainment.
Co-production is often seen as a process of
negotiating for compatible exposure in film projects between two or more countries. In most panAsian films, this included featuring dialogue in
both languages and top celebrities from each
partner country. In Japan-Korean partnerships
particularly, the subtle tensions have always been
stronger due in part to the historical animosity
over the last century.
The ban on Japanese films, books and music
were only fully lifted in Korea in 2004 by the
liberal government. The grudge toward Japan’s
former colonial rule (1910-1945) is deeply rooted in the minds of the older generation here and
continued for nearly a half century until films
by arthouse Japanese directors like Takeshi
Kitano (“Hanabi”) and Isshin Inudou (“Josee,
the Tiger and the Fish”) created a modest following of Japanese indie films through festival
circuits here.
In Japan, the culture of hallyu, or Korean wave,
triggered by the smash hit of the Korean drama
“Winter Sonata,” suddenly boosted the sales of
Korean TV dramas and music, creating a new
market.
Between 2006 and 2008, 16 co-produced films
between Korea and Japan were released, according to a report by the Korean Film Council, the
government-supported film body. But few managed to break even, due largely to the differences
in production systems, cultural aesthetics and
business practices.
Many industry professionals believe that
Japanese film companies are particularly skeptical about the credibility of their project partners.
Also, with Japan being the world’s secondlargest film market based on solid ancillary revenue from TV sales and home video, more Korean producers and investors want to work with
Japanese companies. Japan, on the other hand,
doesn’t see the need to take the risk. The country’s system of “production committees” or representatives of the film’s investors that hold a
major stake in the production decision-making is
also seen as an obstacle limiting the active
engagement of overseas partners.
“Many Korean producers who work in Japan
feel that they often hit a point where they can no
longer reach a compromise with their partners,”
says Sung-kyun Cho, the founder of Sponge
Entertainment, which was one of the first Korean
importers of Japanese films and a producer of
international projects with Japan including and
Bong Joon-ho’s “Tokyo” and Kim Ki-duk’s “Sad
Dream” starring Joe Odagiri.
“Often they’re minor but important cultural
differences,” Cho says. “In Japan, for example,
film companies hold a press screening at least two
months in advance of the film’s theatrical release.
Korean companies hold theirs a week or two
before the release.”
Realizing that an equal stake of exposure for
partner countries through mixed languages or
casts mean weaker content, more industry professionals in co-production with Japan are following CJ’s model of localization, and positioning
themselves more as financier-coordinators and
less as producers.
“We’re increasingly learning that settling on
one language and cultural identity is the way to
go in co-production,” says Chi Young-joon, the
founder of Podo Film who co-produced “Cyborg,
She,” a Japanese-language film from the Korean
director Kwak Jae-young (“My Sassy Girl”) with
Japan’s Amuse Soft Entertainment in 2008. “The
research on the language and culture of the market where the film is being produced and targeted
is essential.”
In story development, Chi suggests rewrites by
a local writer rather than translating the original
script from one language to another.
“Even if it’s a trivial emotional expression, a
director or staff who is unable to control the subtle nuances of his actors’ performances will simply not communicate with the local audiences,”
adds Chi, stressing the director’s role as a cultural
facilitator in co-production.
Despite many challenges, local film companies
are making bolder moves. CJ Entertainment has
just launched a joint venture with T-Joy, a Japanese multiplex chain affiliated with the country’s
major studio Toei. CJEJ, the company’s name
based in Japan, will invest in multinational film
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production, and distribute local
and Korean films in Japan. The
company is currently negotiating with Amuse and Paramount
Pictures Japan to co-produce
Nakata Hideo’s “Onsen.”
Podo Film is currently negotiating with investors in Singapore and China to produce
“Paul, Mom’s on the Way,” a
¥1.9 billion 3D animation by
Lin Taro, a celebrity director of
the Japanese animation series
“Galaxy Express 999.” “Paul,”
about a Caucasian mother out
to save her son who’s into Oriental myth, is being produced
with an eye toward becoming
Asia’s answer to Harry Potter.
Internally, more Japanese
indie films also are seeking for
co-production opportunities. JPitch by UniJapan Film, a government-sponsored film body
to promote Japanese cinema
abroad, funds local films projects collaborating with international coproduction.
Last year, J-Pitch selected
two projects at Pusan Promotion Plan, a project market at
the Pusan International Film
Festival: Jae-Eun Jeong’s
“O.D.V” (Opposite Domestic
Violence) by Wa Entertainment
and Shinji Aoyama’s “Decadent
Sisters” by Yuko Shiomaki.
But first, many agree that a
new market for Korean films in
Japan currently limited to hallyu
content needs to be further
explored. Before that, industry
professionals like Cho of
Sponge are reluctant to make a
full-scale investment in JapanKorea co-production. He
explains that state subsidies and
having a solid partner willing to
take a financial initiative is a
must for small- and mediumsized Korean producers.
“Japanese film companies
will always welcome Korean
investment,” he says. “And
perhaps that is the most realistic scale of partnership for
now. At the moment, the success for co-production
depends largely on the capacity
of the local partner, and we see
that through the lessons of the
music industry. It worked for
Korean pop stars like BoA in
Japan, because she underwent
a full cultural makeover by a
solid local company like Avex
Entertainment. Japan is not an
easy market.” ∂
| korea
Im’sclassicredux
Director talks about bringing Kim
Ki-young’s film into modern times,
surprise as suspense, and film’s
that are on his radar.
Q&A
T
he South Korean director Im Sang-soo knows how to strike a blow against his enemy.
From a sketch of moral decay and hypocrisy in a middle-class family in “A Good
Lawyer’s Wife” to a post-political black comedy “The President’s Last Bang” about
the assassination of the country’s president Park Chung-Hee, his films present a stylish
character study of contemporary Koreans saturated with sarcasm. In “The Housemaid,” a
remake of Kim Ki-young’s sensational 1960 classic, Im reassembles a fatal erotic thriller of
a maid (played by Jeon Do-yeon) and the master (Lee Jeong-jae) in an intense sexual relationship. The film is In Competetion at Cannes, and the director talked about it with The
Hollywood Reporter’s Korea correspondent Park Soo-mee.
What should the audiences expect to see from
“The Housemaid”?
Im Sang-soo: My original plan was to work
around Hitchcock’s idea of suspense based
on the famous anecdote he gave of the two
people having breakfast with bomb under the
table. Hitchcock alluded that suspense is a
surprise. I wanted to create variations and
subvert the audiences’ expectation based on
this premise. It’s safe to think of the film as a
pure cinematic suspense.
You stressed that you didn’t treat the film as a
remake, but instead focused on the character
development. But given that the comparison is
unavoidable, how is the film different from the
original?
Im: I put the original film behind me as soon
as I started working on the script. The film’s
main plot stays the same. It’s about a maid in
a rich family who gets engaged in a sexual
relationship with her master. Aside from the
technical capacity of the production, I did
realize after I’ve done shooting that there
were some major differences in the story now
and 50 years ago, like the way people try to
settle a scandalous incident when a maid is
caught for having sex with the master. The
perception of the director and the mentality
of the audiences’ viewing such events have
changed over the years too. I think a big
change is the shift in the film’s perspective.
The original mainly delves into the psychological battle of the male lead as he undergoes fear and guilt after his engagement with
the maid. The contemporary version is
almost exclusively viewed from the point of
view of the maid.
Would you say that the shift in the film’s perspective lies on the director’s taste or do you think it
was due to the changing social environment?
Im: I think it had more to do with the former.
Also Kim Ki-young shot this film when he
was in his mid ‘30s. I’m now in my mid ‘40s,
and I tried to approach the subject with some
maturity.
You talked about the film in relation to the
“maid’s mentality” in ourselves. Can you elaborate on that?
Im: Originally, I thought of the idea of maid as
something quite fitting in the context of
modern Korean society. You’ll see what that
means when you see the film. Essentially it’s
about the loss of integrity.
What else would you like to say about “The
Housemaid”?
Im: The production began in September and
ended in April. So it was a compact schedule,
but overall I am very happy about the outcome and the shooting was a pleasing experience. Just over a year ago, I had finished
another script in France, which was under
negotiation with a local producer. The deal
fell through, and I really felt like I was lacking
strength. But I think I’ve gained back a lot of
my strength through Cannes.
Have you watched “Avatar”? What kind of films
are you watching these days?
Im: The Korean film “Breathless” was one of
the best films I’ve watched in recent months.
So you didn’t watch “Avatar”?
Im: Is that something I have to watch?
24
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FINAL SCREENING
TODAY
OLYMPIA 3 • 2:00 PM
at CANNES: Riviera C5a
Sales contact: Michael Lurie
T: +33-638-427-021
Archstone_D5_05_16_10.indd 1
ARCHSTONE DISTRIBUTION
1201 W. 5 TH S TREET, S UITE T-530, 5 TH F LOOR , L OS A NGELES , CA 90017,
P HONE : 310.622.8773 • FAX : 310.492.5861
WWW. ARCHSTONEDISTRIBUTION . COM SALES @ ARCHSTONEDISTRIBUTION . COM
5/12/10 3:33 PM
MultiVisionnaire Pictures – Stand: RIVIERA D2
CANNES +33 (0)6 34 49 32 42
•
[email protected]
VIOLENT BLUE
Drama / 120 min. / USA / 2010
Katarina is a musician obsessed with an unfinished symphony. One day
her ex-husband shows up in her house and locks her in a bird cage.
Will a group of dangerous strangers and the near-death experience
inspire her?
Directed by Gregory Hatanaka
Cast: Silvia Suvadova, Jesse Hlubik, Nick Mancuso,
Andrea Harrison, Barry O’Rourke
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PLAYBACK
Erotic Thriller / 98 min. / USA / 2010
".6-5*7*4*0//"*3&13&4&/5"5*0/$*/&."&10$)"/%-*5)*6.1*$563&48*5)7*46"-*/&3456%*04130%6$5*0/
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Stephanie is a popular girl in her neighborhood. So who’d want
to kill her? When her estranged father, Detective Steve Lambord
investigates her death, he discovers a closet full of her sex tapes.
Digging deeper into the mystery, he discovers a girl he barely knew,
unearths secrets he never wanted to confront.
Directed by James Avallone
Cast: Kylee Reese, James Duval, Rob Terrell
www.multivisionnaire.com
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SPECIAL REPORT:
balkans THR.com/cannes
“Forest Creatures”
PuttingOn
AUnitedFront
Balkan producers, directors and actors work together to push the region’s movie business
back to solid ground
By Scott Roxborough
Fifteen years after the Yugoslav War
tore up the regional map, Balkan filmmakers
are coming together again.
For the first time since the war ended in 1995,
Balkan Cinema — ex-Yugoslavia plus Albania
and Bulgaria — this year will be represented by
one joint stand at the Marche du Film in Cannes.
It’s a clear sign of the growing cooperation
among producers, directors and talent in the
dozen-odd countries that make up the region.
“For the first time, we are realizing we have
to stick together if we want to get our films
made and get them seen,” says producer Jelena
Mitrovic of Serbian production company Film
House Bas Celik. Her recent production,
“Besa,” from director Srdjan Karanovic tapped
cash from Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia in addition to France and Hungary.
“I think it’s great we finally have a stand
together,” she adds. “It’s a natural consequence of what’s happening here.”
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| balkans
“For the first time we are
realizing that we have to stick
together if we want to get our
films made and get them seen.”
— producer Jelena Mitrovic
“The World Is Big
And Salvation Lurks
Around the Corner”
Fellow Serb producer Miroslav Mogorovic
points to “Lost and Found,” the 2005 omnibus
feature that included shorts from Romania’s Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”),
Bosnia’s Jasmila Zbanic (“On the Path”) and Serbia’s Stefan Arsenijevic (“Love and Other
Crimes”) as a milestone in the cross-border
cooperation now standard in the region.
“Before then, Serbian films were financed in
Serbia and made for the Serbian market,”
Mogorovic says. “Back then there was no established way of co-producing with your neighbors.
But with that film, we saw a new generation of
(Balkan) producers on the scene who were open
to moving across borders, West or East, to find
partners.”
An example is “Cirkus Colombia,” a new feature from Bosnia’s Danis Tanovic (“No Man’s
Land”), which Mogorovic is co-producing
through Art & Popcorn, the Belgrade-based shingle he runs with Arsenijevic. “Cirkus” is set in
Herzegovina just after the war. A man returns to
his small village, flush with cash from his time
abroad in Germany and eager to enact petty
revenge on his ex-wife and neighbors. Budgeted
at nearly KM3 million ($4 million), the Bosnian/Slovenia/Serbia co-production, which the
Match Factory is selling internationally, would
have been impossible to bankroll out of any one
Balkan territory alone.
“This is a serious co-production — we have the
U.K, France, Germany and Belgium attached as
well,” Mogorovic says. “Our regional financiers
now understand the necessity of co-productions.
It’s functioning really well.”
On the international festival circuit, Romanian cinema still dominates discussions of Balkan
filmmaking — as evidenced by this year’s
Cannes lineup. (see page xx)
But art house distributors worldwide are
looking beyond Bucharest and snatching up
Balkan titles as diverse as Jasmila Zbanic’s
Bosnian religious relationship drama “On the
Path,” Stephan Komandarev’s Bulgarian feelgood feature “The World Is Big and Salvation
Lurks Around the Corner” and the experimental Greek drama “Dogtooth” from director
Giorgos Lanthimos.
“There is a reason we are still overshadowed by
the Romanians, and that’s because Romanian
films are just great; they are still in first place, we
look up to them,” says Ankica Juric Tilic of Croatian production house Kinorama. “But we have
made great progress in the last two years.”
Tilic points to the new Croatian Audiovisual
Center, which last month increased its support
for minority co-productions, allowing Croatian
producers to raise up to 10% of a film’s total
budget from their territory. Previously, Croatian
support was capped at about $80,000 for nonCroatian majority productions. Among the features set to benefit included Dejan Zecevic’s war
thriller “Enemy” and “Parade” from Srdjan
Dragojevic (“St. George Shoots the Dragon”).
It’s a very different situation in neighboring
Slovenia. The Slovenian Film Fund has cut
funding for co-productions and introduced a
rule requiring filmmakers to spend any government production subsidy in the same year they
receive it.
“It’s a disaster because it makes it almost
impossible to plan,” says Slovenian’s Danijel
Hocevar, whose credits include “World Is Big”
and “Besa.” “Slovenia is the richest of the Balkan
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FROM THE NETHERLANDS AT CANNES 2010
UN CERTAIN REGARD
WORLD PREMIERE
R U THERE
Directed by David Verbeek
★
★
Sun May 16, 10:00 Riviera 3 (market) ★ Sun May 16, 14:15 Theatre Debussy
Sun May 16, 22:00 Theatre Debussy ★ Mon May 17, 16:30 Salle Bazin ★ Tue May 18, 14:00 Riviera 3 (market)
Prod: IDTV Film ★ Sales: Films Boutique ★ (feature, 83’)
OUT OF COMPETITION - SPECIAL SCREENINGS
WORLD PREMIERE
OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW
Directed by Sophie Fiennes
★
Sun May 16, 19:30 Salle du 60ème (official screening)
Prod: Kasander Film ★ (documentary film, 103’)
QUINZAINE DES RÉALISATEURS
LIGHT
Directed by André Schreuders
★
Wed May 19, 9:00 Cinema la Licorne ★ Fri May 21, 14:00 Theatre Croisette ★ Sat May 22, 16:00 Studio 13
Prod: AS Film ★ (short, 15’)
V i l l a g e I n t e r n a t i o n a l n r 1 0 6 ★ C o n t a c t : C l a u d i a L a n d s b e r g e r, c e l l + 3 1 6 5 0 7 3 7 6 8 1
h f @ h o l l a n d f i l m . n l ★ w w w. h o l l a n d f i l m . n l
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The Hollywood Reporter | Sunday, May 16, 2010|
balkans
“On the Path”
Film Center Serbia congratulates
Dane Komljen on his film
I Already Am Everything I Want to Have
In Cinéfondation
Salle Buñuel / May 20th, 11:00
Market screenings:
Serbian Film, by Srdjan Spasojević
World Sales: Jinga Films
Palais C / May 15th, 12:00
Palais C / May 17th, 20:30
countries and the one with the
best infrastructure. But while
the film support everywhere
else is growing, ours is staying
put and even going backward.”
Slovenia aside, Balkan cinema as a whole is moving
ahead, emerging from the long
shadow cast by the region’s
best-known filmmaker: twotime Palme d’Or winner Emir
Kusturica.
“This sort of ‘Balkan folklore’ cinema that stopped with
Kusturica,” Mitrovic says. “The
festivals might still want that
kind of film but nobody else —
in the region or on the international market — is interested in
that anymore.”
Instead, the bulk of new features from the region are modern, realistic dramas such as
Bas Celik’s “The Woman With
a Broken Nose,” starring
Balkan-born Branka Katic
(“Public Enemies”), which
Aktis Films is selling in Cannes;
M-Appeal’s “Tilt,” from Bulgarian helmer Viktor Chouchkov
Jr.; or Tilic’s
upcoming
“Forest
Creatures,”
a low-
The Woman With the Broken Nose, by
Srdjan Koljević
World Sales: Aktis Film
Palais F / May 16th, 9:30
Blue Train, by Janko Baljak
Produced by: Ideja, Belgrade
Gray 3 / May 19th, 10:00
budget action thriller from
Croatian first-timer IvanGoran Vitez. The plot follows
executives from a Zagreb marketing agency whose weekend
team-building excursion turns
into a fight for survival.
The biggest fight for Balkan
producers, however, is not for
financing or even international
sales but rather for audiences
back home. Twenty years of
high-speed capitalism has devastated the art house market in
the region. Formerly state-run
cinemas have “turned into
restaurants, coffee shops and
bookmakers,” Mitrovic says,
replaced by multiplexes showing back-to-back Hollywood
fare.
“We have a small market and
our audience hates us,” Kinorama’s Juric Tilic quips.“We went
through a decade of very lousy
films in the 1990s, and we still
haven’t recovered from that; the
local audience doesn’t trust us
yet, even though our films are
doing well — selling internationally and winning
awards at festivals. It’s
getting better, but
Balkan cinema, as an
industry, still has a
long way to go.” ∂
To find out more about films, projects and
talents from Serbia, visit us at:
“The Woman
With a Broken
Nose”
Film Center Serbia
South-East European Pavilion 138,
Village International
Tel: 04 92 59 02 15
Cell: 06 14 65 49 26
www.fcs.rs
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| balkans
Easternpromise
Five years later,Cannes is still
riding the Romanian wave
CANNES DESERVEDLY TAKES
CREDIT for discovering the
Romanian wave and is keeping
up the tradition, packing this
year’s lineup with more of
Bucharest’s best.
Director Cristi Puiu, whose
chilling, darkly comic “The
Death of Mr. Lazarescu” kicked
off the Romanian cinema craze
when it won the Un Certain
Regard prize in 2005, returns to
Cannes with “Aurora.”
The second in a planned six
films by Puiu set on the outskirts of Bucharest, “Aurora” follows a 42-year-old man who,
recently divorced, has just quit
his job. He wanders aimlessly,
trying to understand the insecurity and anxiety that dominate
his life.
Berlin’s the Coproduction
Office is handling world sales.
Joining “Aurora” in Un Certain
Regard this year is “Tuesday,
After Christmas” from director
Radu Muntean, whose debut
was the rare Romanian comedy
“Summer Holiday,” aka “Boogie”
(2008), featuring “4 Months, 3
Weeks and 2 Days” star Anamaria Marinca.
Muntean’s new film, set during the Christmas holidays, centers on a husband who has to
choose between staying with
his wife and 8-year-old daughter or leaving them for his mistress.
“The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu,” a three-hour
documentary from director
Andrei Ujica, has gleaned an Out
of Competition slot. The
exhaustive work traces the
career of the notorious national
tyrant up to his execution in
1989. Ujica combines footage
from Romania’s film and television archives with a fictional
scripted monologue, which
attempts to re-create Ceausescu’s psychological state of mind.
A lighter, more mainstream
touch can be found in the
Marche du Film, where MAppeal is premiering “Hello!
How Are You?” from director
Alexandru Maftei. The romantic
drama revolves around a married couple whose sex life is nonexistent. Separately, they start
up passionate online affairs with
strangers, unaware they have
actually found each other.
While the rest of the Balkan
region is slowly coming into its
own, Romanian cinema, at least
as far as Cannes is concerned,
remains the gold standard.
— Scott Roxborough
“Tuesday After Christmas”
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Business lunch. Birthday dinner.
BE THERE.
®
BE THERE
SM
©2010 NetJets Inc. All rights reserved. NetJets and Executive Jet are registered trademarks. The Marquis Jet Card is a registered service mark. *Marquis Jet is an independent company not
affiliated with NetJets and through its exclusive U.S. alliance sells the Marquis Jet Card.
NetJets D8 051210.indd 1
5/4/10 10:02 AM
Ostrow and Company
Cannes Line Up
Obselidia
In 500 Words or Less
Commit
Winner of two awards at
Sundance Film Festival.
1.5 million kids are applying to college.
This is a story about 4 of them.
Nothing says I love you like a
suicide pact
The Anti-Bin Laden
Manitou Api
Mupotoon
One man balancing a world
of extremes
Remniscient of Dan Brown’s
Lost Symbol but with a decisive
difference, it is true
Barack Obama is a superstar.
This is the animated story of life at
the White House!
OSTROW AND COMPANY 468 NORTH CAMDEN DRIVE, 3rd FLOOR, BEVERLY HILLS, CA 90210 p.310.276.5007
www.ostrowandcompany.com
Ostrow D3 051410-V2c.indd 1
5/12/10 5:38 PM
day5_p40,41 rev_b.qxd:040THRD5_rev
5/15/10
3:45 PM
Page 1
ϮϬϭϬ ĂŶŶĞƐ &ŝůŵ &ĞƐƟǀĂů
QEIF QEIF
| reviews
‘The
Invisible
Eye’
By Deborah Young
A
repressed young woman
enforces discipline in a
rigid upper-crust school
in Buenos Aires, at the same
time Argentines are taking to
the street to bring down the
military dictatorship. Set in
1982 around the time of the
Falklands war, “The Invisible
Eye” directed by Diego Lerman
(“Suddenly,” “Meanwhile”)
re-creates the foreboding,
oppressive atmosphere of the
historical moment without
going very deeply into its
causes or effects. Young Julieta Zylberberg’s piquant perf
as a sexually repressed martinet should, however, attract
a certain amount of attention
and will prove either a turn-on
or a turn-off for viewers.
Films warning against the
dangers of an overly-rigorous
educational system are practically a genre in themselves,
from Jean Vigo’s “Zero de conduite” and Lindsay Anderson’s
“If” all the way to “The White
Ribbon.” In fact, Lerman
opens the film as though following in Michael Haneke’s
footsteps: Maria, a strict
school mistress (Zylberberg),
orders a class of teenagers into
line with icy cruel authority.
Though only 23, her hairstyle
is so severe and her expression
so humorless, she resembles
the Wicked Witch of the West
as a girl.
Maria’s zeal is thoroughly
approved of by the head
supervisor, Mr. Biasutto
(Osmar Nunez), a sinisterly
repressive figure who equates
“subversion,” like passing
notes in class, with cancer.
The students at this elite
academy show a zombielike
‘Aurora’
By Peter Brunette
T
ƌĞĂƚĞĚ ďǇ ŶƚŽŝŶĞ ƌĂǇ
ǁ ǁ ǁ͘ Đ Ă Ŷ Ŷ Ğ Ɛ Ă Ě Ě ŝ Đ ƚ ͘ Đ Ž ŵ
WZ ŝŶĞŵĂ ͗ DŝĐŚĞů ZĞďŝĐŚŽŶ
ĞƐŝŐŶ͗ůŝƐĂ ŶŐĞůŝ
Z^Zsd/KE^ ͗ Ϭϰ ϵϯ ϵϰ Ϯϰ ϮϮ
hese days young Romanian
directors seem to be
indulging in a frenzied
round of macho competition:
how long can we baffle and bore
the audience before we deliver
the goods? How much will they
take before walking out? It
must be said immediately that
the goods are, in fact, always
delivered at the end of the best
of these films, and that’s wonderfully true in “Aurora” as
well. But what do we have to go
through to get there?
Up to now, last year’s “Police,
Adjective,” directed by Corneliu
Porumboiu, has been the reigning champion, with approxi-
mately 105 minutes spent on a
policeman following and
watching a marijuana user,
before devoting the film’s final
quarter hour, set in a police station, to a brilliant thematic
summation of the meaning of
justice and morality.
Porumboiu’s relentlessly
boring forced march, however,
has been blown out of the water
by Cristi Puiu’s “Aurora,” which
clocks in at 3 hours, at least one
of which could easily be done
without. As such, commercial
prospects look grim, even
among the many art film lovers
who have come to admire
recent Romanian cinema.
Viorel, whose name we only
discover near the end of the film
40
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
day5_p40,41 rev_b.qxd:040THRD5_rev
5/15/10
3:45 PM
Page 2
| reviews
> DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT
;+:61
6/
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7,)
A
BOTTOM LINE Sexual repression
in an elite Argentine academy
looks good but will divide
audiences.
8
5
4
:
1
6
;
PRODUCTION: Campo Cine, Agat Films
& Cie, Imval Producciones,
Mediagrama. CAST: Julieta Zylberberg,
Osmar Nunez, Marta Lubos, Gaby
Ferrero, Diego Vegezzi, Pablo Sigal.
DIRECTOR: Diego Lerman.
SCREENWRITERS: Diego Lerman,
Maria Meira, BASED ON A NOVEL: by
Martin Kohan. PRODUCERS: Nicolas
Avruj, Diego Lerman, Dominique
Barneaud, Marc Bordure,Luis Angel
Ramirez Perez, Rafael Alvarez, Ignacio
Monge Director of photography: Alvaro
Gutierrez. PRODUCTION DESIGNER:
Yamila Fortun. MUSIC: Jose Villalobos.
COSTUME DESIGNER: Sandra Fink.
EDITOR: Alberto Ponce. Sales:
Pyramide International. No rating, 95
minutes.
obedience to the absurdly
strict rules. Maria, on the
other hand, begins to reveal
some cracks in her perfect
facade. For example, she
develops a crush on one of the
students, sniffing his underwear on the sly, while allowing
the older Biasutto to court her
out of school.
Things get even kinkier after
Biasutto suggests she devote
herself to constant surveillance
of the pupils and become “an
invisible eye,” noting their deviations from school discipline.
Hiding in a toilet stall, she begins
to spy on the boy’s lavatory.
Lerman grows as a director
film by film, here showing he
and who is played by the director himself, is a restless soul. He
wanders around the streets of
Bucharest looking for something or someone, but we
haven’t a clue what it is.
Approximately 75 minutes
into the film, a shotgun is introduced and, with Chekhov as our
guide, we expect it to eventually
to go off, which it does about 30
minutes later. (When the shotgun is introduced, the main
character practices both suicidal
and homicidal gestures with the
gun, which is presumably meant
to endow the proceedings with a
modicum of suspense.)
When several violent acts do
finally occur, we haven’t a clue
as to the motive or to the identities of the victims. Yet the
scenes of the film’s final half
hour — when the main character
picks up his little daughter at
2
I
K
S
Q
M
4
]
K
a
%
2
]
K
a
can handle a more classic narrative (adapted from the novel
by Martin Kohan) and setting
without abandoning quirky
characters who have their own
weird depth. Zylberberg creates a highly memorable
Maria, though at the high cost
of sacrificing audience sympathy and involvement, which
goes double for the calmly villainous Nunez. In contrast,
Marita’s granny is played with
lovely individuality and
warmth by Marta Lubos.
Alvaro Gutierrez’s beautifully wrought cinematography
suggests offbeat eerieness
with enormous class. ∂
I
N
M
M
T
OWWL
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UI
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school and when he goes looking for someone in a shop and
quietly terrorizes the salesgirls
— are powerfully menacing and
make one wish all the more
strongly that one knew what
was going on. The final scene,
set, like “Police, Adjective,” in a
police station, offers a subtle
social critique that is diminished because we’ve expended
so much effort figuring out what
the hell was going on. ∂
W
N
X
T
I
\
W
V
Q
K
X
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W
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> UN CERTAIN REGARD
1
6
+)66-;"
4
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6;
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!
BOTTOM LINE Nothing happens,
and for three hours, before a
strong conclusion.
PRODUCTION: Mandragora, Parisienne
de Production, Bord Cadre Films,
Essential Filmproduktion. CAST: Cristi
Puiu, Clara Voda, Valeria Seciu.
DIRECTOR: Cristi Puiu. PRODUCER:
Anca Puiu, Bobby Paunescu.
41
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
day5_p42,43,44_SG_e_020THRD1_sguide 5/15/10 6:06 AM Page 42
>>> market + festival
screenings
THR.com/cannes
Festival films in black; all titles in bold
In Competition
“R U There”
8:30
The Princess
of
Montpensier,
France, 135,
Studiocanal,
Lumiere,
(ticket
required)
12:00
A Screaming Man, France,
92, Pyramide International,
Lumiere, (ticket required)
Another Year, United
Kingdom, 129, Focus
Features International,
Salle Du 60eme
15:00
The Princess of
Montpensier, France, 135,
Studiocanal, Lumiere,
(ticket required)
15:00
On Tour, France, 105,
Le Pacte, Olympia 5
18:00,
The Princess of
Studiocanal, Olympia 5
19:00,
The Princess of
Studiocanal, Lumiere,
(ticket required)
22:15,
A Screaming Man,
France, 92, Pyramide
International, Lumiere,
(ticket required)
>TODAY
8:30 Dear Prudence, Critics
Week, France, 80, Pyramide
International, Bunuel
9:00 Le Quattro Volte,
Directors’ Fortnight, Italy, 88,
Coproduction Office, Theatre
Croisette
9:15 Last Chance Mumbai,
India 105 mins, High Point
Media Group, Palais H; Box The Hakamada Case (no
press), Japan, 117 mins, Open
Sesame Co, Ltd, Gray 2;
Hatchet 2/Stake Land, Promo
Reel (no press), USA, 30 mins,
MPI Media Group, Palais I
9:30 La Mirada Invisible,
Directors’ Fortnight, Argentina,
Gray 3; Jean-Michel Basquiat:
The Radiant Child, USA, 90
mins, Fortissimo Films, Gray 1;
Sin Sisters 2, Thailand, 90
mins, Sahamongkolfilm
International Co. Ltd., Riviera 1;
Takedown, USA, 95 mins,
American World Pictures, Palais
E; Love Ranch, USA, 118 mins,
E1 Entertainment International,
Olympia 8; Parents &
Children: Shake Well Before
Using, Italy, 110 mins, Filmauro
Srl, Olympia 6; It Begins With
the End, France, 88 mins, Films
Distribution, Olympia 4
11:00 The City Below, Un
Certain Regard, Germany, 110,
The Match Factory, Bazin;
Cleveland Vs Wall Street,
Directors’ Fortnight,
Switzerland, 98, Films
Distribution, Theatre Croisette;
Armadillo, Critics Week,
Denmark, 100, Trustnordisk,
Miramar, Amphibious 3D (no
press), Netherlands, 85 mins,
Celsius Entertainment, Olympia 1
95, Pyramide International,
Arcades 3; Freakonomics (no
press), USA, 92 mins, Celsius
Entertainment, Olympia 1;
Taxiphone, Switzerland, 94
mins, Adriana Chiesa Enterprises,
Star 3; Finecut Promo,
Unknown, 110 mins, Finecut Co.
Ltd., Lerins 1; Magic Journey to
Africa, Spain, 95 mins, Filmax
International, Palais J; Lucky
Life, USA, 98 mins, Umedia,
Riviera 4; I Am Love, Italy, 120
mins, The Works International,
Olympia 7; About Her Brother,
Japan, 126 mins, Shochiku Co.,
Ltd, Palais K; Road Train,
Australia, 87 mins, Lightning
Entertainment, Palais B; Ayla,
Germany, 85 mins, Beta Cinema,
Riviera 2; I Am You, Australia,
104 mins, Goldcrest Films,
Arcades 1; Prowl (After Dark
Originals), USA, 95 mins, IM
Global, Gray 4; The Woman
With a Broken Nose, Serbia, 90
mins, Aktis Film International
Gmbh, Palais F; A Woman, a
Gun and a Noodle Shop, China,
94 mins, Wild Bunch, Star 4
11:15, Adrienn Pál, Un Certain
Regard, Hungary, 136, Elle
Driver, Debussy
9:45 Paper Birds, Spain, 115
mins, Imagina International
Sales, Palais G
10:00 Rubber, Critics Week,
USA, 85, Elle Driver, Star 1; R U
There, Un Certain Regard,
Netherlands, 87, Films
Boutique, Riviera 3, The
Illusionist, France, 80 mins,
Pathe International, Olympia 5;
Meant to Be, Belgium, 109
mins, Corsan World Sales, Palais
I; Bo, Belgium, 90 mins, Caviar
Films, Olympia 3; Sea Purple,
Italy, 105 mins, Intramovies,
Palais C; Jackboots On
Whitehall, United Kingdom, 91
mins, Media 8 Entertainment,
Lerins 2; The Sandman and
the Lost Sand of Dreams,
Germany, 80 mins, Bac Films,
11:30 Chatroom, Un Certain
Regard, United Kingdom, 97,
Westend Films, Arcades 3; Un
Poison Violent, Directors’
Fortnight, France, 93, Films
Distribution, Arcades 1; The
Strange Case of Angelica, Un
Certain Regard, Portugal, 93,
Pyramide International, Star 3;
Romanian Short Waves,
Short Film Corner, Romania, 0,
Short Film Corner 2010, Palais
F, The Legend of Melita, Italy,
84 mins, Filmexport Group,
Palais J; IP Man 2, Hong Kong
(China), 108 mins, Mandarin
Films Distribution Co. Ltd., Lerins
1; White Wedding, South
Africa, 94 mins, The Little Film
Company, Palais D; Going
South, France, 90 mins, MK2
S.A, Star 4; Mammuth, France,
90 mins, Funny Balloons,
Palais H; Timer, USA, 100 mins,
Jinga Films, Palais B; Orly,
Germany, 83 mins, Films
Boutique, Riviera 2; Monsters,
United Kingdom, 97 mins,
Protagonist Pictures, Gray 2;
Nothing but the Truth, South
Africa, 81 mins, Wide
Management Enterprise, Gray 4
12:00 The Names of Love,
Critics Week, France, 100, TF1
International, Olympia 1;
Somos Lo Que Hay, Directors’
Fortnight, Mexico, 99, Wild
Bunch, Olympia 5; The Bang
Bang Club, Canada, 113 mins, E1
Entertainment International,
Olympia 2; And Soon the
Darkness, USA, 91 mins,
Studiocanal, Gray 1; The Infidel,
United Kingdom, 105 mins, Salt,
Olympia 4; Amore 14, Italy, 95
mins, Adriana Chiesa Enterprises,
Olympia 3; The Snow Queen,
Estonia, 95 mins, Estonian Film
Foundation, Palais G; The
Kingdom of Solomon, Iran, 115
mins, Farabi Cinema Foundation,
Palais E; Coming and Going,
USA, 100 mins, The Little Film
Company, Lerins 2; Every Song
Is About Me, Spain, 104 mins,
Latido, Olympia 6; Happy
Family, Italy, 94 mins, Rai Trade,
Palais C; Victorio, Mexico, 90
mins, Mexican Film Institute
(Imcine), Riviera 1; Coach 14
Private Screening (no press,
buyers only), Unknown, 80 mins,
Coach 14, Arcades 2; Private
Screening Memento (invitation only), Unknown, 100 mins,
Memento Films International,
Star 1; Teenage Paparazzo,
USA, 91 mins, IM Global, Gray 3
13:30 Heartbeats, Un Certain
42
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
Screenings
continued from page 42
Regard, Canada, 102, Rezo,
Arcades 1; Esra - Ecole
Superieure De Realisation
Audiovisuelle, Short Film
Corner, France, 0, Esra - Cote
d’azur, Palais F;
Bibliotheque Pascal, Hungary,
104mins, H2O Motion Pictures
(United Kingdom), Star 4;
Sinners and Saints, USA, 90
mins, Moonstone Entertainment
/ Prestige Films, Lerins 1; After
the Waterfall, New Zealand,
100 mins, NZ Film, Star 3;
Locked In, USA, 90 mins, 6
Sales, Palais J; Formosa
Betrayed, USA, 90 mins,
Screen Media, Gray 4; Blanca,
Italy, 80 mins, Intramovies,
Palais B; The Hunter, Iran, 92
mins, The Match Factory,
Arcades 3; To Fight For - The
Year of Decision, Germany, 107
mins, Boomtown Media, Riviera
2; Dream Home, Hong Kong
(China), 96 mins, Fortissimo
Films, Palais H; The
Retaliators, Spain, 87 mins,
Eldorado Internacional, Palais D;
Bear Nation, USA, 87 mins,
Visit Films, Gray 2; L’amour
Fou, France, 100 mins, Films
Distribution, Riviera 4
14:00 The Silent House,
Directors’ Fortnight, Uruguay,
79, Elle Driver, Theatre
Croisette; Private Screening
Memento, Unknown, 100,
Arcades 2,
Inhale, USA, 85 mins, Echo
Bridge Entertainment, Gray 1;
Sammy’s Adventures - The
Secret Passage, Belgium, 90
mins, Studiocanal, Palais K;
Untitled, USA, 96 mins,
Filmsharks Int’l, Riviera 3; The
Extra Man, USA, 107 mins, Wild
Bunch, Star 1; Imogene
Mccarthery, France, 82 mins,
TF1 International, Olympia 1;
From Beginning to End, Brazil,
96 mins, Wide Management
Enterprise, Palais G; If I Want To
Whistle I Whistle, Romania, 94
mins, Celluloid Dreams, Olympia
7; For the Good of Others,
Spain, 107 mins, Filmax
International, Palais C; Piggies,
Germany, 94 mins, Nonstop
Sales Ab, Gray 3; Welcome To
the Rileys, USA, 110 mins,
Contentfilm International,
Olympia 6; Benvenuti Al Sud,
Italy, 100 mins, Pathe
International, Olympia 5; 40
Salegi, Iran, 91 mins, Farabi
Cinema Foundation, Palais E;
Catfish, USA, 86 mins, Sierra
Pictures, Olympia 2; Wake, USA,
101 mins, Archstone Distribution,
Olympia 3; Gallants, Hong Kong
(China), 98 mins, Golden
Network Asia Ltd, Riviera 1;
Trustnordisk Private
| screenings
Screening, Denmark, 100 mins,
Trustnordisk, Star 2; Private
Screening Memento,
Unknown, 100 mins, Memento
Films International, Arcades 2
14:15 R U There, Un Certain
Regard, Netherlands, 87,
Films Boutique, Debussy
FREE INTERNET & WI-FI • TERRACE CAFÉ • FREE EVENTS
15:00 Copacabana, Critics
Week, France, 105, Kinology,
Miramar; Toscan, Cannes
Classics, France, 87, Festival
De Cannes, Salle Du 60eme
INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON: UK COMPANIES AND PRODUCERS,
UK FILMS FOR SALE IN CANNES & FILMING IN THE UK
15:30 Splice, Canada, 107
mins, Gaumont, Arcades 1;
Outcast, United Kingdom, 90
mins, Bankside Films, Star 3;
The Storm, Netherlands, 93
mins, Delphis Films Inc., Palais
H; Al Final Del Extasis,
Mexico, 107 mins, Kevin
Williams Associates (KWA
S.L.), Palais B; Honey, Turkey,
90 mins, The Match Factory,
Star 4; Red and White,
Indonesia, 107 mins, Margate
House / Pt Media Desa
Indonesia, Palais F; The
Perfect Host, USA, 95 mins,
Cinema Management Group
LLC, Lerins 1; Two Eyes
Staring, Netherlands, 112 mins,
Holland Film - Part Of Eye Film
Institute Netherlands, Riviera 4;
With Love ... From the Age
of Reason, France, 90 mins,
Films Distribution, Palais J;
Spray, Brazil, 61 mins, Cinema
Do Brasil, Gray 4; 2033 (buyers
only), Mexico, 93 mins,
Multivisionnaire Media, Palais D;
Brothers At War, USA, 110
mins, Shoreline Entertainment,
Gray 2; Here Comes Lola,
Germany, 96 mins, Bavaria Film
International, Riviera 2; Die,
Unknown, 95 mins, E1
Entertainment International,
Arcades 3
EVENTS PROGRAMME
SUNDAY 16 MAY
The Green Zone: Eco-panel
9.30-11.00
The film industry must face up to climate change and reduce its
carbon footprint. Meet people who are doing their part and find
out what you can do on both a practical and creative level.
Speakers include Director Lucy Walker, and Melanie Dicks,
Greenshoot.
Directing in the Digital Age:
Andrei Konchalovsky
11.00-12.00
Multiple Cannes Palme d'or nominee and Special Grand Prix
winner Andrei Konchalovsky (Siberiade, Runaway Train) talks
about the transition he has made into 3D filmmaking on his
latest project, The Nutcracker in 3D.
Closing the Deal
12.15-13.15
Julia Taylor Stanley (Coriolanus) and Harriet Rees (Chalet Girl)
will be joined by Producer Pippa Cross (Ghost World, Vanity
Fair), Jo Nolan, Chief Executive, Screen South, and members of
Cine Regio to discuss how to make a co-production work.
Rights and Revenue Collection
in the Digital Age
13.30-14.30
As new business models are evolving and modes of distributing
content are diversifying, know your rights and don't miss out on
your revenue.
Back to the Future
15.00-16.00
An open debate looking at the challenges of new distribution
systems, the changing film value chain, and the collapse of
windows. Speakers include Producer James Schamus (Brokeback
Mountain) and Philippe Carcasonne, President, Cinea.
Future of Film Culture
16.30-17.30
What can be done to ensure that film talent is supported, film
culture is celebrated and audiences can enjoy a diverse range of
films in the digital age? Speakers include Sandra Hebron, Director,
BFI London Film Festival; Gail Egan, Producer (Mike Leigh's
Another Year - In Competition Cannes 2010); Jane Wright,
Managing Director, BBC Films.
16:00 Sound of Noise,
Critics Week, Sweden, 98,
Wild Bunch, Star 1, (no press,
buyers only); The Last
Exorcism, USA, 95 mins,
Studiocanal, Palais K; The
Reef, Australia, 89 mins,
TODAY’S 1-2-1 SURGERIES:
How to qualify as a British film:
the Cultural Test or Co-production
Legal with Hill Dickinson
Finance advice with RSM Tenon
Shooting in the UK
Lightning Entertainment, Lerins
2; Ao, The Last Neanderthal
(buyers only), France, 84 mins,
TF1 International, Olympia 1;
Space Dogs, Russia, 85 mins,
Epic Pictures, Palais I;
Zebraman 2: Attack On
Zebra City (invitation only),
Japan, 106 mins, Toei Company,
Ltd., Riviera 1; In the
Beginning There Was Light,
Austria, 89 mins, Sola Media /
Atrix Films, Riviera 3; Fair Is
Fair, France, 110 mins,
Gaumont, Star 2; Sorry I Want
To Marry You, Italy, 95 mins,
Adriana Chiesa Enterprises,
Olympia 4; Beyond the
11.00-13.00
11.00-13.00
11.00-13.00
15.00-17.00
Seats for events are not bookable in advance - just come along.
The 1-2-1 surgeries are bookable in person through the Events
and Services desk. All international and UK delegates are
welcome to all events and to register for 1-2-1 surgeries.
MONDAY 17 MAY HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
Director Sophie Fiennes in conversaton 9.00-11.00
In the Spotlight: Alison Owen
10.30-11.30
Accessing Film Finance
11.45-13.30
Selecting Films for Festivals:
13.45-14.45
Science or Serendipity?
What Next for Microbudget Movies? 15.00-16.00
Promos, Pitching and
16.15-17.15
Packaging your Film
UK Film Centre Pavilion No 121, Village International
Telephone: 04 93 99 86 17. Open 09:00 - 18:00
www.ukfilmcentre.org.uk
43
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
Screening@Cannes 2010
Screenings
Summits, France, 75 mins,
Zed, Gray 3; Still, Thailand, 103
mins, Phranakorn Film Co., Ltd.,
Palais E; Mamma Gogo,
Iceland, 90 mins, Icelandic Film
Centre, Olympia 7; Red White
& Blue, USA, 103 mins,
Celluloid Dreams, Gray 1;
4.3.2.1. (invitation only, no
press), United Kingdom, 110
mins, Icon Entertainment
International, Olympia 8; Na
Nai’a Legend of the
Dolphins, Canada, 80 mins,
Magic Factory Productions Inc.,
Palais C; Kooky (invitation
only), Czech Republic, 93 mins,
Fandango Portobello Sales,
Olympia 3; Private Screening
Recreation (invitation only),
Unknown, Recreation,
Arcades 2
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16:30, Heartbeats, Un
Certain Regard, Canada, 102,
Rezo, Bazin; I Wish I Knew,
Un Certain Regard, China, 138,
Mk2 S.A, Debussy
S a m m y ’s
Adventures
The Secret Passage
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16:45 Films Et Oa Prix
Sfc2009, France, 30 mins,
Commission Regionale Du Film:
Poitou-Charentes Cinema,
Gray 4
17:00 Le Quattro Volte,
Directors’ Fortnight, Italy, 88,
Coproduction Office, Theatre
Croisette; Inside Job, Out Of
Competition, Unknown, 120,
Festival De Cannes, Salle Du
60eme; Deux Filles Dans La
Rue, Cannes Classics, Hungary,
85, Festival de Cannes, Bunuel;
El Fallah Al Fasih, short film
before feature) 20 mins
17:20 Mest, Kazakstan, 96
mins, La Flute de Roseau
(Revenge), 96 mins
17:15 Rabbit Without Ears 2,
Germany, 124 mins, Bavaria
Film International, Riviera 2
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17:30 Shit Year, Directors’
Fortnight, USA, 96, The
Match Factory, Star 4;
Miramar, Mr. Nice, United
Kingdom, 116 mins,
Independent, Star 3; The
Temptation of St. Tony,
Estonia, 123 mins, Estonian Film
Foundation, Palais H; Egyptian
Maidens, Egypt, 125 mins, Al
Arabia Cinema Production &
Distribution, Palais F; Main
Street, USA, 92 mins, Myriad
Pictures, Gray 2; Beneath Hill
60, Australia, 122 mins,
Intandem Films, Arcades 1; The
Thin Prize, Cuba, 90 mins, Icaic
- Productora Internacional,
Palais B; The Little
festival+market | screenings
Comedian, Thailand, 123 mins,
Gmm Tai Hub Company
Limited (Gth), Palais J; Twice
A Woman, Canada, 94 mins,
Funfilm Distribution Inc.,
Arcades 3; Tamboro, Brazil,
100 mins, Cinema Do Brasil,
Gray 4; Severe Clear, USA, 90
mins, Arrow Entertainment,
Lerins 1
18:00 Women Are Heroes,
Critics Week, France, 80, Elle
Driver, Palais K, (no press,
buyers only); Sandcastle,
Critics Week, Singapore, 90,
Fortissimo Films, Star 1;
Stranded, France, 110 mins,
Snd Groupe M6 - Int’l Sales,
Star 2; The Company Men,
USA, 109 mins, IM Global,
Lerins 2; Beck (invitation only),
Japan, 140 mins, Shochiku Co.,
Ltd, Palais I; Rapt, France, 125
mins, Films Distribution,
Olympia 4; Cosa Voglio Di
Piu, Italy, 120 mins, Pyramide
International, Riviera 1;
Memoirs of a Teenage
Amnesiac, Japan, 123 mins,
Toei Company, Ltd., Palais C;
Marilyn & Me, Italy, 104 mins,
Rai Trade, Olympia 6; Severn,
The Voice of Our Children,
France, 120 mins, Wide
Management Enterprise,
Arcades 2; Electro Ghetto,
Germany, 94 mins, Beta
Cinema, Riviera 3; Payback,
Iran, 103 mins, Farabi Cinema
Foundation, Palais E; SUSA,
Georgia, 85 mins, Les Cinemas
Du Monde, Palais G;
Rammbock, Germany, 82
mins, Eastwest Filmdistribution
Gmbh, Olympia 7; Home wrecker, USA, 88 mins,
Shoreline Entertainment, Gray 1
19:15 Cameraman: The Life
and Work of Jack Cardiff,
Cannes Classics, United
Kingdom, 90, High Point
Media Group, Bunuel
19:30 Over Your Cities Grass
Will Grow, Out of
Competition, Netherlands,
103, Holland Film - Part Of Eye
Film Institute Netherlands,
Salle Du 60eme; Cleveland
Vs Wall Street, Directors’
Fortnight, Switzerland, 98,
Films Distribution, Theatre
Croisette, Get Low, USA, 101
mins, K5 International, Star 3;
The Romantics (buyers only),
USA, 105 mins, SC Films
International, Gray 2; Keep
Surfing, Germany, 92 mins,
Beta Cinema, Riviera 2
20:00 Countdown To Zero,
Out of Competition, USA, 91,
The Works International, Star
2, (no press, buyers only); La
Vie Au Ranch, Acid, France,
92, Acid, Arcades 1;
Competition Courts
Metrages, Critics Week;
44
Unknown, 0, Semaine De La
Critique, Miramar,
Life Is An Art, Netherlands, 92
mins, The Content Factory,
Palais F; Eep!, Netherlands, 80
mins, Delphis Films Inc., Palais B;
Rail Ways, Japan, 130 mins,
Shochiku Co., Ltd, Gray 1;
Seconds Apart (After Dark
Originals), USA, 95 mins, IM
Global, Palais D; Lover’s
Discourse (invitation only),
Hong Kong (China), Distribution
Workshop, Gray 4; Jucy,
Australia, 85 mins, Odin’s Eye
Entertainment, Lerins 1; Next
Generation 2010 - A Selection
of Student Shorts, Germany,
93 mins, German Films Service
& Marketing Gmbh, Star 1;
Promo Reels 3D, South Korea,
CJ Entertainment Inc., Palais J;
Animal Kingdom, Australia, 112
mins, E1 Entertainment
International, Arcades 2; Every
Day, USA, 90 mins, Myriad
Pictures, Palais K; Alien Vs
Ninja (no press), Japan, 90
mins, Nikkatsu Corporation,
Palais I; Love Thieves, India, 112
mins, Shemaroo Entertainment
Pvt. Ltd., Palais E; The First
Beautiful Thing, Italy, 124
mins, Intramovies, Arcades 3;
Silence Is Golden, Poland, 98
mins, Python Studioss Ltd,
Palais C
20:30 Bedevilled, Critics
Week, South Korea, 115,
Finecut Co. Ltd., Lerins 2
21:30 Hollywood Don’t Surf,
Cannes Classics, USA, 81,
Festival De Cannes, Cinema
De La Plage,
22:00 Shadows, USA, 96,
Darclight Films, Palais J; You
Will Meet a Tall Dark
Stranger, Out Of
Competition, Spain, 98,
Imagina International Sales,
Salle du 60eme; R U There,
Un Certain Regard,
Netherlands, 87, Films
Boutique, Debussy; The
Silent House, Directors’
Fortnight, Uruguay, 79, Elle
Driver, Theatre Croisette,
22:15 William Vincent, USA,
104 mins, Peace Arch
Entertainment, Lerins 1
22:30 La Mirada Invisible,
Directors’ Fortnight,
Argentina, 95, Pyramide
International, Arcades 1;
Miramar,
24:30 Black Heaven, Out of
Competition, France, 100,
Lumiere, (ticket required); This
Movie Is Broken, Canada, 87
mins, E1 Entertainment
International, Palais I
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
day5_p46 rev.qxd:045THRD5_rev
5/15/10
3:34 PM
Page 1
| reviews
‘Chatroom’
By Maggie Lee
A
cinematic visualization of
how interactions take place
in Internet chatrooms may
sound like a brilliant concept at
co-financing pitches. In practice, Hideo Nakata's psychological thriller “Chatroom,” about
teenagers who fall prey to the
dangerous mind games played
online, just shows people nattering on in cheaply decorated
rooms. Claustrophobic, inert
and stage-like (it was adapted
from the screenwriter's own
play) it is like a cyber age version
of Sartre's “Hui clos” without
the intellectual discourse.
“Chatroom” marks the
Japanese director's first work
with British finance, production
and cast. It was pre-sold to
almost a dozen worldwide territories, including Pathe. Clumsily directed, with a simplistic
plotline and as much suspense
and atmosphere as “Scoobie
Doo,” aficionados of Nakata's
other better works and Asian
horror films will not be
impressed. Internet and computer-savvy youngsters will
probably lose concentration and
fiddle with their iPhones
halfway through the film.
William, Eva, Emily, Mo and
Jimmy become friends in the
chatroom “Chelsea Teenagers.”
Though they have different
backgrounds and personalities, it
transpires that all suffer from
some family trauma or individual
insecurity. William (Aaron Johnson), who has been under therapy and loves visiting sites showing live suicides, gets a kick from
stabbing people's Achilles' heels.
He singles out the emotionally
fragile Jimmy (Matthew Beard)
for a sick game. The problem is
that most characters' angst and
troubles are so generic.
The subjects of dangerous
cult websites and teen group
suicides, notably Shion Sono's
“Suicide Club” and the “Whispering Corridors” series, have
been a subgenre of horrorthrillers from Japan and Korea
for almost a decade. “Chatroom” therefore feels dated, in
spite of efforts to beef up the
story with “Wallace & Gromit”like claymation sequences and
contrasting the online and real
worlds by making the former
swim in loud, vibrant colors and
de-saturating the latter.
Apart from the first 40 minutes, when the introduction of
the five characters holds some
interest, the screenplay only
has one plotline — William's
evil intentions on Jimmy — and
it keeps hammering on it till the
unspectacular end. The air of
mystery and conspiratorial evil
that pervades J-horror is just
missing here.
There also is little sense of
cinematic movement — the protagonists are either sitting down
in front of their notebooks in the
real world, or sitting in chairs
talking in the virtual one, or running up and down a corridor
peopled with weirdoes. The tension ascends in a chase scene
through London's streets at the
end but even then, it feels as
tame and juvenile as Nancy Drew
and the Hardy Boys joining
hands in a rescue mission. ∂
46
> UN CERTAIN REGARD
BOTTOM LINE A dull thriller about
adolescent angst and their
cyberspace mischief.
PRODUCTION: Film4, UK Film Council,
WestEnd Films present a Ruby Films
production. CAST: Aaron Johnson,
Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard.
DIRECTOR:Hideo Nakata. SALES:
WestEnd Films. No rating, 97 minutes.
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
RussainPavillion_D?_05_??_10.indd 1
5/12/10 5:20 PM
day5_p46 rev.qxd:045THRD5_rev
5/15/10
3:34 PM
Page 1
| reviews
‘Chatroom’
By Maggie Lee
A
cinematic visualization of
how interactions take place
in Internet chatrooms may
sound like a brilliant concept at
co-financing pitches. In practice, Hideo Nakata's psychological thriller “Chatroom,” about
teenagers who fall prey to the
dangerous mind games played
online, just shows people nattering on in cheaply decorated
rooms. Claustrophobic, inert
and stage-like (it was adapted
from the screenwriter's own
play) it is like a cyber age version
of Sartre's “Hui clos” without
the intellectual discourse.
“Chatroom” marks the
Japanese director's first work
with British finance, production
and cast. It was pre-sold to
almost a dozen worldwide territories, including Pathe. Clumsily directed, with a simplistic
plotline and as much suspense
and atmosphere as “Scoobie
Doo,” aficionados of Nakata's
other better works and Asian
horror films will not be
impressed. Internet and computer-savvy youngsters will
probably lose concentration and
fiddle with their iPhones
halfway through the film.
William, Eva, Emily, Mo and
Jimmy become friends in the
chatroom “Chelsea Teenagers.”
Though they have different
backgrounds and personalities, it
transpires that all suffer from
some family trauma or individual
insecurity. William (Aaron Johnson), who has been under therapy and loves visiting sites showing live suicides, gets a kick from
stabbing people's Achilles' heels.
He singles out the emotionally
fragile Jimmy (Matthew Beard)
for a sick game. The problem is
that most characters' angst and
troubles are so generic.
The subjects of dangerous
cult websites and teen group
suicides, notably Shion Sono's
“Suicide Club” and the “Whispering Corridors” series, have
been a subgenre of horrorthrillers from Japan and Korea
for almost a decade. “Chatroom” therefore feels dated, in
spite of efforts to beef up the
story with “Wallace & Gromit”like claymation sequences and
contrasting the online and real
worlds by making the former
swim in loud, vibrant colors and
de-saturating the latter.
Apart from the first 40 minutes, when the introduction of
the five characters holds some
interest, the screenplay only
has one plotline — William's
evil intentions on Jimmy — and
it keeps hammering on it till the
unspectacular end. The air of
mystery and conspiratorial evil
that pervades J-horror is just
missing here.
There also is little sense of
cinematic movement — the protagonists are either sitting down
in front of their notebooks in the
real world, or sitting in chairs
talking in the virtual one, or running up and down a corridor
peopled with weirdoes. The tension ascends in a chase scene
through London's streets at the
end but even then, it feels as
tame and juvenile as Nancy Drew
and the Hardy Boys joining
hands in a rescue mission. ∂
46
> UN CERTAIN REGARD
BOTTOM LINE A dull thriller about
adolescent angst and their
cyberspace mischief.
PRODUCTION: Film4, UK Film Council,
WestEnd Films present a Ruby Films
production. CAST: Aaron Johnson,
Imogen Poots, Matthew Beard.
DIRECTOR:Hideo Nakata. SALES:
WestEnd Films. No rating, 97 minutes.
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
5/15/10
7:08 PM
Page 2
EMG
sive Film Distribution and
Exclusive Labs, which will turn
out new media fare.
At their terrace suite at La
Lerina on the Croisette, exclusive principals Nigel Sinclair,
Guy East and Chris Ball offered
up a progress report on the new
company, created in May 2008
when Cryte Investments
acquired both Hammer, the
venerable British production
company, and Sinclair and
East’s Spitfire.
As part of a three-pronged
production strategy, Exclusive
will lend its name to high-end
pictures like “The Way Back,”
its Peter Weir-directed tale of
an escape from a Soviet labor
camp, starring Colin Farrell;
Hammer will be reserved for
genre fare, such as the upcoming “The Resident,” starring
Hilary Swank, and “Let Me In,”
directed by “Cloverfield’s” Matt
Reeves; and Spitfire will focus
on docs, many with a music
background, like “The Last Play
at Shea,” a look at the last days
Europa
Luc Besson’s wife Virginie
Besson-Silla set to produce in
association with France’s Duran
Duboi, support from French TV
group France 3 and a pre-buy
from Canal Plus.
HP will provide its latest
technology including HPZ800
workstations and HP DreamColor displays. The filmmakers
will use a 2D storyboard to produce a non-relief 3D picture.
“It’s not just 3D for 3D’s sake.
It’s more old-style animation,”
Malzieu said Added Berla: “We
like the idea that the film looks
like it could have been made 50
years ago.”
The film, which began production in October, is being
shot in French with A-list Gallic
voices including actor Jean
Rochefort, actress Rossy de
Palma and singers Arthur H.
and Olivia Ruiz. International
versions are in the works, but as
for U.S. talent, “We’re starting
to fantasize about that, but
nothing has been signed for the
moment,” Malzieu said.
Malzieu comes from the
| news
“The missing piece
of the puzzle was
distribution.You
can’t rely on U.S.
studios to pick up
films,so the next
evolution in our
business was to have our own
U.S.distribution.”
— EMG’s Nigel Sinclair
of New York’s Shea Stadium
produced in cooperation with
Billy Joel’s Maritime Pictures,
and a new documentary about
George Harrison, which Martin
Scorsese will direct.
“The missing piece of the puzzle was distribution,” Sinclair
explained of the decision to
acquire Newmarket, which Ball
and William Tyre founded in
1994.“You can’t rely on U.S. studios to pick up films, so the next
evolution in our business was to
have our own U.S. distribution.”
In December, “Machine” will
become the first EMG title to go
out through Newmarket, whose
2010 slate also includes Alejan-
music world — the artist and
writer is the lead singer of rock
group Dionysos, who boast
three gold records. Malzieu and
Dionysos will provide the
soundtrack for “The Boy With
the Cuckoo-Clock Heart.”
“It’s a real auteur film. Even
we were surprised by how much
freedom we had. We really took
risks and pushed the boundaries
of creation,” Berla said of the
directorial duo’s collaboration
with EuropaCorp. The story
takes place in late 19th-century
Edinburgh and follows a little
boy born with a cuckoo-clock
instead of a heart who chases
after a girl across Europe to
Andalusia.
“It’s not a film dedicated just
to children — our target audience in 7-77 years old. It’s
transgenerational,” BessonSilla said, adding, “It’s not a
commercial product, but
there’s a real following already
for both the book and the
album.”
After their “Arthur” franchise,
EuropaCorp is expanding into
the animated realm with another
3D animated feature “A Monster
in Paris,” set to hit French theaters at Christmas. ∂
dro Amenabar’s “Agora,”
opening in May, and the Sundance pick-up “Hesher,” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
which is set for October. Lionsgate will handle home entertainment distribution for
Newmarket.
From Polish animation studio Breakthru Films and Beijing-based Bona Internation
Film Group, “Machine” celebrates the music of Frederic
Chopin. Pianist Lang Lang
appears in the live-action portion of the film, performing the
composer’s music, which
inspires a young girl’s flight of
fancy to stops around the world.
Heather Graham plays the
young girl’s mom.
The movie’s multiplatform
release will also employ 24 short
films based on Chopin’s “24
Etudes” as well as an online game.
U.S. distribution rights to two
of Exclusive’s first three productions — “The Resident” and “The
Way Back” — are still up for grabs.
EMG is likely to unveil “Back” at
either Venice or Toronto.
“Let Me In” will be released by
Overture, which co-produced, in
October and the EMG execs said
they were confident that, despite
the uncertainty surrounding
Overture’s future, the distributor
was commited to the roll out.
At Cannes, EMG is offering
new title “The Woman in Black”
for sale. Project is based on
Susan Hill’s ghost novel, “The
Woman in Black.” The 3D film
adaptation is being directed by
James Watkins (“Eden Lake”)
from a screenplay by “KickAss” writer Jane Goldman.
Meanwhile, EMG has shifted
the focus of its Spitfire Pictures
label so that it will house all of
the company’s documentaries,
such as “Shea,” which had its
premiere at the Tribeca Film
Festival, “Amazing Journey: The
Story of the Who” and the Bob
Dylan doc “No Direction Home,”
directed by Martin Scorsese.
Sinclair hopes to makes one
documentary per year, almost
exclusively music-based, and
has Scorsese finishing up the
editing on “Living in the Material World: George Harrison.”
Spitfire also is preparing a
Formula One project about the
evolution of safety in the races
that is shooting at the Grand
Prix on Sunday. ∂
Leigh
character, a single woman who
drinks too much and wishes she
had a man in her life rather than
just a dysfunctional red car: “I
disagree. The film is sympathetic to her,” Leigh said. “Nothing
in the film set up Mary (Leslie
Manville) as mean. The film is
not narrow or prescriptive.”
At another point during the
session, Leigh did say he thought
the audience watching the film
Saturday morning “did get it.”
(There was in fact a fair amount
of laughter during the screening
at all the right moments.)
The actors on stage included
Manville, Jim Broadbent and
Ruth Sheen as well as Leigh’s
longtime cameraman Dick
Pope. All seemingly felt the
need to come to Leigh’s defense:
“He’s not gruff; his toughness,
well, he’s a proper human
being,” Sheen offered.
Pope added that working
with Leigh, who is well-known
for devising his stories along
with actors and having them do
deep research into their characters’ lives, described the process
of making a film with him as “a
magical mystery tour. It’s a
wonderful collaboration and a
very amusing thing too.” ∂
about the underpinnings of the
movie. He was cut short by
Leigh, who said he would not
answer questions from Brooks,
who should know why.
(Brooks afterward said he had
reviewed one of Leigh’s recent
films unfavorably and had, many
years previously, written a profile of Leigh; moderator Henri
Behar did not urge the director
to respond to Brooks but simply
moved to another qustioner.)
In his subsequent remarks,
Leigh was forceful and a tad
impatient, at pains to explain
the impulses behind the movie
and what it was trying to get at,
and in doing so, often correcting or re-orienting the questions posed to him.
“The film is about how we
come to terms with life — how
we face what we are,” he said.
“There is no message. It’s about
stimulating audiences to care
about life.”
The director was adamant in
responding to one female
reporter, who thought he had
been too “mean” to the lead
51
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
5/15/10
7:37 PM
Page 2
| news
Depardieu, Rahim partner up
By Rebecca Leffler
Gerard Depardieu will share
screen time with the breakout
star of “A Prophet,” Tahar
Rahim, in Belgian director
Joachim Lafosse’s “Aimer a perdre la raison” (Loving to lose
reason), producers MK2 and
Versus Prods. said Friday.
Versus’ Jacques Henri and
Olivier Bronckart will produce
the film with MK2’s Nathanael
Karmitz and Charles Gillibert
serving as co-producers.
This is Lafosse’s fifth film; his
“Private Lessons” screened in
the Director’s Fortnight sidebar
in Cannes in 2008 and he took
part in the Venice competition
in 2006 with “Private Property.”
Rahim won the best actor nod
at this year’s Cesar Awards for
his role in Jacques Audiard’s “A
Fiennes
Prague, who begins an affair with
his cleaner Maryska (Kurylenko).
“Coronet” is to begin shooting
in the fall in London and Prague.
Separately, Damian Lewis, the
redheaded star of “Life” and
“Band of Brothers,” has joined
the cast of another Santana
project, the action-thriller
“Man Is Wolf to Man.”
Inspired by true events, “Man
Is Wolf to Man” is set in French
Guyana in 1934. A group of foreign prisoners escape from a
penal colony only to be tracked
down by a ruthless bounty
Goode
ducer Andy Paterson and
Teplitzky, the film shoots on
location in Sydney, with backing from Screen Australia,
Screen NSW, Standard Chartered Bank and the Australian
Producer Offset.
Cedric Jeanson's New Yorkbased Filmbox are handling
international sales in Cannes,
with Transmission taking all
rights in Australia and New
Zealand. Executive producers
are Daria Jovicic, Jeanson and
Sam Tromans.
Svensk has snapped it up for
Scandinavia. ∂
Depardieu
Qatar
Prophet.”
Actress Emilie
Dequenne, who
won the best
actress prize in
Cannes in 1999
for her role in the
Dardenne brothers’ “Rosetta,”
will co-star.
The script, co-written by
Lafosse and Thomas Bidegain, is
based on the true story of a
mother in Belgium who killed
her five children before attempting suicide. Lafosse’s version of
the story focuses on the relationship between a doctor who
raises his friend’s brother and
the drama that develops when
the boy grows up.
MK2 is handling international sales for the title and will
release the film in France. ∂
hunter. Finnish actress Pihla
Viitala (“Bad Family”) and Germany’s Vinzenz Kiefer, who had
a supporting role in “The Baader
Meinhof Complex,” also star.
Principle photography also is
planned for fall.
The Santana brothers have
produced and directed several
award-winning shorts as well
as a number of series for
British television. “Man Is
Wolf to Man” will be their first
feature film. ∂
Flying
City who is thrust into smalltown middle America after witnessing a murder.
“I am very happy to be associated with New Films International,” Stevens said. “They are
an aggressive and talented
young company on the rise,
with an eye for tasteful and
provocative films.”
The deals were negotiated by
New Films Cinema execs Ron
Gell and Straw Weisman.
“Both ‘Flying Lessons’ and
‘Saving Grace B. Jones’ represent powerful collaborations
between writer, director and
proven Academy Award-caliber
stars,” Weisman said. “We are
very proud to be in business
with these filmmakers and
these films.∂
putting (finance) partners
together and that’s how I
would like us to build our reputation. We won’t be asking to
have a big slice of ownership in
exchange.”
The DFI enjoys the serious
financial muscle from backer the
Qatar Investment Authority.
The umbrella will also oversee existing cultural partnerships with Martin Scorsese’s
World Cinema Foundation,
Mira Nair’s Maisha and New
York’s Tribeca Enterprises.
As part of this expansion,
Scorsese’s World Cinema
Foundation has signed a threeyear cultural partnership with
DFI to restore and preserve
international films of cultural
significance.
And the Doha Tribeca Film
Woody
stars of the pic, Naomi Watts
and Josh Brolin, who play a
married couple in this wryly
realized concoction, as well as
by co-stars Gemma Jones and
Lucy Punch.
Asked if he’d like to live to
100 like the director Manuel De
Oliviera, whose latest film
unspooled here Friday, Allen
said he would if he could do it
like the Portuguese helmer —
not “dribbling, or hooked up.”
In short, his “relationship
with death is, ‘I’m strongly
against it,’ ” which, not surprisingly, elicited a lot of laughter
from the journalists.
Allen went on to say that his
perspective hasn’t changed
since he was six: “My view of
life is grim and pessimistic.
There’s no advantage in getting older; it’s a bad business. I advise you not to do
it.” (The title of the film is
even ambiguous: The
stranger may not be
Antonio Banderas
& Co. at all but
Death himself.)
By and
large, the
actors on
the podium
politely disagreed with
Allen’s unflinchingly but amusingly
Festival (DTFF), a cultural partnership between Doha’s DFI
and New York’s Tribeca Enterprises also continues into its
second year in 2010, scheduled
to open Oct. 26.
DFI has also extended a partnership with Nair’s Maisha
Film Lab to allow Qatari residents to take part in a crosscultural exchange with filmmakers and students from East
Africa and South Asia to access
professional training and production resources.
“The Doha Film Institute’s
goal is to build a sustainable
film industry in Qatar with
strong links to the international
film community. Film can do
more than just entertain; it can
educate, inspire and unite communities and we want to nurture and support filmmakers as
we continue to grow Qatar as a
cultural hub for film,” Sheikha
Al Mayassa said. ∂
communicated skepticism.
“He’s honest about his perspective,” Brolin said, before
adding, though not really “all
that humble.”
“Woody creates electricity on
the set,” he said. “He doesn’t say
much. You’d rather have someone screaming at you. But ...”
As for when auds will next
see Allen in a movie, the director admitted that having grown
older, “it’s no fun NOT playing
the part of the guy who gets the
girl.” Even doing the narration
himself, he said would be distracting: “If I did it, it would
change (the tone) in some way,”
before riffing on the fact that at
his age he couldn’t remember
the name of “the very good
actor” who did do the voiceover
in the present film!
His own cinematic tastes these
days, he said, veers away from
Hollywood studio fare,
which doesn’t interest him,
but rather toward foreign
movies that at least manage to get distributed in
the States, be they Mexican, Iranian, Chinese
or European.
Two actors
he’d still like to
work with,
were the
story to call
Naomi
for it: Cate
Watts
Blanchett
and Reese
Witherspoon.
∂
50
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
WATTS PHOTO: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
day5_p52-53_AT_d_00xTHRDx_abouttown 5/15/10 10:51 AM Page 53
THR.com/cannes
Wall-to-‘Wall Street’
IT WAS THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS, Cannes-style. Oliver Stone brought his cast of
market-movers from “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” — Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin and
Frank Langella. Even though the Euro is sinking against the dollar, spirits were bouyed as
Michael Douglas returned to his iconographic character of
uber-trader Gordon Gekko. Other old reliables who passed
before the cameras included Woody Allen, on hand to
unveil his newest movie, “You Will Meet a Tall, Dark
Stranger,” and Pedro Almodovar, taking part in a
homage to Spanish cinema. But when it comes to
sheer longevity, no one could beat
Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon,
who attended the screening of a
9
new restoration of Luchino
Visconti’s 1963 epic “The
Leopard,” in which they starred
alongside the late Burt Lancaster.
Martin Scorsese introduced the film,
and their fellow stars like Benicio del Toro
applauded the two veteran stars, whose
gloriously youthful images were reflected
back from the screen.
8
5
6
— Gregg Kilday
7
> Actress
53
SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES
Monia
Chokri says
“ahhh” at the
“Heartbeats”
photocall.
MICHAEL BUCKNER
Thomas, left, and
Tokyo International
Film Festival director
Tom Yoda at TIFF’s
cocktail party at the
Majestic Hotel.
All cameras were on
actress Nicole LaLiberte at the
“Kaboom” photocall.
SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES
< Producer Jeremy
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
1: DAVE HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES; 2: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES; 3. ERIC RYAN/GETTY IMAGES; 4. PASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/GETTY IMAGES; 5: KARL WALTER/GETTY IMAGE; 6, 7, and 9: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES; 8: FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
day5_p52-53_AT_d_00xTHRDx_abouttown 5/15/10 10:39 AM Page 52
about town
1
1. Liam Gallagher attends “The Longest Cocktail Party”
photocall at the Terrazza Martini; 2. Woody Allen is in town
4
with “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger”;
3. Claudia Cardinale, Gilles Jacob
and Alain Delon at “The Leopard’s”
Palais des Festivals screening;
4. Benicio Del Toro peeks out from
under the his shades at “The Leopard”;
5. Director Pedro Almodovar salutes at
the photocall for “Homage to the Spanish
2
Cinema”; 6. Back left, director Diego
Luna, Christopher Ruiz-Esparza, below
left, Gerardo Ruiz-Esparza and Gael
Garcia Bernal attend the “Abel” premiere
at the Palais; 7. “Wall Street: Money
Never Sleeps” co-star Josh Brolin busses
director Oliver Stone; 8. Brolin’s co-star
Michael Douglas; 9. Frank Langella offers
Shia Labeouf a little wisdom at the
premiere of “Wall Street.”
3
MAKING THE SCENE
< From left,
SEAN GALLUP
KARL WALTER
< Longtime
Cannes favorite
Mike Leigh
attends the
photocall for
his latest
slice-of-life
British film,
“Another Year.”
52
Stellan Skarsgard,
Helena Mattsson,
producer Tom
Carpelan, director
Maria Lindberg and
actor Mads Mikkelsen
attend the pre-screening party for “The
Moomins” on the
Harle Yacht.
THR.com/cannes
|
day 5
Shoreline_D5_05_16_10.indd 1
5/13/10 12:37 PM

Day 5

Transcription

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