Day 8 at the Cannes International Film Festival was quite busy. You can see pictures in the Gallery to the right and short articles on Day 8 activities below:
Hungarian director Bela Tarr arrives for a gala screening of his film 'The Man from London' running in competition at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, 23 May 2007, in Cannes, France. EPA/DANIEL DEME
Presented in the Un Certain Regard section , Munyurangabo, as Lee Isaac Chung's first feature, is eligible for the Caméra d’Or award. The Korean-American director examines the Rwandan genocide and its current impact on the country's youth.
After stealing a machete from a vendor in a Kigali market, Munyurangabo and his friend Sangwa leave the city to return to their village. Munyurangabo is seeking justice for the murder of his parents, who were slain in the genocide. Sangwa's idea is to return to the house he abandoned years ago. Although the two boys had planned to stay for less than a day, they end up spending several days there.
But, because they are from two different tribes, their friendship is sorely tried. Sangwa's parents are mistrustful of Munyurangabo, and warn their son that Hutus and Tutsis are supposed to be enemies.
"Munyurangabo is the first feature-length narrative ever made in the Kinyarwanda language," Lee Isaac Chung explained. "Actually, making a film in a foreign country, in a language I do not speak, was an advantage. It forced me to work as an 'outsider.' As a result, I was unable to express all my personal ideas and truths, which are relatively unimportant, making way for an exploration of the universal questions which might bring a Korean-American close to a Rwandan. I hope that as an audience, you will feel that, too."
One of Korea’s leading filmmakers, Lee Chang-dong, is presenting his latest work in Competition, entitled Secret Sunshine. The film mixes comedy and despair, darkness and light and is an ode to how we cope in everyday life. Featuring one of Korea’s biggest stars, Song Kang-ho and also Jeon Do-yeon, Secret Sunshine follows the couple who re-locate to Miryang and their difficulties in adapting.
Lee Chang-dong relates his intentions:
American director Abel Ferrara met the press today to answer questions about his Out of Competition midnight screening of Go Go Tales. At his sides were actresses Asia Argento, Bianca Balti, Stephania Rocca, dancers Selena Khoo and Justine Mattera, actors Joe Cortese and Franky Cee as well as producers Enrico Coletti and Massimo Gatti, the latter accompanied by his daughter. Highlights.
Abel Ferrara on where it was shot: “It was shot at Cinecitta, every foot of it. It’s a place that might have existed on 20th Street; it exists on the Champs Elysées. It’s everywhere, a go-go club. (…) Working in Italy, working at Cinecitta is like working in the most beautiful laboratory. It’s like a think tank of cinema.”
Abel Ferrara on defending his own style:
Abel Ferrara on improvising during the shooting:
Asia Argento on working with Abel Ferrara:
Abel Ferrara on the filmmakers who inspire him:
Out of Competition - Special Screening: "Retour en Normandie" by Nicolas Philibert
The Special Screening presentation of Retour en Normandie (Back to Normandy) marks documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert's third invitation to the Cannes Festival. In 2002, his Etre et Avoir (To Be and To Have) was presented out of competition, and five years earlier, he had been a member of the Jury which awards the Caméra d'Or. With Retour en Normandie, Nicolas Philibert explores his past. Thirty years have flown by since he worked as a young first assistant director to René Allio on Moi, Pierre Rivière…, also set in Normandy. Philibert returns to visit with the region's farmers who, for the Allio film, fleetingly embraced an acting career.
"From the very beginning, it was obvious that this would be a film narrated in the first person, with its roots in my own memories and that I would intervene through a voice-over," explains Nicolas Philibert. "At the same time, I wanted to make a film set firmly in the present, not a filmed pilrimage, and finally, in relation to my previous films that nearly all focused on a single setting, I wanted a more fragmented and freer form this time in which it would be possible to slip from one register to another, at times from one period to another, with as much fluidity as possible."
Press Conference: "Persepolis"
At the press conference held for the animated feature Persepolis, presented In Competition Thursday, directors Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud were accompanied by actors Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, and Simon Abkarian, French producers Xavier Rigault and Marc-Antoine Robert, and American producer Kathleen Kennedy.
On the challenge of adaptation:
Marjane Satrapi:
Vincent Paronnaud:
Catherine Deneuve on her participation in the project:
Chiara Mastroianni on getting to know Marjane Satrapi :
Marjane Satrapi on her ties to Iran:
Kathleen Kennedy on the project's universal appeal: Un Certain Regard: "Kuaile Congchang" by Ekachai Uekrongtham
Kuaile Congchang (Pleasure Factory) is an intimate and charming portrait of Geylang, Singapore's little-known red-light district. It brings together characters in search of pleasure and those with the wherewithal to provide it . Selected for Un Certain Regard, Pleasure Factory is the second feature-length film by Ekachai Uekrongtham, a Thai screen and stage director who has won many awards at home.
"In the old days, the Geylang area used to be populated by processing factories for the coconut plantations," Uekrongtham explains. "These days, the machines are still running at full steam – producing pleasure for those seeking it, night after night. With Pleasure Factory, I've tried to strip bare the shields that prevent characters in the film from experiencing true pleasure. I'd like the film to have a vivid sense of realism and honesty. I'd like it to confront a world that's at once seedy and beautiful, dark and bright, sad and humorous, cold and warm, naked and all wrapped up. If pleasure can be mass-produced, what would be left on the assembly line when the machines stop?"
Un Certain Regard: "Et toi, t'es sur qui?" by Lola Doillon
Camera d'Or candidate Et toi, t’es sur qui? (Just About Love?), presented in Un Certain Regard, is a first feature by Lola Doillon, daughter of director Jacques Doillon. Like her father, 32-year-old Lola is interested in adolescent love affairs, their ups and downs, their joys and sorrows… Elodie, who is fifteen, and her best friend Julie, a goth the same age, decide to go to bed with boys for the first time. They only have one week left before summer vacation. And the reality they discover is quite different from what they expected.
Lola Doillon, on what spawned the film project
For three days (from Wednesday, May 23 to Friday, May 25) 16 student films selected by the Cinéfondation from a large number of entries, varying in length from 8 minutes (Rondo by Marja Mikkonen) to 45 minutes (Aditi Singh by Mickael Kummer), will be screening in four different programs in the Salle Buñuel:
Program 1, screening on Wednesday, May 23, includes the following titles: Halbe Stunden by Nicolas Wackerbarth, Ru Dao by Chen Tao, For the Love of God by Joe Tucker, and Berachel Bitha Haktana by Efrat Corem.
Program 2 (screening on Thursday, May 24): A Reunion by Hong Sung-Hoon, Goyta by Joanna Jurewicz, Rondo by Marja Mikkonen, and Aditi Singh by Mickael Kummer.
Program 3 (Friday, May 25): Saba by Gregorio Graziosi and Thereza Menezes, Vita Di Giacomo by Luca Governatori, Minus by Pavle Vuckovic, and Triple 8 Palace by Alexander Ku.
Program 4: Ahora Todos Parecen Contentos by Gonzalo Tobal, Neostorozhnost by Alexander Kugel, Mish’Olim by Hagar Ben-Asher, and Chinese Whispers by Raka Dutta.
Prizes will be awarded to three of these short films at a ceremony on Friday, May 25, in the Salle Buñuel. The Short Film Jury is an international group, presided by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke and made up of Iranian actress and director Niki Karimi, American costume designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis, French novelist J.M.G. Le Clézio, and European director Dominik Moll. The Cinéfondation, founded by the Festival in 1998, is in charge of promoting the emergence of the next generation of filmmakers.
Artist Joann Sfar, a genius of the comic book genre, has come to the 60th Cannes Festival accompanied by his friend, the clever cat who belongs to the Rabbi.
Based on what the animal observes, he will be sketching secret and unexpected events. Sfar will be creating a daily cartoon, imbuing the Festival rites, from the most commonly known to the most confidential, with his own personal vision. "I'll be strolling around the Festival for the entire duration of the event, keeping a journal of sketches for you. They'll be little stories based on things I've seen or experienced." he promised. Joann Sfar also announced that he would soon be directing his first animated feature, based on his best-selling graphic novel The Rabbi's Cat. The film will be produced by Autochenille Production, a company chartered specially for the occasion by Joann Sfar, Clément Oubrerie, and Antoine Delesvaux.
Press Conference: “The Edge of Heaven”
At the press conference today, the film crew from The Edge of Heaven fielded questions from the international journalists. Present were director Fatih Akin, actors Tuncel Kurtiz, Nursel Köse, Hanna Schygulla, Nurgül Yesilcay, Patrycia Ziolkowska, Baki Davrak, as well as producers Klaus Maeck and Funda Odemis. Excerpts follow.
Hanna Schygulla on her participation in this film:
Fatih Akin on what makes you a good director:
Fatih Akin on the film characters:
The actors on shooting this film abroad:
Tuncel Kurtiz:
Nursel Köse:
Baki Davrak:
Fatih Akin about being in Cannes:
"Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case" Added to the Official Selection, Out of Competition
Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case, a documentary on the former Russian agent assassinated by poisoning in London, was added to the lineup of the Official Selection of the Cannes Festival today. It screens at 10:30pm Saturday, May 26 Out of Competition.
This sizzling indictment of the Russian regime was co-directed by Olga Konskaya and Andreï Nekrasov, a close friend of Litvinenko, who was with him for the two years prior to his death. Alexander Litvinenko's widow Marina will give a press conference in Cannes this Saturday, the day of the film's Special Screening.
Rebellion was not completed until after the Official Selection was announced on April 19. The Festival's Artistic Delegate, Thierry Frémaux, has just judged the finished version, and decided to make it part of the selection.
The documentary contains testimony from several witnesses about the itinerary and death of Litvinenko, the former KGB agent who had become a critic of the regime, and was poisoned with radioactive polonium in London. He died of radiation poisoning on November 23, 2006. "It's a very factual documentary and a memorial film, which looks at the Litvinenko case from the standpoint of who Litvinenko was, and who, in Russia, is still trying to keep a free press alive," commented Thierry Frémaux.
Copyright Festival de Cannes 2007 | all rights reserved
USA
Your Talkback on this Story