Small crisis for Cannes planning as film companies and potential participants wait anxiously to see who will compete this year

By Alex Ben Block

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/11/08 – Amid rumors that the world’s most glamorous event outside of perhaps the Oscars, the Cannes Film Festival, led by Thierry Fremaux has been having a hard time finding movies they want for the annual competition, the date of their announcement of movies that will be featured in the festival beginning May 14 has been pushed back from April 17 to April 23 -leaving precious little planning time for all concerned.

It is the equivalent of the Academy Awards or Grammys suddenly saying they will not announce nominees until three weeks before airtime.

The fest has the biggest premiere prize of the summer, “Indiana Jones 4” but that is one night out of the fortnight ceremony.

The timing of the announcement is of major concern to film companies, filmmakers and others involved in movies that might be among the approximately 20 that will compete for the top prize, the Palme d’Or, as well as movies in sidebar competition Un Certain Regard. Only after the official announcement will many of those involved set their travel and hotel plans. The loss of a week of planning time is going to squeeze these plans into an even tighter space.

A festival source said the delay was announced April 2, but it has not been widely reported.

There have already been reports of some of the movies likely to be screen in or out of competition. For instance, authorities in Venice, Italy have said that Woody Allen, after years of bringing his movies to Venice first, this year will bring his new film “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” to Cannes first. DreamWorks CG movie “Kung Fu Panda,” and the Paramount/Lucasfilm mega sequel “Indiana Jones” are also expected to screen early during the festival period.

Other movies said to be potentially in the mix for Cannes this year include a pair of bi-lingual (Spanish and English) movies about Che Guevara by producer/director Steve Soderbergh, “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla.” English director Michael Winterbottom “Geneva,” about a British widower who moves her two daughters to Italy, is also said to be headed to the fest.

French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier’s “In the Electric Mist,” a detective story set in New Orleans starring Tommy Lee Jones, is likely to compete if it is ready in time. The thriller “I Come With the Rain” starring Josh Harnett is another candidate.

There is also “Blindness,” an English language movie by director Fernando Meirelles about a plague of blindness that hits the U.S.

Another possibility is German director Wim Wenders’ “The Palermo Shooting” is about a love affair between an older man and a younger woman, starring Dennis Hopper and Milla Jovovich.

The French film “Francaise,” directed by Souad el Bouhati, about immigrants finding their identity, is also a strong possibility, as is the British film “Franklyn,” a futuristic look at London by first time director Gerald McMorrow.