Cannes fest finally bows its 2008 lineup with some Hollywood glamour from Harrison Ford to Angelina Jolie

By Alex Ben Block

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/23/08 – After delaying its line-up announcement for a week, the Cannes fest came through with some serious star power that will include Clint Eastwood, the previously announced Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg; Shia LeBoeuf, George Lucas and the one the literally thousands of paparazzi that Cannes attracts will go crazy over, Angelina Jolie, probably with beau Brad Pitt and kids in tow.

Clint Eastwood will return to the French Riviera to compete at the Cannes film festival for a fifth time with the thriller “The Changeling,” starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich in the story of a kidnapping set in the 1920s, providing a touch of Hollywood glamour in a year there are fewer films in competition over all and fewer American movies competing than in recent years.

The two American directors are part of a slimmed down line up of films and smaller than usual American presence at this year’s Cannes film festival, which includes the out of competition premiere of the fourth “Indiana Jones” and the animated “Kung Fu Panda.”

The American presence will also include director Steven Soderbergh’s two related movies about the late Latin revolutionary Che Guevera as a single entry to screen over four hours late in the festival. There had been concern that his pair of films, “The Argentine” and “Guerrilla,” would not be ready in time. There is the possibility that they may screen in one form and still be edited more later for the actual U.S. theatrical release. This has been done in the past with films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam war drama “Apocalypse Now” and Wim Wender’s 1984 entry “Paris, Texas.” Both of those films won the coveted top prize, the Palme d’Or, and then were re-edited by their directors prior to wide release.

The other American film in the slimmed down 19-picture main competition is the non-traditional horror film, “Synecdoche, New York,” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It is the directing debut of Charlie Kaufman, a writer whose screenplay credits include critical favorites “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Kaufman stepped in to direct after his frequent collaborator Spike Jonze chose to do a different movie at the time. Jonze is credited as a producer of the movie.

Being screen out of competition, as predicted, is Harrison Ford returning in ““Indiana Jones and the Kingdom

of the Crystal Skull,” directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas, based on his story idea. This is the fourth in the Indie Jones series but the first in 19 years. This will be the movie’s world premiere, followed by a U.S. release May 22. Other cast include Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, John Hurt, Jim Broadbent and to add youth appeal, Shia LaBeouf.

Two other films with American directors that will screen out of competition are DreamWorks animated “Kung Fu Panda,” which was expected; and Woody Allen’s sexy drama set in Spain, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” which as recently as last week was said not to be coming to Cannes. Allen, who had premiered his last few films at the Venice film festival. The movie is being released in the U.S. by the Weinstein Company. Other cast include Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem, who reportedly appear in a sex scene together participating in a threesome.

“Kung Fu Panda,” which is an animated martial arts themed comedy, features the voices of Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Black, Lucy Liu and Angelina Jolie, giving her another reason to come to Cannes, even though she is reportedly pregnant with twins.

For Eastwood, “The Changeling,” which won’t be released in the U.S. until November, will follow his prior Cannes entries — “Pale Rider,” “White Hunter, Black Heart,” “Bird” and “Mystic River.”

The lineup was announced in France today by Festival de Cannes president Gilles Jacob and general manager Thierry Fremaux. There was no specific announcement of what films will screen when, leaving questions about which movies will open and close the 61^st edition of the prestigious festival on the French Riviera. They said they chose to have fewer films in competition and to change the mix away from blockbusters toward even more art house movies. They are said to be seeking to put the focus back on the movies.

They also announced the rest of the jury for the main competition. It had been known that Sean Penn will be head of the jury. He will be joined by American-Israeli actress Natalie Portman, Sergio Castellitto (Italian actor, director, screenwriter), Natalie Portman (Israeli-American actress), Alfonso Cuaron (Mexican director), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thai director), Alexandra Maria Lara (German actress) and Rachid Bouchareb (French director).

The rest of the competition films is a mix by directors well known in Cannes, and eight directors making their first appearance at the festival. The familiar names include Brazilian director Walter Salles, whose film “Linha de Passe” is described as an urban road movie about four soccer playing brothers that takes place in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Egyptian-born Canadian director Atom Egoyan comes to Cannes with “Adoration,” starring Scott Speedman in a drama about teenagers whose lives are defined by the Internet, and one high school student who thinks he is a figure from history.

The only film in competition from China this year is “24 City” from director Jia Zhangke, whose work is officially banned in his home country. Apparently the lack of Chinese films reflects a recent government crackdown which has caused a bottleneck in getting approvals from the government censors. “24 City” is about workers in an old military factory in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, whose work in recent years has been marginalized as the country turned toward a form of capitalism.

Returning for the 15^th time is German director Wim Wenders with the romantic thriller, “The Palermo Shooting,” starring Milla Jovovich, Dennis Hopper and Giovanna Mezzogiorno. Wenders first won the Palme d’Or in 1984 for “Paris, Texas,” and was named Best Director at the fest in 1987 for “Wings Of Desire.” “Palermo” is about a photographer who comes to Palermo to make a break with his past, and meets a woman who leads him into a different way of life. The movie stars Milla Jovoich, Dennis Hopper, Giovanna Mezzogiomo and Campino, a singer with the German punk bank Die Toten Hosen.

Another Cannes regular returning is photographer and director Nuri Bilge Ceylan of Turkey, who will bring his detective story “Daydreams,” a drama about four characters set in Istanbul. Its based on a script by Ceylan, his actress wife Ebru, and Ercan Kesal, this is a part detective story involving four characters, a woman and three men, and takes place in little known areas of Istanbul. Ceylan’s movie “Uzak” won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 2002, and his film “Iklimler” won the critics award in 2006.

There are three French movies in this year’s competition. Auteur filmmaker Philippe Garrel returns to Cannes with “La Frontiere de l’aube,” about a photographer haunted by a vision of his dead former girlfriend on his wedding day. Also from France is “Un Conte de noel,” (“A Christmas Tale”) from director Arnaud Desplechin, starring Catherine Deneuve and Mathieu Amalric in a family drama. Another film in competition is the French-British co-production “The Silence of Lorna,” starring Jérémie Renier (La Promesse, L’Enfant), Fabrizio Rongione (Rosetta, L’Enfant), and Arta Dobroshi in a storey about an Albanian woman who marries a drug addict to live legally in Belgium.

There are eight first time directors in the competition. One who has been getting attention is Ari Folman from Israel whose film “Waltz With Bashir,” is an animated feature about Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Other contenders include Kornel Mundruczo,of Hungary who is screening an incest drama called “Delta;” the Mafia drama “Gomorra” from Italian director Matteo Garrone and “My Magic,” a drama about body piercing from Eric Khoo of Singapore.

Here is the complete list:

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

IN COMPETITION
“24 City,” China, Jia Zhangke
“Adoration,” Canada, Atom Egoyan
“Changeling,” U.S., Clint Eastwood
“Che” (“The Argentine,” “Guerrilla,”) Spain, Steven Soderbergh
“Un Conte de noel,” France, Arnaud Desplechin
“Daydreams,” Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
“Delta,” Germany-Hungary, Kornel Mundruczo
“Il Divo,” Paolo Sorrentino, Italy
“Gomorra,” Italy, Matteo Garrone
“La Frontiere de l’aube,” France, Philippe Garrel
“Leonera,” Argentina-South Korea, Pablo Trapero
“Linha de Passe,” Brazil, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
“La Mujer sin cabeza,” Argentina, Lucrecia Martel
“My Magic,” Singapore, Eric Khoo
“The Palermo Shooting,” Germany, Wim Wenders
“Serbis,” Philippines, Brillante Mendoza
“The Silence of Lorna,” U.K.-France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
“Synecdoche, New York,” U.S., Charlie Kaufman
“Waltz With Bashir,” Israel, Ari Folman

OUT OF COMPETITION
“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” U.S., Steven Spielberg
“Kung Fu Panda,” U.S., Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
“The Good, the Bad, the Weird,” South Korea, Kim Jee-woon
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” U.S.-Spain, Woody Allen

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
“Maradona,” Spain-France, Emir Kusturica
“Surveillance,” U.S., Jennifer Lynch
“The Chaser,” South Korea, Na Hong-jin

SPECIAL SCREENNGS
“Ashes of Time Redux,” China, Wong Kar-wai
“Of Time and the City,” U.K., Terence Davies
“Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,” U.S.-U.K., Marina Zenovich
“Sangue Pazzo” (Crazy Blood), Italy-France, Marco Tullio Giordana

SCREENING OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE JURY
“The Third Wave,” U.S., Alison Thompson

UN CERTAIN REGARD
“A festa da menina morta,” Brazil, Matheus Nachtergaele
“Afterschool,” Antonio Campos
“De Ofrivilliga,” Sweden, Ruben Ostlund
“Je veux voir,” France, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige
“Johnny Mad Dog,” France, Jean-Stephane Sauvaire
“La vie moderne (profiles paysans)”, France, Raymond Depardon
“Los Bastardos,” Mexico, Amat Escalante
“Milh handha al-bahr,” (Salt of This Sea), Palestine, Annemarie Jacir
“O’ Horten,” Norway-Germany, Bent Hamer
“Soi Cowboy,” Thomas Clay
“Tin Che,” (Parking), Chung Mong-Hong
“Tokyo!,” France, Japan, Bong Joon-ho, Michel Gondry, Leos Carax
“Tokyo Sonata,” Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
“Tulpan,” Germany, Sergey Dvortsevoy
“Tyson,” U.S., James Toback
“Versailles,” France, Pierre Schoeller
“Wendy and Lucy,” U.S., Kelly Reichardt
“Wolke 9” (Cloud Nine), Germany, Andreas Dresen
“Yi ban haishui, yi ban huoyan,” Fendou Liu

Feature Film Jury

Sean PENN, President

(American actor, director, screenwriter)

Sergio CASTELLITTO (Italian actor, director, screenwriter)

Natalie PORTMAN (Israeli-American actress)

Alfonso CUARON (Mexican director)

Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL (Thai director)

Alexandra Maria LARA (German actress)

Rachid BOUCHAREB (French director)

Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury

HOU Hsiao Hsien, President

(Taiwanese director-producer)

Suzanne BIER (Danish director)

Marina HANDS (French actress)

Olivier ASSAYAS (French director)

Larry KARDISH (MoMA Curator for Film and Cinema, American)

Un Certain Regard Jury

Fatih AKIN, President

(German director)

Caméra d’or Jury

Bruno DUMONT, President

(French director)