The Festival de Cannes will kick off with a distinctly Gallic start this year. The opening night, on May 17, is “The Da Vinci Code,” which isset in the Louvre Museum. The film anthology, “Paris, je t'aime” (Paris, I Love You) will open the Un Certain Regard series on May 18.
Paris, I Love You consists of episodes on the theme of love, helmed by directors such as Wes CravenWes Craven, Alfonso Cuaron, Gurinder Chadha, Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Coen, Alexander Payne and others. Each segment shot in one of Paris' 20 districts.
The ensembler includes many international stars: Ben Gazzara, Bob Hoskins, Elijah Wood, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Juliette Binoche, Emily Mortimer, Fanny Ardant, and Natalie Portman. “Amelie” producers Claudie Ossard and Emmanuel Benbihy produced the film.
Because of the film's high-profile, Cannes plans to make more of an occasion of the gala screening, which will take place in Un Certain Regard's home, the Debussy theater. Attendees will climb the theater's blue-carpeted steps, not the Palais' main red carpet.
“The gala screening will give Un Certain Regard more attention than it has had in the past,” a spokesman for the fest said, adding that at least a dozen of the film's talents were expected to be there.
Last year, the fest upped the profile of Un Certain Regard by giving it a more prominent jury, headed by Alexander Payne. However, critics were disappointed with the selection. Movies compete for the Un Certain Regard prize, but not for the main competition's Palme d'Or and other kudos.
Artistic director Thierry Fremaux will announce the full lineup of this year's edition at a press conference in Paris on April 20.
Opening Night: The Da Vinci Code (Ron Howard)
Closing Night: Transylvania (Tony Gatlif)
Main Competition
Flandres (Bruno Dumont)
Selon Charlie (Nicole Garcia)
Quand j'etais Chaunteur (When I was a Singer) (Xavier Giannoli)
Volver (Pedro Almodovar)
Red Road (Andrea Arnold)
La Raison Du Plus Faible (The Weakest Is Always Right) (Lucas Belvaux)
Indegenes (Days Of Glory) (Rachid Bouchareb)
Iklimer (Climates) (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
Juventude em Marcha (Pedro Costa)
Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
Babel (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
Lights In The Dusk (Aki Kaurismaki)
Southland Tales (Richard Kelly)
Fast Food Nation (Richard Linklater)
The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Ken Loach)
Summer Palace (Lou Ye)
The Caiman (Nanni Moretti)
L'Amico del Famiglia (Friend Of The Family) (Paolo Sorrentino)
Official Selections-Out Of Competition:
United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
X-Men 3: The Last Stand(Brett Ratner)
Over The Hedge (Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick)
Volevo Solo Vivere (I Just Wanted to Live), Mimo Calopresti, Italy.
Boffo: Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters, Bill Couturie, U.S.
An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim, U.S.
Zidane, un Portrait du 21eme Siecle (Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait), Philippe Parreno (France) and Douglas Gordon (Britain).
El-Banate Dol (These Girls), Tahani Rached, Egypt.
Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, Mali.
Official Selections: Midnight Screenings:
Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell)
Election 2 (Johnnie To)
Guisi (Silk) Su Chao-pin
