Cannes Film Festival 2012: c’est parti !

This article is in English. Click here to read it in French.

From 16 to 27 May, cinema will be celebrated in France with the 65th Cannes Film Festival. 22 films are competing for the Palme d’Or. The jury is chaired this year by Italian actor and director Nanni Moretti. The actress Berenice Bejo will be the Master of Ceremonies. Films, stars, paparazzi, limousines, glamour, laughter, tears, coups de gueule and many films will be there to entertain us for ten days.

The main star in the spotlight this year is Marilyn Monroe. The Cannes Film Festival is paying tribute to the actress by choosing her as its official poster girl.

50 years after her death, Marilyn Monroe remains “one of the major figures in world cinema, a resolutely contemporary reference for eternal grace, mystery and seduction.”¹

During this festival, many actors and actresses will walk the red carpet at Cannes to defend their films. Expected are: Nicole Kidman; Brad Pitt; Audrey Tautou; Charlotte Gainsbourg; Bruce Willis; and Marion Cotillard…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hSvJX4XsYg

Three French films among the 22 selected for the Palme d’Or

Gilles Jacob, President of the Cannes Film Festival

On 19 April, during a press conference at the Grand Hôtel in Paris, Gilles Jacob, president of the festival, and Thierry Fremaux, délégué général, announced the selection of films, honouring France with three French films competing for the Palme d’Or: ‘Vous n’avez encore rien vu’ by Alain Resnais; ‘De rouille et d’os’ by Jacques Audiard; and ‘Holy Motors’ by Leos Carax.

Fremaux and Jacob announced the various feature films selected out of the 1,779 films submitted. “The Cannes selection is a trip through cinema throughout the world. The films selected renew the 7th Art and re-visit its classicism,” said Fremaux.

The opening film of the 65th Cannes Film Festival will be film director Wes Anderson’s ‘Moonrise Kingdom’.

Also selected are: Jacques Audiard’s ‘De rouille et d’os’; Leos Carax ‘Holy Motors’; David Cronenberg’s ‘Cosmopolis’; Lee Daniels’ ‘The Paperboy’; Andrew Dominik’s ‘Killing them softly’; Matteo Garrone’s ‘Reality’; Michael Haneke’s ‘Amour’; John Hillcoat’s ‘Lawless’; Hong Sangsoo’s ‘In another Country’; Im Sangsoo’s ‘Taste of Money’; Abbas Kiarostami’s ‘Like Someone in Love’; Ken Loach’s ‘The Angel’s Share’; Sergei Loznitsa’s ‘Im Nebel – Dans la brume’; Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Beyond the hills’; Yousry Nasrallah’s ‘Après la bataille’; Jeff Nichols’ ‘Mud’; Alain Resnais ‘Vous n’avez encore rien vu’; Carlos Reygadas’ ‘Post Tenebras lux’; Walter Salles’ ‘On The Road – Sur la route’; Ulrich Seidl’s ‘Paradies : liebe’; Thomas Vinterberg’s ‘Jagten – The hunt’; and ‘Thérèse Desqueyroux’ by Claude Miller will be the closing film.

The Jury

Nanni Moretti, Président of the 65ème Cannes Film Festival

Festival chairman, Nanni Moretti, is a regular face at the Cannes Film Festival. He has presented several films and, in 2001, he received the Palme d’Or for his film ‘La maison du fils’.

Accepting the invitation, Nanni Moretti said: “It is a joy, an honour and a great responsibility to chair the jury of the world’s most prestigious film festival. The festival takes place in a country that has always treated cinema with attention and respect.”

Also present in the jury will be: Hiam Abbass (Palestinian actress and director); Andrea Arnold (British director and screenwriter); Emmanuelle Devos (French actress); Diane Kruger (German actress); Jean-Paul Gaultier (French couturier); Ewan McGregor (British actor); Alexander Payne (American director, writer and producer); and Raoul Peck (Haitian director, screenwriter and producer).

Films, glitz and glamour, flash photography, Haute Couture, the sea, the yachts, the Riviera sun, Brad, Nicole, and everything we love will be there from 16 to 27 May at the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

My French Life™ invites you to follow the Cannes Film Festival on our Facebook page, Twitter account @MaVieFrancaise and, of course, on MyFrenchLife.org.

Vive le cinéma, vive le Festival de Cannes 2012 !