Cannes 2011: Programme Unveiled

[Brendon Connelly]

This year, the official competition at Cannes will see its first 3D entry, Takashi Miike's Harikiri. That's just one of the many surprises in what looks like a very exciting line up of films.

Presiding over the selection juries this year will be Robert De Niro (feature films), Michel Gondry (shorts), Emir Kusturica (Un Certain Regard) and Bon Joon Ho (Camera D'or). That's a uniquely brilliant assembly, and I'm glad they've been delivered such a strong program to deliberate over.

In the competition picks alone there's the shock of a 3D film; the surprise of Julia Leigh's debutSleeping Beauty; the long awaited return of Ratcatcher's Lynne Ramsay; a sci-fi picture from Von Trier; a horror movie from Almodovar; a papal black comedy from Nanni Moretti; what looks to be Terrence Malick's most experimental film to date; the dependably solid Dardenne Brothers; a film starring, written and directed by Maiwenn, "the blue Alien singer from The Fifth Element"; and the most interesting looking Woody Allen for a few years now, at least judging by the trailer.

IN COMPETITION

Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

Polisse, Ma?nn Le Besco

No Tsuki Hanezu, Naomi Kawase

L?Apollonide, Bertrand Bonello

Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn

Footnote, Joseph Cedar

Harakiri, Takashi Miike

Le Havre, Aki Kaurism?

We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay

The Kid With The Bike, Dardenne Brothers

Melancholia, Lars Von Trier

La Source des Femmes, Radu Mihaileanu

Parterre, Alain Cavalier

The Skin That I Inhabit, Pedro Almodovar

We Have a Pope, Nanni Moretti

Sleeping Beauty, Julia Leigh

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Have I told you how much I want to see The Beaver? A lot, that's how much. I'm glad to see it show up. I probably couldn't say no to a bit of Kung Fu Panda 2, either.

OUT OF COMPETITION

The Artist, by Michel Hazanavicius

The Beaver, Jodie Foster

La Conqu?, by Xavier Durringer

Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rob Marshall

Note: there's no mention of Panda on the official press release, but I'm bowing to peer pressure and keeping it in for now. The world is reporting that it's included, so...

I'll give you the Un Certain Regard films too, but for all of the details on way-way-off-piste screenings, check that press release.

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Restless, Gus Van Sant

Martha Marcy May Marlene, Sean Durkin

The Hunter, Bazur Bakuradze

Halt auf freier Strecke, Andreas Dresen

Skoonheid, Oliver Hermanus

Hors Satan, Bruno Dumont

Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro, Robert Gu?guian

The Days He Arrives, Hong Sang-Soo

Bonsai, Christian Jimenez

Loverboy, C?t?lin Mitulescu

Tatsumi, Erik Khoo

En maintenant, on va ou?, Nadine Labaki

Ariang, Kim Ki Duk

Toomelah, Ivan Sen

Yellow Sea, Na Hong-Jin

Miss Bala, Gerardo Naranjo

L?exercice de l?Etat, Pierre Schoeller

Travailler Fatigue, Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra

Oslo, August 31st, Joachim Trier

And there it is. Some of these films will make few ripples on Bleeding Cool in future, while others will make waves. Just don't make too many assumptions, yet, about which is which.

[Scopi]

Harakiri by Takashi Miike? Is he remaking another 1960s film? And shouldn't our cultural awareness advanced to the point where we could call the film Seppuku? I've always found it strange that a Japanese film with a Japanese title would be renamed with a different Japanese word for audiences that don't speak Japanese.

[Brendon Connelly]

Harakiri by Takashi Miike? Is he remaking another 1960s film? And shouldn't our cultural awareness advanced to the point where we could call the film Seppuku? I've always found it strange that a Japanese film with a Japanese title would be renamed with a different Japanese word for audiences that don't speak Japanese.

Yeah, it is a remake of the Masaki Kobayashi. That explains the title too.

[jmyoung]

Yeah, it is a remake of the Masaki Kobayashi. That explains the title too.

Why?

If the original film's title in Japanese is Seppuku, then why not change it now? I believe the term is more commonly known in the West nowadays. Lots of Hollywood remakes have changed the title. Not to imply this is a Hollywood remake, just pointing out it's not uncommon to have a remake be titled something different.

[Brendon Connelly]

Why?

Desire to associate with the previous film.