Wednesday May 17th - Sunday 28th 2006
Celebrities Expected to Attend:
Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, Audrey Tautou, Sir Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Halle Berry, Rebecca Romijin, Juliette Binoche, Vincent Cassel, Penélope Cruz, Ethan Hawke, Greg Kinnear, Michael Madsen, Andie MacDowell, Cillian Murphy, Nick Nolte, Gena Rowlands, Elijah Wood, Billy Zane, Gael Garcia Bernal, Rita Wilson, Pedro Almodovar, Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, Sarah Michelle Gellar, The Rock, Sophie Marceau, Hugh Jackman, Brett Ratner, Sharon Stone, Kirsten Dunst, Paris Hilton, Elizabeth Hurley and Sofia Coppola.
Films To Be Premiered:
Da Vinci Code Opens Cannes Film Festival
The Festival de Cannes can officially commence. Ron Howard and the crew of the film 'The Da Vinci Code' made the first walk up the Red Carpet of this 59th edition, under the portrait, suspended over the front of the Palais, of Ingrid Bétancourt, held prisoner in Colombia since February 23, 2002. For the presentation of his fourth feature film out of competition, the American director was accompanied by producer Brian Grazer, novelist Dan Brown as well as stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, Alfred Molina, Ian McKellen and Jean-Pierre Marielle.
The entire Jury, led by its President Wong Kar Wai, proceeded up the Red Carpet, with, by his side, actors Samuel L. Jackson, Zhang Ziyi, Monica Bellucci, Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Roth, as well as directors Patrice Leconte, Lucrecia Martel and Elia Suleiman. The onlooking fans were equally able to catch a glimpse of Sidney Poitier, who will receive a medal the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters this Thursday, awarded to him by the Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres; Gus Van Sant, one of the directors having taken part in the programme of shorts Paris je t'aime, which will open the section Un Certain Regard tomorrow; and the Dardenne brothers, winners of the Palme d'Or last year with The Child.
All of the guests then attended the Opening Ceremony orchestrated by Vincent Cassel in the Grand Lumière Theatre. "The mistress of ceremonies is myself", quipped the first male actor to be confided with the role of master of ceremonies. Bidding all welcome in English, French, Chinese as well as an African dialect, he stressed the multicultural aspect of the Festival, "symbol of blending", before presenting the entire Jury and yielding the floor to Chinese director Wong Kar Wai. The latter, for his part, confessed he was highly flattered by the distinction of Jury President. "I represent not only myself but all the filmmakers of China and Asia as well," he added.
A standing ovation next saluted American actor Sidney Poitier who expressed himself in these terms: "Before you, in a place impregnated with an atmosphere which so many geniuses have known, it is an inestimable privilege to welcome the motion-picture generation of today and tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great respect that I hereby declare the 59th Festival de Cannes open," he announced to conclude the evening.
Volver
The third day of this 59th edition of the Festival de Cannes is marked by return in the Official Selection - seven years after 'All About My Mother', Prize for Best Director, and two years after 'Bad Education' -, of Pedro Almodóvar, come to present in competition Volver. In this film, the Spanish director looks back to his roots and draws the portrait of three generations of women confronted by madness, lies, superstition and even death. There is Raimunda (Penélope Cruz), married to a man out of work, and her fourteen-year-old daughter; Sole (Lola Dueñas), her sister who manages a hairdressing salon at home; and their mother (Carmen Maura) who died a few years earlier in a fire. The latter reappears one day and seems to have scores to settle with her daughters...
Pedro Almodóvar on the theme of his new film: "I have the impression, and I hope that it isn't just a temporary one, that I managed to fit in a missing piece (whose absence, throughout my life, has brought me great suffering and anxiety, I would even say that over recent years it has poisoned my existence, by outrageously over-dramatising it). This element of which I speak is "death", not only mine and that of the beings that I love, but the inevitable disappearance of all which is alive. I was never able to accept or understand it. And it provokes a state of anxiety before the ever faster flight of time."
Fast Food Nation
With 'Fast Food Nation', presented in the Official Selection in competition, young American director Richard Linklater makes his first appearance at the Festival de Cannes - he will return on Thursday, May 25th to present 'A Scanner Darkly' in the section Un Certain Regard. Adapted from Eric Schlosser's eponymous best-seller, Fast Food Nation casts a critical eye on fast food in the United States through the destinies of three characters: a marketing executive of a fast food chain, an employee of the same chain, and a clandestine immigrant working at the slaughterhouse. For this feature film, Richard Linklater surrounded himself with an all-star cast headed by Ethan Hawke, Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Patricia Arquette and Bruce Willis.
Eric Schlosser, author of the book and co-screenwriter of the film, explains that 'Fast Food Nation', which depicts an imaginary fast food chain, Mickey's Fast Food Restaurants, required "characters representing all of the fast food industry: the minors who work there, those who work in the meat packaging plants, the community of ranches, as well as a fast food restaurant manager who represents the point of view of the big companies. The idea is that at the end, none of these characters are symbols but real, living, human beings." For director Richard Linklater, "the people who were reticent about the book won't necessarily feel the same about the film. After all, the movie evokes characters who do what's best for themselves at given instants, characters each with a life, a job and responsibilities."
Southland Tales
With 'Southland Tales', presented in competition, the young American director Richard Kelly, noticed in 2001 with 'Donnie Darko', makes his Cannes baptism. This futuristic film evokes the city of Los Angeles, fallen victim to a nuclear attack in 2008, a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions which precipitates America into war. In order to be able to respond to the fuel scarcity, the company US-IDent designs a generator of inexhaustible energy which operates thanks to ocean currents. In this city on the brink of chaos, we follow the criss-crossed destinies of Boxer Santaros, an action film actor stricken with amnesia; Krysta Now, ex porno star in the midst of reconversion; and twin brothers Roland and Ronald Taverner, whose destinies becomes confused with that of all mankind.
"It's a comedy about the end of the world," explains Richard Kelly. "Southland Tales explores where our country is heading and our current dilemmas as concerns alternative energy and terrorism, as well as our civil liberties which are taken away from us one by one, or even the potential effects of the degradation of the environment on human behaviour, its neurological impact and consequences on global warming."
X-Men - The Last Stand
The mutants invade the Festival de Cannes upon the occasion of the out-of-competition presentation, of 'X-Men: The Last Stand' by Brett Ratner. For the ultimate chapter of the X-Men trilogy, they face a historic choice and their greatest combat. A treatment henceforth enables them to escape what they are. For the very first time, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Tornado (Halle Berry) and Jean Grey/Phoenix (Famke Janssen) have the choice: keep what makes their character unique but at the price of being rejected by mankind, or abandon their powers and become full-fledged human beings. The opposing viewpoints of Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen) prove ever more incompatible and will trigger off the most spectacular war of all time.
"Bryan Singer," [director of the previous two episodes], in the words of Brett Ratner, "represented a kind of basic contract for me. I wanted to absolutely respect the tone and pursue the developments which he and the actors had created. Audiences had become attached to the characters and we had to remain faithful to them. My goal was to pursue what had been brilliantly commenced, and go even farther into our knowledge of the heroes and their emotions."
Marie Antoinette
With 'Marie Antoinette', director Sofia Coppola presents her first feature film in competition in Cannes. This marks the third time that the American has seen one of her works screened at the Festival: in 1989, she was the screenwriter of one of the segments of New York Stories by her father Francis Ford, presented in Competition; and in 1999, she came with 'The Virgin Suicides' to the Directors' Fortnight. For 'Marie Antoinette', she teams up once more with Kirsten Dunst, her star from 'The Virgin Suicides', to whom she confided the title role as the renowned wife of Louis XIV in a highly personal biography steeped in her own contemporary cultural tastes.
Sofia Coppola, who continues to portray isolated and misunderstood young women, on the tormented character of Marie Antoinette: "For me, 'Marie Antoinette' has remained, first and foremost, the symbol of a totally decadent style. I didn't realise to what point these people, who were called upon to govern a country, were in point of fact no more than teenagers. Daily life in the Château de Versailles is also, for these adolescents, a form of apprenticeship set in a tense, difficult environment. It is this position and the complexity of the character of 'Marie Antoinette' which interested me."
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
