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CANNES BRIEFS Summerland cast shines Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Penelope Wilton and Tom Courtenay have joined the cast of wartime drama Summerland, which is set to star and be executive produced by Gemma Arterton. The project marks the feature debut of awardwinning UK playwright Jessica Swale, who has also written the screenplay. Embankment Films is handling international sales and co-representing US rights with Gersh. Summerland is being produced by Shoebox Films’ Guy Heeley with Adrian Sturges, and will shoot this summer in the UK.
Filmax finds Love Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has closed a deal in Spain to Filmax for the romantic comedy An Unexpected Love, starring Ricardo Darin and Mercedes Moran. They play a separated couple who realise they are happier together. The film has also sold to Brazil (Alpha Films), Central America (Wiesner Distribution), Peru, Colombia and Chile (Cinecolor), Taiwan (AV Jet) and Greece (Feelgood). FilmSharks chief Guido Rud is showing footage in Cannes and said he is in advanced talks for the US, France, Italy and Russia. Disney-backed Patagonik produced with Darin’s Kenya Films, marking the first credit for his company.
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Warm welcome for Saudis but big questions persist BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW
Saudi Arabia launched the world’s most generous financing incentive for international productions at a packed press conference on Friday, but many are concerned about who would be able to tap into the rebates and what kind of content would be allowed to shoot in the country. The Saudi Film Council and its parent body the General Culture Authority (GCA) unveiled the lucrative cash rebates of 35% for expenses incurred in the kingdom, and an even more generous 50% cash rebate for spending on local crew. The press conference was among a raft of events being organ-
ised by Saudi Arabia at Cannes this year as it attempts to kickstart its strategy to build the Gulf region’s biggest film industry by 2030 following the lifting of its 30-year ban on cinema last December. But the industry has yet to be convinced of Saudi Arabia’s ability to welcome international productions and Ahmad Al-Mazaid, CEO of the GCA, fielded multiple questions on issues such as what kind of content it would support, censorship, women and Western attire, gender segregation and the geopolitical tensions in the region. “We are developing content guidelines and we will be publish-
ing them in the next few weeks,” said Al-Mazaid, adding that he expected the guidelines would continue to evolve in line with changes in Saudi society. He was also quizzed on whether the country had plans for a film festival. “For us to have a festival we have to have content that is developed locally with Saudi,” he replied. “We will be developing a festival but our focus initially will be to develop the talent, the films and the industry itself. So we will come with our own content and movies and supplement with regional as well as international content.”
Hubert Boesl
Rediance casts US spell Beijing-based sales agent Rediance has sealed North American deals on two titles. Cai Chengjie’s Tiger-award winning The Widowed Witch has been sold to Icarus Films. It is about a woman who poses as a shaman after losing her home. An Elephant Sitting Still, directed by the late Chinese filmmaker Hu Bo, has been sold to KimStim. Set over the course of one day, the film follows three characters struggling with their daily lives who set out to find an elephant that simply sits still and ignores the world.
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Actors Liao Fan and Zhao Tao with director Jia Zhangke on the red carpet for last night’s premiere of Competition title Ash Is Purest White. The China-France-Japan co-production is being sold by mk2 Films.
TODAY
The Image Book, page 8
REVIEWS The Image Book Godard’s film is meditation in sight, sound, text and blazing colour » Page 8
Arctic Joe Penna’s snowbound adventure is served straight up and chilled » Page 10
DIARY Girl dances in Lukas Dhont on the inspiration behind his debut feature Girl » Page 18
SCREENINGS
» Page 34
Altitude basks in Girls Of The Sun BY ORLANDO PARFITT
Altitude Film Distribution has secured UK and Ireland rights to Eva Husson’s Competition title Girls Of The Sun from sales agent Elle Driver. The Kurdistan-set drama stars Golshifteh Farahani as the commander of an all-female battalion who is preparing to liberate her hometown from the hands of extremists. Emmanuelle Bercot costars as a French journalist. The director was inspired to make the film after reading about the exploits of real-life Kurdish women in Syria and Iraq who were taken hostage by Islamic State fighters. Girls Of The Sun receives its world premiere here today. Upcoming Altitude titles include Kevin Macdonald’s Whitney, which premieres here as a Midnight screening; the recently announced Liam Gallagher: As You Were; Chaplin, from the team behind Notes On Blindness; and Calm With Horses starring Barry Keoghan.
Women to unite for silent red-carpet protest Competition jury members Kristen Stewart and Ava DuVernay, along with director Agnes Varda, will be among 82 female industry figures making a silent ascent of the red carpet tonight. They will be highlighting the lack of female representation at the
festival over its 71 editions. Just 82 films directed by women have screened here in Competition, compared to 1,645 directed by men. The initiative has been spearheaded by French gender equality movement 5050x2020.
The 82 women will climb the steps halfway and then face the Palais des Festivals, standing in silence to represent how difficult it is for women to climb the professional ladder in the cinema world. Melanie Goodfellow
Girls Of The Sun
NEWS
Jones and MacKay go Nuclear F LO IRS OK T
Emilia Jones and George MacKay are starring in Catherine Linstrum’s directorial debut Nuclear for Ffilm Cymru Wales and the BFI. The supernatural thriller is now shooting in Wales. The film was developed and is being produced through the second edition of Ffilm Cymru Wales’ low-budget Cinematic scheme, which is financed by the BFI, S4C and Great Point Media, with additional support from Fields Park Media Partners and Warner Music Supervision. Linstrum co-wrote the screenplay with David-John Newman.
Paula Harrowing
BY TOM GRATER
Nuclear
Her previous work as a screenwriter includes California Dreamin’ and Dreaming Of Joseph Lees. Jones (pictured) is a rising star whose credits include What We
Did On Our Holiday, Brimstone and High-Rise. She has just wrapped on Mandie Fletcher’s family film Patrick. MacKay’s recent projects include Tinge Krishnan’s Been So
Long and he is gearing up to shoot Justin Kurzel’s The True History Of The Kelly Gang. Nuclear is produced by Stella Nwimo. There are two further films developed through the Cinematic scheme due to start production later this year: contemporary Welsh-language horror Cadi from director Lee Haven Jones (Shetland) and producer Roger Williams (Bang); and dark comic thriller The Toll, written by Matt Redd, directed by Ryan Hooper, and produced by Western Edge Pictures’ Vaughan Sivell (Prevenge).
Hubert Boesl
Incredible deals for epic Redbad Roel Reiné’s Redbad, the flamboyant historical actionepic starring Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad ), is racking up international sales for Dutch sales agent Incredible. Signature has bought all UK rights and Polmedia has snagged rights for the former Yugoslavian territories of Bosnia Herzgovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Albania. Redbad is set in 754AD in wartorn northern Europe, where Frisians, Saxons and Danes are all vying for power. Further titles on Incredible’s Cannes slate are also selling briskly. China’s Huashi has bought Frans Weisz’s Life Is Wonderful, a film about love and longing set during one spring day in Amsterdam, as well as Barbara Bredero’s romantic comedy Speech. Family Films has bought German and French rights to the comedy-drama Ventoux, about four old buddies cycling up Mont Ventoux. Four family titles including The Smart have gone to Antenna Entertainment for India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Geoffrey Macnab
BNP banks on new talent French bank BNP Paribas, one of the biggest and oldest film financiers in Europe, has launched a fund aimed at projects by emerging new talent across all genres and formats from feature film to VR works, series and shorts. “We are looking to support around a dozen projects a year,” said Henri de Roquemaurel, head of BNP’s images and media department. “It will be aimed primarily at French-produced or co-produced works but there is scope for international projects.” Paris-based BNP is involved in film finance across five territories comprising France, Belgium, Italy, China and the US. Melanie Goodfellow
Japanese stars find Paradise BY LIZ SHACKLETON
COLD FRONT Pawel Pawlikowski (second from right), director of Competition title Cold War, was joined yesterday by the film’s stars (from left) Tomasz Kot, Joanna Kulig and Borys Szyc. Cold War tells the story of two lovers in 1950s Poland and is produced by Tanya Seghatchian and Ewa Puszczynska. The film currently leads Screen’s Jury Grid (see page 64).
Feng Xiaogang makes call on Cell Phone 2 BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Chinese director Feng Xiaogang has reassembled the cast of his 2003 hit comedy Cell Phone for its sequel, Cell Phone 2, which started shooting this week in Beijing. Ge You and Fan Bingbing again head the cast of the film, which also features Zhang Guoli, Xu Fan and Fan Wei. The script is written by Feng’s longtime collaborator Liu Zhenyun, who also wrote the original Cell Phone and Feng’s I Am Not Madame Bovary and Back To 1942.
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Set before the era of the smartphone, the original film told the story of a media executive whose extra-marital affair is revealed by his mobile phone. In a statement released to the Chinese press, Feng said he wanted to take a comedic look at how mobile phones now more closely infiltrate people’s lives. “Science and technology are advancing with each passing day, but the weakness of human nature remains unchanged,” said Feng. “Fifteen years have passed [in Cell Phone 2] — old friends are reunited
and old friendships are renewed.” Zhejiang Dongyang Mayla Media, Feng’s own production company, is producing the film with Huayi Brothers Pictures. Huayi Brothers will also handle part of the international sales, although exact territories have yet to be decided. Feng’s previous film, period drama Youth, was a huge hit in China grossing around $240m. He has a role as an actor in Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is Purest White, which premiered in Competition at Cannes last night.
Japanese actors Satoshi Tsumabuki and Etsushi Toyokawa have signed as the leads in Japan-Taiwan coproduction Paradise Next, which is gearing up to shoot in Taiwan. Directed by Yoshihiro Hanno, the film will feature a theme song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. Taiwan’s Joint Pictures and Japan’s Shimensoka Co will co-produce. The story follows two Japanese hit men who are forced into exile in Taiwan, where they embark on a journey of atonement. Production is scheduled to start on June 22 for delivery in Q2, 2019. Joint’s James Liu and Shimensoka’s Fumiko Osaka are producing the film, which has investment from the exhibition sector and new media. Osaka was a producer on Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Café Lumiere. Director Hanno is also an internationally renowned composer whose soundtrack credits include Jia Zhangke’s Platform and 24 City, and Hou’s Flowers Of Shanghai and Millennium Mambo. He made his directing debut in 2011 with Ugly. Tsumabuki starred in Hou’s The Assassin, which won the best director prize at Cannes in 2015, while Toyokawa’s credits include March Comes In Like A Lion and Hula Girls.
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SCREENING MAY 13 th | 5:30 PM ArcAdes 3
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NEWS
Creative England is launching in Cannes today a $27,000 (£20,000) bursary for an emerging UK producer based outside London in the name of Simon Relph, the late Bafta chairman and CEO of British Screen Finance. The bursary has an initial threeyear funding commitment, which has been raised partly from Creative England and completed by other sources close to Relph. Number 9 Films’ Stephen Woolley is in Cannes to launch the bursary. Woolley is lending mentoring support to the recipient, along with fellow UK producers Tim Bevan, Rebecca O’Brien, Tessa Ross and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly. Bursary applications open on Sunday in a process that is logistically supported by Bafta, which will also grant the recipient
access to its learning events nationwide. “Simon was a rock for many young filmmakers who made their entry into the business in the ’80s,” said Woolley. “He fought tooth and nail for proper government financing for lowbudget British films.” Caroline Norbury, CEO of Creative England and formerly the regional screen agency South West Screen, of which Relph was a founding board member, commented: “There is very little overt financial support available for producers, particularly those who live and work outside London. “We wanted to make a contribution to the industry that would reflect the spirit of Simon’s generous and inclusive nature.” Tom Grater
4 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
September launches Benelux mini-studio BY GEOFFREY MACNAB
Pim Hermeling’s September Films, one of Benelux’s leading arthouse distributors, is diversifying into international co-production and sales. The Amsterdam-based company is setting up its own international sales agent, Nine Film, of which Nelleke Driessen, formerly of Fortissimo Films, is now managing director. September has also bought a 50% stake in production outfit KeyFilm, run by Hanneke Niens and Hans de Wolf, through which Hermeling would like to co-produce international features. It has also launched its own VoD platform for arthouse films. “The old-fashioned way of distribution is not making sense any more,” said Hermeling. “It is MGbased, which is very high-risk for
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Top filmmakers back UK producer bursary
Locus Of Control
distributors. What I would like to do is combine everything within one company — to be attached to a project as early as possible in order to minimise the risk.” September has confirmed it is now aboard Halina Reijn’s directorial debut, thriller Locus Of Control starring Game Of Thrones’
Carice van Houten alongside Marwan Kenzari. The feature is produced by Frans van Gestel’s Topkapi Film. In the film Van Houten plays a psychologist in a penal institution who starts an affair with a serial rapist, who appears ready to return to society.
Arctic heats up for Bleecker BY JEREMY KAY & TOM GRATER
Bleecker Street has bought North American and select international rights to Joe Penna’s survival thriller Arctic starring Mads Mikkelsen, which is premiering here as a Midnight Screening. CAA Media Finance and UTA are handling US rights and XYZ has international. Arctic is produced by Chris Lemole and Tim Zajaros of Armory Films — which also financed the film — and Noah C Haeussner of Union Entertainment Group. Martha De Laurentiis, Manu Gargi and Einar Thorsteinsson are executive producers. Mikkelsen plays a man stranded in the Arctic who must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his camp or embark on a deadly trek through the unknown for potential salvation. Maria Thelma Smaradottir co stars. Penna co-wrote the screenplay with Ryan Morrison.
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Puiu’s Manor House builds expectations BY VLADAN PETKOVIC
Croisette regular Cristi Puiu has wrapped principal photography on his next feature Manor House. It is Puiu’s first film in French and is set in 1900 on the estate of a wealthy landowner. The guests spend time there enjoying long conversations about death, progress and morality.
Manor House sees the director return to the work of the late-19th century Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, which he first used in his experimental actingworkshop film Three Exercises Of Interpretation in 2013. The cast is headed by France’s Ugo Broussot and Lithuania’s Diana Sakalauskaité.
Reel deals on Number 37
“The text constrains me to reformulate a large part of everything that has to do with image, acting and setting within a story told in the past tense,” Puiu explained. Anca Puiu is producing t h ro u g h Ma n d ra go ra a n d Iadasarecasa. Serbia’s Milan Stojanovic from Sense Productions is the co-producer.
Doc projects revealed for Bio To B BY GABRIELE NIOLA
Italy’s documentary-focused Biografilm Festival, which takes place i n B o l o g n a i n Ju n e , h a s announced 11 of the 18 projects to be showcased in its Bio To B — Doc & Biopic Business Meeting co-production event.
They include Sex In The Soviet Union by Ukrainian filmmaker Chad Gracia; In A Future April by Federico Savonitto and Francesco Costabile; Simone Manetti’s I’m In Love With Pippa Bacca; and Kemp, directed by Edoardo Gabbriellini. Cash prizes will be awarded to
the winners judged to be the best European project, best Italian project and the best project from the Emilia-Romagna region. Bio To B is now in its fifth year. Last year the three-day event attracted 200 professionals from 11 countries.
Paris-based Reel Suspects has scored a slew of international deals on South African crimethriller Number 37. The film, which had its world premiere at SXSW this year, has gone to Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Indeed Films) and China (Time Vision). US distributor Dark Star Pictures picked up North American rights from XYZ earlier this month. Reel Suspects handles international rights. The Afrikaans-language film is the directing debut of Nosipho Dumisa. The story follows a lowlevel criminal in Cape Town who is cooped up in his apartment after being crippled during an illicit deal-gone-wrong. It was produced by Bradley Joshua at Gambit Films. Irshaad Ally stars. Tom Grater
May 12, 2018 Screen International at Cannes 5
NEWS
Raven readies Rendel 2 Toronto-based genre sales specialist Raven Banner is launching worldwide sales on a sequel to its Finnish superhero film Rendel. Finland-based producers Black Lion Pictures and Frozen Flame Pictures are planning an early 2019 shoot on Rendel 2, which Jesse Haaja will again direct. Raven Banner licensed Rendel in more than 60 countries. It was released theatrically in Finland by BLP and grossed $120,000. “I can’t even describe how excited I am for this,” Haaja said of the ongoing saga of a masked avenger who fights a criminal organisation. Rendel 2 will be produced by Miika J Norvanto, Trevor Doyle and Timo Puustinen. Kristofer Gummerus stars as Rendel. Jeremy Kay
Ambitious Indonesian sci-fi makes Good Move BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Hong Kong-based sales agent Good Move Media has picked up international rights to Indonesian filmmaker Yusron Fuadi’s Tengkorak, a low-budget sci-fi film that demonstrates the grassroots filmmaking energy emerging in Indonesia. Produced by Fuadi’s Akasacara Films and Vokasi Studio, the film is about a giant skull that is discovered after a devastating earthquake. “We really liked the film’s energy and ambition — there was no sense of scaling back and not attempting anything due to budget constraints,” said Good Move Media’s Pearl Chan. Based in Yogyakarta, Fuadi is a lecturer at the computing faculty of Gadjah Mada University and made the film through Vokasi
Tengkorak
Studio, the faculty’s multimedia lab. “The lab is small but I dream big,” said Fuadi. “The crew are my students and the dean of faculty joined the project as executive producer.” Indonesia’s local cinema is flourishing as the country’s theatrical infrastructure starts to
expand and regional tech companies invest in Bahasa-language production. Good Move’s slate also includes Indonesian filmmaker Edwin’s Posesif and films from Malaysian directors such as Edmund Yeo’s Aqerat and Zahir Omar’s Fly By Night.
Pure Flix puts faith in market BY JEREMY KAY
US faith-oriented production and sales company Pure Flix/Quality Flix is screening two new feature projects to buyers in Cannes. David G Evans’ Indivisible stars Madeline Carroll, Sarah Drew, Jason George, Skye P Marshall and Eric Close. It is about a US Army chaplain whose faith is tested when he returns from combat. Clare Niederpruem’s Little Women is a contemporary reworking of the Louisa May Alcott classic about four sisters. Lea Thompson stars with Ian Bohen, Lucas Grabeel, Bart Johnson and Sarah Davenport. Both films are screening as works in progress. Further titles from Pure Flix/ Quality Flix include God’s Not Dead: A Light In Darkness, which has grossed $5.6m in the US, and Samson, which has grossed more than $4.5m since it launched recently in 1,300 US theatres.
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REVIEWS Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan finn.halligan@screendaily.com
» The Image Book p8 » Arctic p10 » Dead Souls p10
» My Favorite Fabric p14 » Samouni Road p16 » El Angel p14 » Border p16
The Image Book Reviewed by Jonathan Romney A new work by Jean-Luc Godard is always an event in the context of Cannes, where it briefly attains public prominence before being handed over to be sifted for clues by armies of academics and exegetes. You could almost say that a Competition premiere of a Godard work in the Grand Théatre Lumiere is less a cinema screening than a one-off site-specific art installation. This is definitely the case with The Image Book, a meditation in sight, sound, text and blazing colour that is intractably hardcore even by the standards of his recent work such as Film Socialisme and 3D experiment Goodbye To Language. A Godard work this tough faces the viewer with a singular challenge: shrug and assume that the director has lost the thread (as if he were ever interested in anything so linear as a thread) or take a bet that there is a hidden logic in the work and submit oneself (critically, of course) to that logic. The Image Book — which dispenses with narrative and actors but uses a number of recorded voices, including the director’s — is unmistakeably a one-man production in the manner of his epic 1988 video cogitation Histoire(s) Du Cinéma. But it is also credited — on the press
8 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
COMPETITION Switz-Fr. 2018. 85mins Director Jean-Luc Godard Production companies Casa Azul Films, Ecran Noir Productions International sales Wild Bunch, edevos@ wildbunch.eu Editing Jean-Luc Godard, Fabrice Aragno, Jean-Paul Battaggia, Nicole Brenez
book and in barely readable scrawled on-screen captions — as a collaborative venture with Swiss filmmaker Fabrice Aragno, former Godard production manager Jean-Paul Battaggia and academic and theorist Nicole Brenez. Like recent Godard works, The Image Book is divided into several chapters, and like Histoire(s) Du Cinéma — of which it resembles a hypercharged, more aggressively fractured sequel — it mobilises a sometimes barely readable flash storm of spoken and on-screen texts, film and TV clips, artworks and so on, to create the impression of a suggestive discourse about the contemporary condition; although the meaning of that discourse is to be read strictly between the lines and the images. Certain strands of themes emerge clearly, beginning with a succession of images of hands and fingers, illustrating (or illustrated by) the spoken statement that “man’s true condition is to think with hands” (we never know the exact source of the film’s texts). Another suite of images concerns trains, indissolubly linked — in Godard’s work and in the modern consciousness — with the Holocaust. A later theme concerns the Middle East, and the Western incapacity to understand it as anything but an indefinable ‘other’: this comes
under the chapter heading ‘Joyful Arabia’, the title of a work by Alexandre Dumas. This long, sustained section, which therefore comes across as the most clearly coherent in the film, mixes images from the cinema of the Arab world with TV news coverage (Isis-related images occur throughout The Image Book) and video images of the Middle East that seem to be the only expressly shot material in the film. Only the most naive would dare question what this all means, as a simple answer is surely beyond reach, and since the real question with Godard is always, “How does it all mean?”. The Image Book pushes Godard’s sampling method to the extreme, with its aesthetic of absolute fragmentation and frustration. Among untreated film clips, Godard can be heard intoning balefully among the voices, which bounce and distort in a complex sound mix, testing our comprehension. The film, if nothing else, is inestimable, in that it defies normal estimation or assessment. To encounter a film this intransigently confrontational by an artist who shows no sign of softening will be a nightmare for many but, for others, a privilege and a pleasure.
SCREEN SCORE
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REVIEWS
Dead Souls Reviewed by Sarah Ward
Arctic Reviewed by Lee Marshall One man’s struggle for survival is served straight-up and well-chilled in Brazilian YouTube phenomenon Joe Penna’s debut feature. There is plenty to admire in this nearly dialogue-free 97-minute drama, not least Mads Mikkelsen’s raw performance as a downed airman waiting for rescue in the Arctic wastes, and the widescreen majesty of the Icelandic landscapes that stand in for the film’s polar setting. But there is little thematic nuance in a film that has one overriding strategy — to turn up the dramatic volume, notch by notch. Picked up by Bleecker Street for North America and selected international territories on the eve of its debut here in the Midnight sidebar, Arctic is tense, yet surprisingly understated. The film’s closest cousins are solo tales of human resourcefulness and resilience in the face of everincreasing danger, such as 127 Hours and All Is Lost. But Arctic has a twist: this time around the hero has somebody else to keep alive, not just himself. It is a smart move — very nearly an arthouse one — to open after the disaster, not with it. When we first meet Mikklelsen’s character Overgard, he is meticulously clearing snow away from the tundra to create what is revealed to be a giant SOS sign. He has clearly been stuck here for a while, holed up in a crashed prop plane somewhere in this icy desert. A bright, crimson-jacketed figure in a waste of white, Overgard goes through a set routine designed to keep body and hope together: checking for bites from the fish under the ice on the lines he has rigged up over a frozen lake; trudging through the snow to high ground in order to crank a hand-winched emergency locator transmitter. There is a moment of desperate hope, but the helicopter sent to rescue Overgard is dashed to the ground by a blizzard, leaving him to care for the one survivor, a copilot (Maria Thelma Smaradottir) who is seriously wounded, and will spend most of the rest of the film in a semi-comatose state. Survival films so often coerce jeopardy out of uncharacteristic moments of stupidity, and Arctic is no exception. Better to focus on the smaller moments, which is what the film does best. If there is something just a little too linear in Mikklelsen’s near-silent progression, there is no denying Penna’s efficient management of a crescendo we have seen so many times before.
10 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
MIDNIGHT Ice-US. 2018. 97mins Director Joe Penna Production company Armory Films International sales XYZ Films, francesca@ xyzfilms.com Producers Christopher Lemole, Tim Zajaros, Noah C Haeussner Screenplay Joe Penna, Ryan Morrison Production design Atli Geir Gretarsson Editing Ryan Morrison Cinematography Tomas Orn Tomasson Music Joseph Trapanese Main cast Mads Mikkelsen, Maria Thelma Smaradottir
Starting in 1957, it took less than five years for thousands of Chinese detainees to slowly starve to death in the Gobi desert gulags, all victims of the Communist Party’s attempt to eradicate ideological discord (the ‘anti-rightist’ campaign). It has taken Wang Bing 13 years to compile extensive testimonies that recount their traumatic ordeal, and it takes more than eight hours for his chronicle of this little-acknowledged chapter of history to unspool. The longest film to ever screen in Cannes’ official selection, this essential documentary is unflinchingly grim; the cinematic equivalent of walking in the survivors’ shoes, and a complex, challenging but crucial viewing experience that burrows its immense sorrows deep into the audience’s bones. Destined for a prolonged festival run, Dead Souls should also earn worthy comparisons to Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah — not only by virtue of its subject matter, use of first-hand interviews and length, but through its masterful wielding of the power of immersion. Canvassing more than 120 survivors but focusing on approximately a dozen subjects, primarily men, Wang dives into a climate of persecution, incarceration and state-sanctioned killing. As the now-elderly interviewees recall, the 1950s regime urged party members to voice their criticisms, only to swiftly round up those who spoke out, and then condemn the outcasts to labour sites in Jiabiangou and Mingshui, in the nation’s north west. Across individual discussions averaging 30 minutes each, the documentary fleshes out the brutal reality of being left to wither and die in squalor: the sleeping in ditches in all kinds of weather; the swelling and then shrinking of limbs and faces as malnutrition took hold; the growing body count and increasingly lax burial methods; and the desperate food-gathering measures, including stealing, hoarding and, eventually, cannibalism. Shot by Wang with his naturalistic approach, the subjects unburden their tales of hardship from their modest living rooms and even their beds. They are distinguished by their different temperaments — all still shell-shocked, but ranging from quietly solemn to visibly angry. Wang reserves his own emotive flourishes for other parts, including some of the feature’s most affecting sequences as his camera roves over the dirt of the desert and spots unearthed skeletal remains scattered across the surface.
OUT OF COMPETITION Fr-Switz. 2018. 495mins Director/screenplay/ cinematography Wang Bing Production companies Les Films d’Ici, Adok Films, ARTE France Cinéma, CS Productions International sales Doc & Film International, sales@docandfilm.com Producers Serge Lalou, Camille Laemlé, Wang Bing, Louise Prince Editing Catherine Rascon
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FILM IN SCOTLAND
FOR THE PERFECT LOCATION Meet us at the UK Film Centre — Friday 11 to Thursday 17 May at Pavilion 117 in the International Village Riviera. Open daily from 9AM–6PM.
www.creativescotlandlocations.com E locations@creativescotland.com T +44 (0) 141 302 1724 Allt Dearg Burn and Allt Dearg Cottage near Sligachan on the Isle of Skye, with the Black Cuillin Ridge behind Photo: Scottish Viewpoint
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FOTOGRAPHY GOVERT DE ROOS ARTWORK & DESIGN MICHAEL VAN RANDERAAT
FOTOGRAPHY GOVERT DE ROOS ARTWORK & DESIGN MICHAEL VAN RANDERAAT
FOTOGRAPHY GOVERT DE ROOS ARTWORK & DESIGN MICHAEL VAN RANDERAAT
D U TC H F E AT U R E S.CO M 10-05-18 11:26
REVIEWS
El Angel Reviewed by Allan Hunter
My Favorite Fabric Reviewed by Lisa Nesselson In search of freedom in an oppressive society, a defiant young woman exerts her complex personality in a tottering-on-the-brink Damascus in My Favorite Fabric (Mon Tissu Préferé). This subtly devastating tale, which starts in March 2011, is anchored by Franco-Lebanese actress Manal Issa. Where some may see hints of a 21st century Belle De Jour and others will see traces of One Thousand And One Nights, Franco-Syrian writer/director Gaya Jiji explores Middle-Eastern notions of femininity and virility with frank and daring strokes, leavened by fantasy. Nahla (Issa) is more or less permanently disgruntled, and who could blame her? She lives in a small apartment with her mother, relatively empty-headed sister Myriam (Mariah Tannoury) and smart, tomboyish youngest sister, Line (Nathalie Issa). Nahla and her mother are at odds and life in the cramped all-female household is stifling. Nahla works as a salesgirl in a small clothing shop. She knows a lot about fabric and fashion, and also excels at showing contempt for prospective customers. Like any 25-year-old female, she is intent on exploring the sensual side of life, preferably with a partner who respects her. Fabric is her second skin, but she craves the control and abandon of her real skin on her own terms. New neighbours move in, including an intriguing middle-aged woman, Madame Jiji (Ula Tabari), who seems to be the official resident. Nahla introduces herself to the mysterious new tenant and tries to determine what really goes on in her apartment. A bearded man in military camouflage attire is a steady visitor. At home, an introduction is arranged between Nahla and Samir (Saad Lostan), a man who lives in North America but has come back to the country where he was born to find a Syrian bride. Nahla doesn’t just play hard-to-get — she is hard to get. She is so dismissive and off-putting that Samir ends up courting Myriam instead. This matters little to her mother, who just wants a family tie to somebody who can get them abroad. A burdensome aura hangs over the proceedings except in radiantly lit dream sequences, the only setting in which Nahla is seen to smile. Commentary overheard on radio and TV hints that Syria is headed toward horrible circumstances nobody would choose to endure. Used sparingly but with eyejarring impact, archival scenes of explosions and urban terror, shot on video, are incorporated into the narrative.
14 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
UN CERTAIN REGARD Fr-Ger-Tur. 2018. 95mins Director Gaya Jiji Production companies Gloria Films, Katuh Studio, Dublin Films, Les Films de la Capitaine, Liman Film, ZDF International sales UDI Urban Distribution, international, sales@ urbangroup.biz Producers Laurent Lavolé, Vanessa Ciszewski, David Hurst, Eiji Yamazaki, Nadir Operli Screenplay Gaya Jiji in collaboration with Eiji Yamazaki Production design Nadide Argun Editing Jeanne Oberson Cinematography Antoine Héberlé Music Peer Kleinschmidt Main cast Manal Issa, Ula Tabari, Souraya Baghdadi, Mariah Tannoury, Nathalie Issa, Saad Lostan, Wissam Fares, Amani Ibrahim, Metin Akdülger
Luis Ortega transforms the story of Argentinian killer Carlos Robledo Puch into a brash, vibrant, Scorseseflavoured true crime drama in El Angel. The subject’s notoriety, Ortega’s bravura storytelling and a breakthrough performance from eye-catching newcomer Lorenzo Ferro provide all the ingredients to draw domestic and international audiences who have supported recent Argentinian titles from The Clan to Neruda. Ferro is the spitting image of the merciless, babyfaced teenager who eventually confessed to 11 murders and 42 robberies, becoming Argentina’s longest serving prisoner. Smirking from beneath an unruly frizz of blond curls, he has the sulky, puckish air of someone whose bad-boy presence spells trouble. The film begins in Buenos Aires of 1971 and our first glimpses of Carlos confirms his physical swagger and devil-may-care attitude. He emerges as a blithe spirit who sees no point in adhering to the laws or morality that govern others. Ferro’s performance convincingly embodies the reasons why Carlos was dubbed the ‘Angel of Death’ but there is such a spark of vitality to him, such an appetite for risk that there is also a niggling charm. He remains a strangely endearing outlaw no matter how shocking his actions. Ortega does not try to psychoanalyse Carlos. His naive, trusting parents Aurora (Cecilia Roth) and Hector (Luis Gnecco) are decent, hard-working and honest. Carlos is polite and well-mannered in their company but simply sees no need to play by the rules. He finds a kindred spirit in darkly handsome schoolmate Ramon (Chino Darin) and his criminal family. In the manner of a Scorsese or a Sorrentino, Ortega creates baroque, propulsive storytelling set to a brassy soundtrack. The film is a production designer’s dream assignment as it veers between the shabby (dingy clubs, seedy hotels, peeling wallpaper) and the enticingly chic (wealthy apartments filled with thick carpets, valuable trinkets, bold patterned wallpapers and lush fabrics). El Angel slightly runs out of energy in its later stages as the dazzle of the filmmaking cannot quite distract from the inevitability of Carlos’s fate or the similarities with other intense crime dramas (Roberto Succo, Tony Manero, Snowtown etc). Still, this is stylish, commercial storytelling that marks a big leap forward for Ortega and should put Ferro on the map.
UN CERTAIN REGARD Arg-Sp. 2018. 118mins Director Luis Ortega Production companies K&S Films, El Deseo, Underground Producciones International sales Film Factory, info@filmfactory.es Producers Hugo Sigman, Sebastian Ortega, Pedro Almodovar, Agustin Almodovar, Matias Mosteirin, Esther Garcia, Leticia Cristi, Axel Kuschevatzky, Pablo Culell Screenplay Luis Ortega, Rodolfo Palacios, Sergio Olguin Production design Julia Freid Editing Guille Gatti CInematography Julian Apezteguia Music Moonstone Main cast Lorenzo Ferro, Chino Darin, Cecilia Roth, Luis Gnecco
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REVIEWS
Border Reviewed by Allan Hunter
Samouni Road Reviewed by Lee Marshall “I don’t know how to tell a story,” says teenage girl Amal Samouni at the beginning of this powerful documentary about a Palestinian family torn apart by war. Luckily, Italian director Stefano Savona is there to help — though it will emerge over the course of his thoughtful, partanimated film that Amal is a perfectly capable weaver of memories herself. The tragedy at the centre of the film is the notorious Zeitoun incident of January 2009, when 48 civilians were killed during an Israeli military operation in a previously peaceful, rural district of Gaza City, among them 29 members of the same Samouni family. Recounted through a mix of scratchy black-and-white animation with a linocut feel (courtesy of artist/animator Simone Massi) and reconstructed drone imagery, the 30-minute reconstruction of the massacre lends the film its considerable emotional impact. Yet it’s what takes place either side of this dramatic core that makes Savona’s sensitive film stand out. The clear intent here is to go beyond the emergency view of the Arab-Israeli conflict that we absorb through our TV news screens and social media feeds, in order to simply spend time with an ordinary Palestinian family attempting to piece together its life after a terrible trauma. Amal, who was left for dead for three days after the Israeli rocket strike that killed her father and several other family members, has several fragments of shrapnel still embedded in her brain. Yet she is a radiant, resourceful girl whose battle against her brothers’ attempts to exclude her from their important male business is a powerful strand of a film that does not flinch from the less-than-illuminated aspects of life in this intensely tight-knit, judgmental, patriarchal society. In the film’s final section, the fissures as well as the healing currents of the aftermath are highlighted in the edit of the handheld footage Savona shot during several visits to the family. We see fights break out over land distribution when the residents of the Zeitoun district are finally allowed to return to their devastated homes, and watch, with his worried mother, as Amal’s younger brother nurses jihadist dreams of revenge. But there is hope too, in the wedding that closes this nuanced documentary, and in the resilience of the family at its centre.
16 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT Fr-It. 2018. 132mins Director Stefano Savona Production companies Picofilms, Dugong Films, Alter Ego Production, Arte France Cinéma, Rai Cinema International sales Doc & Films International, sales@docandfilm.com Producers Penelope Bortoluzzi, Marco Alessi, Cécile Lestrade Screenplay Stefano Savona, Léa Mysius, Penelope Bortoluzzi Animation director Simone Massi Editing Luc Forveille Cinematography Stefano Savona Music Giulia Tagliavia
Discovering your true self is fraught with untold difficulties in Border (Grans). Following 2016’s Shelley, Ali Abbasi’s second feature is a bracingly original fusion of twisted fairy tale, folklore, police procedural, tragic romance and existential drama. It is mesmerising in its initial oddness and develops into a complex, richly satisfying piece of storytelling in which all the seemingly jagged, awkward edges eventually fit together smoothly. Probably not for mainstream tastes, Border could attract adventurous arthouse patrons and curious genre fans drawn by the dexterous narrative and an extraordinary central performance from Eva Melander. Tina (Melander) has spent all her life accepting she is different. Her hooded eyes and Neanderthal features give her the appearance of someone from a lost world. In her work as a customs officer, she can sniff out the guilty crime-breakers and almost sense the presence of evil. Abbasi depicts her talents in loving close-ups of quivering lips and twitching nostrils. More animal than human, Tina heads home each night to a cabin that she shares with her feckless boyfriend Roland (Jorgen Thorsson) and his three vicious Doberman dogs. She seems happiest in the nearby forest, at one with nature and all the creatures she encounters. Everything changes when she stops one traveller as he walks through customs. Standing before Vore (Eero Milonoff) is like looking in a mirror. They have more in common than Tina could ever imagine and the film really grips as we discover what might be the story of her life. Abbasi successfully juggles many unpredictable, disparate plot elements and then brings them together like a well-tuned orchestra. Tina’s voyage of discovery unfolds alongside an investigation into a paedophile ring, troubles with her aged father and her growing attraction to Vore. Abbasi is also commendable in the way he plays some of the film’s more grotesque, gothic elements entirely straight, but also teases out all of the humour and humanity in Tina’s plight. Melander captures Tina’s dour, lumpen manner with a sense of the hurt and pathos beneath and the character’s innate instinct for decency. The complex relationship between Vore and Tina lies at the heart of a film that has the rare quality of feeling quite unlike anything else you might have seen.
UN CERTAIN REGARD Swe-Den. 2018. 101mins Director Ali Abbasi Production companies META Film, Spark Film & TV, Karnfilm International sales Films Boutique, valeska@ filmsboutique.com Producers Nina Bisgaard, Peter Gustafsson, Petra Jonsson Screenplay John Ajvide Lindqvist, Ali Abbasi and Isabella Eklof, based on a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist Production design Frida Hoas Editing Olivia NeergaardHolm, Anders Skov Cinematography Nadim Carlsen Music Christoffer Berg, Martin Dirkov Main cast Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff, Jorgen Thorsson, Ann Petren
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DIARY
Today Sunny intervals
Edited by Orlando Parfitt & Ben Dalton
Orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com
High 21°c (70°f)
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Dhont dances with debut Girl
Heavy rain
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#CannesChatter Burundian singer/songwriter and Cannes 2018 Competition jury member Khadja Nin has been sharing early highlights of her experiences at the festival. She has taken selfies with jury president Cate Blanchett, partied with fashion guru Karl Lagerfeld and here shares an embrace with Martin Scorsese, who helped launch this year’s festival and gave a post-screening discussion of Mean Streets, which played Directors’ Fortnight in 1974.
Girl
lead was crucial. “She or he needed to be able to dance at a very high level. Also there were difficult acting scenes going deep into the characters’ emotions. We did a genderless casting and saw 500 young people between 14 and 17. One aspect was always missing — either the dancing or the acting.” But when doing group castings for the background dancers, Dhont recalls: “There was this young boy [Victor Polster, then
15]. He entered the room and looked like an angel. He danced and I said, ‘It can only be him.’” Dhont is not trying to provoke with the film, but is “curious” how people will react to it in Cannes, as the issue of transgender teens can inspire heated debate. “I hope people really embrace this character and this movie. There is a lot of love coming from it and I hope people will give it love.” Wendy Mitchell
@khadjanin.official Another legend ! Mr #martinscorsese @martinscorsese_ #khadjanin #hugs #cannes2018 #cannesfilmfestival #festivaldecannes #jury #cateblanchett #kristenstewart #leaseydoux
In conversation with... Johan Bergmark
DEBRA GRANIK, LEAVE NO TRACE (DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT) How did you get involved in the project? Two producers here in New York really liked the book [My Abandonment by Peter Rock] and passed it to me and my producing partner Anne Rosellini. We stuck to the first half pretty closely and we were looking to an alternative to the father dying in a grisly way.
Debra Granik
Debra Granik brings her acclaimed drama Leave No Trace, about a father and daughter living off the grid in the Pacific Northwest, to Cannes for Sunday’s screening in Directors’ Fortnight. Ben Foster and newcomer Thomasin McKenzie star in the film, which shot in Oregon last year and premiered at Sundance. Bleecker Street will distribute in the US and Sony will launch in the UK on July 28.
18 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
a place. You feel as if you come from nowhere. On a good day filmmakers are visual anthropologists and on a bad day they’re voyeurs. Tell us about newcomer Thomasin McKenzie She comes from a very cool arts scene in New Zealand. Her parents are filmmakers and her mother is an acting coach. She was sent the script and sent a wonderful tape. She had a lot of moxie. She wrote a journal… she learned knife skills.
What did you know about these characters? [Foster’s character] figured out how he could be the best teacher to his daughter Leave No Trace as the talons of digital What are you doing next? society were engulfing I’m finishing off a documentary about a everybody. He kept going to the group of men in the New York area who are margins. By the end of the film, I was acclimatising to life after incarceration. And I’ll applauding him. It takes a huge amount of be in Cannes to find partners on a narrative determination to do that. project based on Barbara Ehrenreich’s 2001 [non-fiction] book Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Your films explore marginal communities. Does that echo your upbringing? Getting By In America, about lives of ordinary I grew up in the Washington DC suburbs. I’m working Americans in the service economy. always searching for somewhere that feels like Jeremy Kay
Bergman’s recreated library
Bergman still at home in Cannes This year marks the centenary of the birth of Ingmar Bergman. The legendary Swedish filmmaker died in 2007, but his presence will be felt in Cannes as the Swedish and Norwegian Film Commissioners and the Swedish Institute have turned their pavilion into a copy of Bergman’s famous Faro residence. Visitors are able to enter his library, relax in his living room and sit on furniture inspired by Bergman’s life. Designer Marie Stromberg, photographer Brian Predstrup and students from Sweden have created seven unique furniture pieces, alongside an interactive film installation and timeline of the director’s life and work. Ben Dalton
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Khadja Nin Instagram
Lukas Dhont was just 18 when he had the idea for his first feature film, Girl. He is now the ripe old age of 26 as the film has its world premiere today in Un Certain Regard, sold by The Match Factory. Dhont was a recent graduate, still in the closet with his own homosexuality, when he read a newspaper article about Nora, a girl in Belgium who had been born in a boy’s body, but wanted to become a ballerina. “This story struck me so much,” he says. “This 15-year-old has the courage not only to say, ‘I was born in the wrong body,’ but also to strive for this high form of femininity, to be a ballerina. She was a hero.” The pair struck up a friendship. After graduating from film school in 2014, he knew Nora’s story would inspire his first feature and started writing the script with Angelo Tijssens. They both knew finding the right actor to play the
Tomorrow
T H E S E V E N T H S E A L ©19 57 A B S V E N S K F I L M I N D U S T R I
Cannes Un Certain Regard Border by Ali Abbasi
Cannes Classics Bergman – A Year in a Life by Jane Magnusson
The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman
SWEDISH CO-PRODUCTIONS
Competition The Wild Pear Tree by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
[TR/FR/SE]
Out of Competition The House That Jack Built by Lars von Trier
[DK/SE/DE/FR]
Semaine de la Critique Fugue
by Agnieszka Smoczyńska
Marché du Film Bergman – A Year in a Life T H E M AT C H FA C T O R Y
Bergman Revisited TRUSTNORDISK
Border FILMS BOUTIQUE
Monky
P I C T U R E T R E E I N T E R N AT I O N A L
A Moon of My Own SF STUDIOS
The Raft WIDE HOUSE
[ PL/CZ/SE]
The Real Estate T H E M AT C H FA C T O R Y
Producer on the Move David Herdies
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2018-05-03 11:15
ROUND TABLE PANAMA
Panama powers up Panama Film Commission and key figures from the local industry gathered with international producers and sales agents at a Cannes networking event to discuss the country’s rising ambitions
Days Of Light, produced by Isabella Galvez Peñafiel
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t may be a small country with big neighbours on its doorstep but Panama is increasingly prominent in the Latin American film business. This was the message at a special brainstorming session in Cannes earlier this week, at which key figures from the local industry met with foreign producers and sales agents. One sign of the industry’s rising profile is the success of the International Film Festival of Panama (IFF Panama), which is attracting increasing numbers of international visitors while also showcasing the best in local cinema. Launched only seven years ago, it is already the biggest event of its kind in the Caribbean and Central America. “Panama is ripe for many things to happen. We are a very efficient country. Within very little time, you can get from the Atlantic to the Pacific,” said festival head Pituka Ortega of the range of locations that Panama has to offer. The fact the US dollar is the national currency is another attraction for foreign filmmakers. The government pumps $2.2m annually into the country’s national film fund. At the event, Panama Film Commission’s Essie Mastellari spoke of the “one-stop shop” provided by the organisation. “We can put Panama on the map,” she said. Local industry representatives were keen to point out the many upsides of shooting in Panama. The cash rebate incentive is currently at 15% (relatively low by comparison with rival countries) and requires a $3m minimum spend (very high) but moves are under way to tweak the system. The aim is to bring the minimum-spend requirements
20 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
down to as low as $300,000, possibly as soon as the end of this year. Mastellari and her team have been studying incentives and soft-money schemes in other territories and aim to borrow from the best of them. “For our countries and for Panama in particular, if you don’t have a film industry, you don’t have a mirror,” Ortega noted of the emphasis the government places on the film business. Government support Jonathan Jakubowicz’s Hands Of Stone, the 2016 boxing movie about local ring legend Roberto Duran starring Edgar Ramirez and Robert De Niro, which screened in Cannes, received generous support from the government — a reported $3m investment — as well as from private sources. Among the filmmakers in attendance was Carlos Aguilar Navarro, whose recently completed documentary Panama Al Brown: When The Fist Opens had its premiere at IFF Panama last month. The film tells the story of Alfonso Teofilo Brown, a man from a humble background who was the first Ibero-American to become a world boxing champion. In Paris in the 1920s, the bantamweight danced with Josephine Baker and was befriended by such cultural luminaries as Jean Cocteau and Coco Chanel. (Right) Panama Al Brown
‘We are a very efficient country. Within very little time, you can get from the Atlantic to the Pacific’ Pituka Ortega, International Film Festival of Panama
The doc, Aguilar Navarro revealed, is only the first step: the director’s brother Ricardo is preparing a dramatic feature based on the boxer’s life. Geraldine Chaplin is among the international names who have expressed an interest in the project. “We have a burgeoning film industry that has been growing for the past 10 years. We’ve had a Film Law that has not only increased the number of productions but the amount of people qualified to work in production,” Aguilar Navarro said. Also in attendance was Isabella Galvez Peñafiel, producer of ambitious new drama Days Of Light, which imagines what would happen if a five-day solar storm hit Central America and deprived 47 million people of the basic technology they depend on in their everyday lives. Outsiders tend to have misguided perceptions about the country. “The personality of Panama and Panamanians is very particular,” said Ortega. “Even though we are Central American, we are very different in how we approach business. There is an efficiency and a desire to get things done, which are beneficial to the country… if the projects are interesting enough, if a film is viewed as beneficial to the country and to its tourism industry, the government could perfectly well participate as a partner in the film.” Ortega highlighted the potential upside for international filmmakers heading to the country. “I am not saying this is going to happen across the board but the mentality of Panamanians is very pro-active,” she concluded. “They can make quick, intelligent decisions. If the right project is presented, s many things can happen.” ■
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Isabella Galvez Peñafiel Mente Publica, Karla Quintero International Film Festival of Panama, Essie Mastellari Panama Film Commission, Pituka Ortega International Film Festival of Panama, Carlos Aguilar Navarro producer
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Maja Zimmermann Motivo Films
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The Panama co-pro round table
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Gabriel Giandinoto TRENDS, Ventana Sur
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Charlene Paling Bank Hapoalim BM
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Vincent De Paul Five Arts Productions, Arie Levy-Cohen SingularDTV
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Efuru Flowers Flourishing Films
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Pituka Ortega International Film Festival of Panama
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Ana Aizenberg Argentina Film Commission
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May 12, 2018 Screen International at Cannes 21
Theodore Wood
ROUND TABLE PANAMA FILM COMMISSION
TERRITORY FOCUS POLAND
Watchout Studio has targeted an international audience with Cold War thriller The Coldest Game
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With its theatrical market growing
ince Screen Internathe same time, there is a lot to do at breakneck speed, the country’s tional’s last focus on to convince international distribfilm industry is delivering better Poland during the utors to have Polish films in their than its right-wing government. 2014 Cannes Film Fesrepertoire. Polish cinema is still tival, the Polish theatrical market perceived as niche — good for festiMartin Blaney reports has been booming. In 2014, cinemas vals, tough for distribution.” posted 36 million admissions, rising to With an expected $41.5m (¤34m) 45 million the following year, 52 million budget for its activities during 2018, the in 2016 and more than 56 million in PFI continues to be an indispensable Pienkowski also points to Poland’s 2017 — a national record. factor in the financing equation for the growing international profile, noting “The audiences are quite patriotic as majority of films produced in Poland. Polish films represent almost 25% of the that “the last few years were a time of The PFI supports the annual production great, fresh and surprising debuts and total box office,” observes Stefan Lauof some 200 feature, documentary and international festival successes” and citdyn, founder and director of Warsaw animated films at around $27m (¤22m), ing awards to Malgorzata Szumowska, Film Festival. with recommendations coming from Tomasz Wasilewski and Agnieszka HolAt the same time, last year also saw expert committees and the final decision demanding and ambitious films such as land at the Berlinale in the past four on funding taken by the general director. years and Agnieszka Smoczynska’s sucJan P Matuszynski’s The Last Family and A separate selection committee was cess at Sundance with The Lure. He also Piotr Domalewski’s Silent Night — both set up in 2016 for minority co-producsees it as “a good sign” that more and feature debuts — making a decent tions that had led to an increase in more Polish films are being acquired by impact at the box office, posting 538,000 Polish producers’ involvement in intersales agents “long before shooting”. and 359,000 admissions respectively. national co-productions. Recent exam“There are more producers now feeling ples of films benefiting from this On the Marché the needs of Polish audiences and trying subsidy from the PFI include this year’s This state of affairs was confirmed again successfully to combine arthouse and Berlinale Competition title Dovlatov, during the selection of six Polish workscommercial cinema,” says Marcin PienClaire Denis’ High Life and Greek prokowski, director of Wroclaw’s New Hori- in-progress without a sales agent to be duction Pity, which was selected for this presented at the second edition of New zons International Film Festival, year’s Sundance Film Festival. Horizons’ Polish Days Goes to pointing to films by Lukasz Palkowski A Polish co-producer can Cannes special industry (Gods, Breaking The Limits), Kinga Debreceive up to $574,000 presentation in co-operaska (These Daughters Of Mine) and Pawel (¤470,000) from this fundMaslona (Panic Attack) as examples of tion with the Polish Film ing strand and has to fulfil Institute (PFI) and Marthis new approach. certain conditions, such as ché du Film. “We discov“Matuszynski and Maslona are storya minimum Polish spend of ered that so many new tellers from the new generation who are 80% of the subsidy and interested in a different way of engaging film projects [already] have at least one Polish have a really good sales the audience with stories,” suggests Jan head of department. In agent,” Pienkowski Naszewski of Warsaw-based internathe case of majority cotional sales company New Europe Film says. “But, at productions, the Polish Sales. “They are more interested in qualDovlatov ity, crossover genre cinema and comedy.”
22 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
co-producer can receive a maximum subsidy of $1.1m (¤932,000). Meanwhile, the Polish-German CoDevelopment Fund expanded its remit at the end of 2016 to include applications for production funding under the new name of the Polish-German Film Fund. The nationally operating German Federal Film Board joined the fund’s other three partners — PFI, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg — as the annual budget rose to $611,000 (¤500,000), with the maximum production subsidy set at $183,000 (¤150,000) for a Poland-Germany co-production. At the same time, Polish and international producers have been waiting since the beginning of 2017 to see whether Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage would follow up on its announcement of a planned production incentive scheme that would give producers a 25% rebate on qualifying Polish production costs. The cash rebate scheme — with a proposed annual budget of $27m (¤22m) — would be available to domestic Polish films, co-productions and service productions and cover live-action and feature animation films as well as documentaries and high-end TV series. Initial excitement that Poland would be joining the cash rebate club dissipated when the legislation was pushed back time and again, but, according to PFI’s new general director Radoslaw Smigulski, “work on the final adoption of the act on incentives is on the home straight and Poland will soon become an attractive partner for international co-operation”. »
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TERRITORY FOCUS POLAND
Marcin Pienkowski, New Horizons
With this still not in place, international producers take their projects to European countries offering either tax credits or cash rebates. “It’s not only the Polish film industry that loses out, but also tourism and the economy as a whole,” Smigulski says. “We have great locations that are not easy to find in other countries as well as fantastic professionals and infrastructure.” New game plan This year has seen Watchout Studio, a leading player in the Polish production landscape, adopting a new strategy for Lukasz Kosmicki’s thriller The Coldest Game, with an international cast headed by US actor Bill Pullman, Lotte Verbeek (The Borgias), Aleksey Serebryakov (Leviathan) and Poland’s Robert Wieckiewicz (Walesa: Man Of Hope). “Since our last two films were blockbusters in Poland [Gods with 2.2 million admissions and The Art Of Loving with 1.8 million], the natural path for our company was to reach out for the international audience, especially since the script by Marcel Sawicki and Lukasz Kosmicki was originally written in English,” says producer Piotr Wozniak-Starak. “Language is not an issue when it comes to financing from the Polish Film Institute,” he adds, pointing out that The Coldest Game will be the first 100% Polish production mainly in English. The Polish production outfit — which service-produced 30 days of shooting for Steven Oritt’s My Name Is Sara in Poland this year — recruited internationally savvy partners to place the project in the market. “Both Hyde Park Entertainment and K5 came onboard while we were developing the project and looking for partners who could help us to put this puzzle together,” fellow producer Krzysztof Terej recalls. This bold foray into the international market comes as Watchout Studio awaits the cash rebate scheme with bated breath. “It would certainly be the opportunity for more co-production activity and we’re well-prepared for it,” Wozniak-Starak says. “Watchout Studio with its international strategy is ready to s be a part of this changing market.” ■
24 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
PROFILE RADOSLAW SMIGULSKI
Levelling the playing field The new head of the Polish Film Institute tells Martin Blaney why Polish filmmakers need not be fearful of the future ast autumn the Polish Film Institute (PFI) was grabbing the wrong kind of headlines when its director Magdalena Sroka, who had been in the role since October 2015, was summarily dismissed for allegedly breaching her professional responsibilities. An open letter sent by the European Film Academy (EFA) to the Polish minister of culture Piotr Glinski claimed that Sroka’s removal was “an expression of disrespect for culture and artistic freedom”, while EFA chair Agnieszka Holland observed bleakly: “These are pretty dark times for Poland.” The subsequent appointment of Radoslaw Smigulski, former director of local producer-distributor Syrena Films, to head up the PFI did little to assuage fears, given he is considered something of an enigma by some in the Polish film industry and the 2011 3D flop Kac Wawa — deemed by local critics to be the worst Polish film of the last decade — appeared during his time at Syrena. Further raising the eyebrows of many in the local film community were concerns that the nation’s right-wing government would try to influence the PFI’s operations, as it has done in other sections of Polish media. Now, almost six months in his post, Smigulski stresses to Screen International that “the independence of the Polish Film Institute is not under threat”. “Every artist has the right to submit their project and the best-prepared ones with well-developed screenplays will have a chance to receive funding,” he says. “This year, professionals with different world views will be working on the expert committees, and I think that the selection of such experts has convinced filmmakers that they do not have to fear their project will be rejected because of the subject matter of the film, for example. “We are not here,” he adds, “to analyse a film project in terms of ideology and we do not interfere in creative independence.” While some observers feel that Smigulski has not yet gone far enough in creating a better gender balance in the make-up of PFI’s expert committees, he has made a start by appointing Berlinale Silver Bear winner Malgorzata Szumowska and Dorota Kobiela, co-director on the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent, to chair two of the committees. Moreover, Smigulski says he has started a dialogue with women’s film industry lobby groups. “I hope that we will manage to come to an agreement so that the percentage of women on the expert committees will increase in the coming years,” he says. “From the beginning of my term of office, I have stressed the importance of women filmmakers in Polish cinema [because] the recent successes of Polish cinema are women’s successes,” Smigulski adds, noting that Agnieszka Zwiefka’s documentary Scars will be presented as a work-inprogress at Cannes as part of the Doc Alliance showcase (today at 2pm, Palais K, level 4). Agnieszka Smoczynska’s second feature Fugue is in the Critics’ Week sidebar, and animators Marta Pajek and Marta Magnuska have films in Cannes’ Short Films Competition and at Cinéfondation respectively.
L
Fugue, directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska
Meanwhile, the new PFI director and his team are set to launch a support system for first-time directors that will enable them to make their debut feature within two years of graduation. Smigulski also wants to encourage a wider use of completion bonds and easier access to credit for ongoing productions. “I hope that the changes we are working on will pay off and that, in the future, it will be easier for us to encourage private entities to invest in film production, meaning that more money for film production will appear on the market,” he says. Many in the Polish film community have adopted a “wait and see” attitude over the past six months to give Smigulski the chance to get established in his new post. However, the Directors’ Guild of Poland for one is concerned that he has not yet presented a new PFI development plan for this and forthcoming years and therefore they have yet to see the kind of films that will be supported during his tenure. To be fair, it should be noted that the results of the first call for projects since Smigulski was appointed were not expected to be announced until the end of April this year. “My goal is to make sure the strength of Polish cinema is its diversity,” Smigulski says. “I would not like to favour any particular genre. Until a few years ago, it was believed there was a lack of genre cinema, good mainstream cinema and family films in Poland. However, such films have begun to appear more often thanks in part to the special priorities created by the Polish Film Institute.” He also notes there has been an upturn in the number of screenplays for historical films being written, but stresses “that does not mean we will [back] historical films at the expense of contemporary stories”. “I want everyone to be able to find something for themselves in Polish cinema regardless of their views and beliefs,” he concludes. (Left) Radoslaw Smigulski
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Marcin Kulakowski
‘Polish cinema is still perceived as niche. Good for festivals, tough for distribution’
TERRITORY FOCUS POLAND
Calling the shots With local production buzzing, Poland continues to foster exciting filmmaking talent. Martin Blaney takes a closer look and profiles those on form Malgorzata Gorol Actress On discovering the 31-year-old stage actress Gorol, director Malgorzata Szumowska made an exception to her usual rule of never relying on casting sessions. The filmmaker gave the actress her screen debut in Mug, playing the protagonist’s girlfriend, and the film premiered in Berlinale’s Competition in February winning the Silver Bear grand jury prize. The director of films including In The Name Of and Body usually writes her screenplays with specific actors in mind, “but my ‘casting session’ consisted of finding out that she is very good in the theatre, and then travelling to see her in two stage plays”, Szumowska recalls. “I did a very short screen test — about five minutes — after that, to convince myself 100%. I could see straight away that she was brilliant.” Gorol, who has been widely acclaimed in Poland for her stage performances, was also cast as one of the leads in Kinga Debska’s comedy Plan B, which was released in Polish cinemas at the start of February. She also appeared in two episodes of Patryk Vega’s Botoks TV series for Showmax, based on his 2017 box-office hit of the same name.
Jan P Matuszynski
Jan P Matuszynski Director Former documentary filmmaker Matuszynski burst onto the international scene with his fiction debut, The Last Family, when it premiered at Locarno in 2016. Since then, the film has won awards around the globe as well as bagging four Eagles, including discovery of the year, at the 2017 Polish Film Awards. Last year, Matuszynski joined the young generation of Polish filmmakers working in high-end TV drama when ATM Grupa and HBO Poland hired him to direct three episodes of the second season of The Pack, a contemporary drama about a guard unit stationed on the Polish border with Ukraine. The director has reunited with Aurum Film, producer of The Last Family, to develop his second feature Leave No Traces, which is based on Cezary Lazarewicz’s book about the real events surrounding a 1980s investigation into the controversial and tragic death of 18-yearold Warsaw high school student Grzegorz Przemyk. “This is a multi-layered story about fighting against a power that has a monopoly on truth and law,” explains Matuszynski. “It is about the tragedy of an individual, lies and manipulation. It is the story of a crime without punishment, which was committed on an innocent boy who just wanted to celebrate passing his baccalaureate exam.” Contact Aurum Film
Contact Roza Stanco info@rozastanco.com
Malgorzata Gorol
Piotr Domalewski Director Domalewski has been one to watch since his feature debut Silent Night won the Golden Lions — the top award at last year’s Polish Film Festival in Gdynia — before garnering 10 Eagle awards out of 11 nominations at this year’s Polish Film Awards, including best film, (Right) Piotr Domalewski
best director and discovery of the year. “After Gdynia, I had 17 offers to direct TV series and I spent a couple of months f i n d i n g way s t o refuse,” says the 35-year-old, who has also enjoyed a successful acting career in Poland.
Domalewski had a limited budget and only 27 shooting days for Studio Munk’s production of Silent Night, but he managed to attract a prestigious cast, including Ida’s Dawid Ogrodnik, Arkadiusz Jakubik and Agnieszka Suchora. His attention is now focused on writing scripts for two TV series for which he would like to be the showrunner and director. He is also preparing an as-yet-untitled feature project to be produced with Akson Studio, the production outfit behind Jan Komasa’s Warsaw ’44 and the late Andrzej Wajda’s final film Afterimage. Contact Akson Studio s akson@aksonstudio.pl ■
biuro@aurumfilm.pl
26 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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SCREENING INFO TIME: 4 – 6 pm, 12 May (Sat) VENUE: Palais K
The Man Who Surprised Everyone | Russia, France, Estonia Director Natalya MERKULOVA, Alexey CHUPOV Producer Katia FILIPPOVA
HAF GOES TO CANNES The Pencil | Russia Director Natalya NAZAROVA Producer Anna VON DZIEMBOWSKA
The Sorcerer | Panama Director Producer
Félix GUARDIA Tomás CORTÉS-ROSSELOT
Sister | Bulgaria Director Svetla TSOTSORKOVA Producer Svetoslav OVTCHAROV
w w w. h af. o rg . h k
Still Human | Hong Kong Director Producer
Oliver CHAN Siu-kuen Fruit CHAN
TERRITORY FOCUS POLAND
Top talent
reach boiling point, Kosmicki’s spy thriller centres on an American master chess player (Bill Pullman) playing the match of his life against a Russian opponent where saving humanity from nuclear annihilation is what’s at stake. Pullman is joined by an impressive collection of international talent both on- and off-camera, including costars Lotte Verbeek, Aleksey Serebryakov and Robert Wieckiewicz, production designer Allan Starski and cinematographer Pawel Edelman. The feature is Polish production company Watchout Studio’s first project to film predominantly in English, with sales agent Hyde Park Entertainment and K5 onboard as partners.
Rising wünderkinds and illustrious veterans are preparing the next wave of Polish projects. Martin Blaney reports 53 Wars Dir Ewa Bukowska Actress-director Bukowska’s feature debut is based on a novel by Polish author Grazyna Jagielska, focusing on happily married couple Anka and Witek (played by Magdalena Po p l aw s k a a n d Michal Zurawski). He is a war correspondent spend(Right) 53 Wars
ing most of each year away covering global conflicts, while she tries to lead a normal life waiting for him to return home. But Anka’s fear for Witek’s life eventually takes over, and she begins to prepare for the worst.
Contact Hyde Park Entertainment sales@hydeparkentertainment.com
Contact Munk Studio m.fabijanska@sfp.org.pl
Corpus Christi Dir Jan Komasa
The Coldest Game
Once described as the wünderkind of Polish cinema, Komasa burst onto the international scene with his 2011 feature debut Suicide Room, before going on to direct 2014’s big-budget historical drama Warsaw ’44. For his latest feature
Dir Lukasz Kosmicki Set in 1962 Warsaw as tensions between the US and USSR
he is teaming up with Aurum Film, producer of Jan P Matuszynski’s The Last Family. Mateusz Pacewicz’s screenplay, which took second prize at the prestigious Script Pro competition in 2016, is inspired by true events and centres on a 20-year-old man who experiences a spiritual transformation in a youth detention centre. On expressing interest in joining the church, the prison chaplain tells the boy that no seminary will accept him because of his crime. On parole, he dresses up as a priest to minister in a small town parish. Contact Aurum Film
biuro@aurumfilm.pl
Ether Dir Krzysztof Zanussi Zanussi’s reinterpretation of the Faust myth is set in Ukraine before the First World War as a military doctor carries out medical experiments on patients in order to control them. The film is a co-production between Zanussi’s Studio Filmowe Tor, Lithuania’s Studio Uljana Kim, Ukraine’s Interfilm Production Studio and Hungary’s Laokoon Film. Andrzej Chyra stars and Ukrainian actors Maria Ryaboshapka »
• • • • • •
28 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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TERRITORY FOCUS POLAND
and Ostap Vakulyuk make their bigscreen debuts. Contact Studio Filmowe Tor
Farm. UK actor James Norton plays the British investigative journalist Gareth Jones, who travels deep into the Soviet Union to interview Joseph Stalin. While there, he is tipped off about Stalin’s oppressive regime and a genocidal famine inflicted on the Ukrainian people.
tor@tor.com.pl
Fools Dir Tomasz Wasilewski Ewa Puszczynska, one of the producers of Pawel Pawlikowski’s Competition title Cold War, is lining up Wasilewski’s fourth feature through her company Extreme Emotions. It is set for a summer-autumn shoot this year. “Fools is a film about the most important and difficult choices we make during our lives, about the great consequences and loss they bring with them,” says Wasilewski, who won a Silver Bear at the 2016 Berlinale with United States Of Love. “It is also a film about the family and the values it brings into the lives of every human being.”
Contact WestEnd Films info@westendfilms.com
The Mute Dir Bartek Konopka Gareth Jones
Contact Ewa Puszczynska ewa@extreme-emotions.pl
Gareth Jones Dir Agnieszka Holland Veteran director Holland’s latest feature is based on real events that are said to have inspired George Orwell to write Animal
The Mute
Oscar-nominated writer-director Konopka (Rabbit A La Berlin) travels to the early Middle Ages for his second fiction feature after 2011’s award-winning Fear Of Falling. Two men visit a pagan land: one to bring Christianity to the people, the other to find a way of life. In their different approaches to the pagans — through dialogue or force — one of them will eventually die. The co-production between Otter Films, Odra-Film and Belgium’s Earlybirds Films was inspired, according to the director, by the example of such “peaceful rebels” as Christ, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Contact Otter Films s annawydra@otterfilms.pl n
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EFP is a unique network of 38 European member organisations who represent films and talent from their respective territories. Under the EFP flag, they team up on initiatives to jointly promote the diversity and the spirit of European cinema and talent at key international film festivals and markets.
Participating EFP members Bulgarian National Film Center, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Czech Film Center, Danish Film Institute, Estonian Film Institute, EYE International/The Netherlands, Film Center Serbia, Finnish Film Foundation, German Films, Icelandic Film Centre, ICAA/Spain, Istituto Luce CinecittĂ /Italy, Lithuanian Film Centre, National Film Centre of Latvia, Norwegian Film Institute, Slovak Film Institute, Slovenian Film Center, Swedish Film Institute, Swiss Films, UniFrance
SCREENINGS Edited by Paul Lindsell
JURY GRID, PAGE 64
paullindsell@gmail.com » Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration
night of excess. Elli must confront her mother’s demons to get her back.
FESTIVAL
AND PRESS
Un Certain Regard Debussy Press
08:30 DIAMANTINO
MY FAVOURITE FABRIC
(Portugal) 92mins. Dir: Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt. Cast: Carloto Cotta, Filipe Vargas, Anabela Moreira. Diamantino, the world’s premiere soccer star, loses his special touch and ends his career in disgrace. Searching for a new purpose, the international icon sets out on a delirious odyssey where he confronts neo-fascism, the refugee crisis, genetic modification and the hunt for the source of genius.
(France) 95mins. Dir: Gaya Jiji. Cast: Manal Issa, Ula Tabari, Souraya Baghdadi. Damascus, spring 2011, in the early stages of the revolution: Nahla is torn between her desire for freedom and the hope of leaving the country thanks to her arranged marriage with Samir, a Syrian expatriate in America. When he chooses her younger, more docile sister Myriam, Nahla finds refuge with her neighbour, the mysterious Ms Jiji.
Critics’ Week Miramar
10:30
THE IMAGE BOOK (AKA IMAGE AND WORD)
ASH IS PUREST WHITE
(France) 85mins. Dir: Jean-Luc Godard. Nothing but silence, nothing but a revolutionary song, a story in five chapters like the five fingers of a hand.
(China) 150mins. Dir: Zhang-Ke Jia. Cast: Zhao Tao, Fan Liao. China, 2001: Qiao is in love with Bin, a local mobster. During a fight
Competition Lumiere Ticket required, press
08:45 THE LOAD
(Serbia) 98mins. Dir: Ognjen Glavonic. Cast: Leon Lucev, Pavle Cemerikic, Tamara Krcunovic. Vlada is working as a truck driver during the Nato bombing of Serbia in 1999. Tasked with transporting a mysterious load from Kosovo to Belgrade, he drives through unfamiliar territory, trying to make his way through a country scarred by the war. He knows that once the job is over, he will need to return home and face the consequences of his actions. Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
10:30 ASH IS PUREST WHITE See box, above
Un Certain Regard Bazin
FESTIVAL & PRESS
11:00 ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE
(Poland) 85mins. Dir: Raul De La Fuente, Damian Nenow. Cast: Akie Kotabe, Wilson Benedito, Ryszard Kapuscinski. Warsaw, 1975: a brilliant and idealistic veteran journalist embarks on a dangerous road trip into the heart of the Angolan civil war. Special screenings Bunuel Press
ASH IS PUREST WHITE
(China) 150mins. Dir: Zhang-Ke Jia. Cast: Zhao Tao, Fan Liao. Competition Lumiere Ticket required
GIRL
(Belgium) 100mins. Dir: Lukas Dhont. Cast: Valentijn Dhaenens, Nele Hardiman, Victor Polster.
34 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
of a broken family. between rival gangs, she fires a gun to protect her lover. This lands her five years in prison. Upon her release, Qiao goes looking for Bin to try and start over again. Competition Salle Du 60eme
Lara is a 15-year-old girl, born in the body of a boy, who dreams of becoming a ballerina. Un Certain Regard Debussy Press
THE SPY GONE NORTH
(South Korea) 141mins. Dir: Yoon Jong-Bin. Cast: Hwang Jung-Min, Lee Sung-Min, Cho JinWoong, Ju Ji-Hoon. In the mid-1990s, a loyal South Korean secret agent is caught up in a political vortex plotted by the ruling classes of North and South Korea. Special screenings Bazin Press
11:30 PETRA
(Spain) 105mins. Dir: Jaime Rosales. Cast: Barbara Lennie, Marisa Paredes, Alex Brendemuhl. A smart, complex and morbidly curious portrait
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre De La Licorne
WOMAN AT WAR
(France) 100mins. Dir: Benedikt Erlingsson. Cast: Halldora Geirharosdottir. Halla declares a onewoman war on the local aluminium industry. She is prepared to risk everything to protect the pristine Icelandic Highlands she loves… until an orphan unexpectedly enters her life. Critics’ Week Miramar
11:45
Francois one last job in Spain so that he can make the money that he desperately needs. Things go from bad to worse when the deal goes wrong and everyone around him gets involved.
(Serbia) 98mins. Dir: Ognjen Glavonic. Cast: Leon Lucev, Pavle Cemerikic, Tamara Krcunovic.
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
13:30 BERGMAN — A YEAR IN A LIFE
(Sweden) 120mins. Dir: Jane Magnusson. Documentary examining the relationships between the legendary Swedish film director and many of his leading actresses. Cannes Classics Bunuel
THE WORLD IS YOURS
(France) 110mins. Dir: Romain Gavras. Cast: Karim Leklou, Vincent Cassel, Isabelle Adjani. Francois is tired of being a petty drug dealer: his dream is to settle down and set up a Mr Freeze’s ice lolly franchise in Morocco. But his ambition is smashed to pieces when he discovers that his own mother, a compulsive gambler and seasoned scammer, has burnt his savings that he was relying on to start this new life. Putin, the local gang leader, offers
THE IMAGE BOOK (AKA IMAGE AND WORD)
(France) 85mins. Dir: Jean-Luc Godard. Competition Salle Du 60eme
14:00 ANGEL FACE
(France) 108mins. Dir: Vanessa Filho. Cast: Marion Cotillard, Ayline Etaix, Alban Lenoir, Amélie Daure. One day, Marlene suddenly chooses to abandon her daughter for a man she has just met during yet another
14:45 THE LOAD
15:45 THE SPY GONE NORTH
(South Korea) 141mins. Dir: Yoon Jong-Bin. Cast: Hwang Jung-Min, Lee Sung-Min, Cho JinWoong, Ju Ji-Hoon. Midnight Screenings Salle Du 60eme
16:15 EL ANGEL
(Argentina) 105mins. Dir: Luis Ortega. Cast: Lorenzo Ferro, Chino Darin, Mercedes Morán, Daniel Fanego, Luis Gnecco, Peter Lanzani, Cecilia Roth. Carlitos is a 17-year-old youth with movie-star swagger, blond curls and a baby face. As a young boy, he coveted other people’s things, but it wasn’t until his early adolescence that his true calling — to be a thief — manifested itself. When he meets Ramon at his new school, Carlitos is » immediately drawn to www.screendaily.com
GermanFilmsSCREENCannesSAT_12_May.qxp_Screen_107x304 16.04.18 11:56 Seite 1
NEW GERMAN FILMS IN CANNES 2018 SATURDAY, 12 MAY 09:30 h Lerins 4
IN THE AISLES Thomas Stuber 125 min Beta Cinema
SCREENINGS
him and starts showing off to get his attention. Together they will embark on a journey of discovery, love and crime. Un Certain Regard Bazin
16:30 GIRL
(Belgium) 100mins. Dir: Lukas Dhont. Cast: Valentijn Dhaenens, Nele Hardiman, Victor Polster.
11:45 h Lerins 4
STYX
A THOUGHT OF ECSTASY RP Kahl 87 min Paul Thiltges Distributions
15:30 h Lerins 4
HELP, I SHRUNK MY PARENTS Tim Trageser 95 min ARRI Media International
19:00 GIRLS OF THE SUN
(France) 115mins. Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Emmanuelle Bercot.
WOMAN AT WAR
Competition Debussy Press
Critics’ Week Miramar
13:30 h Lerins 4
Cannes Classics Bunuel
Un Certain Regard Debussy Press
(France) 100mins. Dir: Benedikt Erlingsson. Cast: Halldora Geirharosdottir.
Wolfgang Fischer 94 min Beta Cinema
please stand up? This catchphrase (from the old US TV show ‘To Tell The Truth’), sums up this definitive examination into the life and work of a true American icon who has always confounded labels and outpaced the zeitgeist.
17:30 THE WORLD IS YOURS
(France) 110mins. Dir: Romain Gavras. Cast: Karim Leklou, Vincent Cassel, Isabelle Adjani. Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
18:30 GIRLS OF THE SUN See box, below
18:45 JANE FONDA IN FIVE ACTS
(US) 133mins. Dir: Susan Lacy. Will the real Jane Fonda
on the border between Brazil, Colombia and Peru. They are fleeing the conflict in Colombia. Fearful of betraying family secrets, Nuria goes silent. In the midst of this, the family tries to receive compensation for the father’s death and to obtain a visa to emigrate to Brazil. By covering up this story, they uncover others about the family’s past. Directors’ Fortnight Studio 13
19:15 GIRLS OF THE SUN
THE GREAT MYSTICAL CIRCUS
(Brazil) 94mins. Dir: Carlos Diegues. Cast: Jesuita Barbosa, Bruna Linzmeyer, Rafael Lozano. Follows a century in the lives of the Knieps, an Austrian family of circus owners.
(France) 115mins. Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Emmanuelle Bercot. Competition Bazin Press
20:00 THE IMAGE BOOK (AKA IMAGE AND WORD)
(France) 85mins. Dir: Jean-Luc Godard.
Special screenings Salle Du 60eme
Competition Olympia 1
LOS SILENCIOS
THUNDER ROAD
(Brazil) 88mins. Dir: Beatriz Seigner. Cast: Marleyda Soto, Enrique Diaz, Maria Paula Tabares Pena, Adolfo Savinino. Nuria and Fabio arrive with their mother Amparo at an unknown island
(US) 90mins. Dir: Jim Cummings. Cast: Jim Cummings, Kendal Farr, Nican Robinson, Chelsea Edmundson, Macon Blair, Bill Wise. A tragicomic portrait of Jim Arnaud, a Texan police officer trying to raise his
17:30 h Lerins 4
303
Hans Weingartner 125 min Global Screen
20:00 h Lerins 4
TASTE OF LIFE
Roland Reber 88 min wtp international
FESTIVAL & PRESS 18:30 GIRLS OF THE SUN
INTERNATIONAL VILLAGE GERMAN PAVILION · #123 phone +33-(0)4-92 59 01 80 www.german-films.de
(France) 115mins. Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Emmanuelle Bercot. A young lawyer visits her family in a small town in Kurdistan. In a bloody attack led by extremists, her husband is killed and she’s taken prisoner with her son and thousands of other women and
children. A few months after her escape, she’s now the commander of the ‘Girls of the Sun’, a female battalion. The objective: to take back the town where she was captured and save her hostage son. By her side is Mathilde, a veteran war reporter. Competition Lumiere Ticket required
»
36 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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CANNES SCREENINGS SCREENING TODAY
Saturday, May 12th | 12:00pm | Lerins 1 Come visit us at Cannes - Lerins M6 For Sales Inquiries, contact: Jack Campbell, President Tamara Nagahiro, Vice President Jack@OctaneEnt.com Tamara@OctaneEnt.com
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SCREENINGS
Join us at Pavilion 117 Saturday 12 May 12.00-13.00
Brexit Update
Leaving the EU but staying in Europe
Speakers: Sunniva Hansson (Wiggin), Harriet Finney (BFI’s Director of External Affairs) Chair: Isabel Davis, BFI’s Head of International
14.30-15.30
The New Dealmakers
How are international companies successfully adapting to a changing marketplace
Speakers: Tristen Tuckfield (EVP, 30West), Dana O’Keefe (Partner, Cinetic), Phil Hunt (Co-Managing Director, Head Gear Films), Samantha Racanelli (Agent, Endeavor Content), Claudia Bluemhuber (Managing Director, Silver Reel Partners)
Sunday 13 May 10.30-11.30
Talent Talk: Cold War (Zimna wojna) With Oscar® and BAFTA-winning filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski, producers Ewa Puszczynska (Ida) and Tanya Seghatchian (My Summer of Love)
12.30-13.30
Blockchain 101
What is Blockchain and can it revolutionise film financing?
Events at the UK Film Centre
The Eyes of Orson Welles Dir. Mark Cousins Cannes Classics Talent Talk tomorrow
Speakers: Dan Hyman (VP of Entertainment, Finance & Development, SingularDTV), Ashley Turing (CEO, LiveTree ADEPT)
14.30-15.30
Changing Role of Agents
FESTIVAL & PRESS 21:30 3 FACES
(Iran) 100mins. Dir: Jafar Panahi. Cast: Behnaz Jafari, Jafar Panahi, Marziyeh Rezaei, Maedeh Erteghaei. Three actresses at different stages of their child as best as he can. ACID Arcades 1
20:30 MANDY
(Belgium) 120mins. Dir: Panos Cosmatos. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache. In the primal wilderness, a broken and haunted man seeks vengeance against a biker gang who slaughtered the love of his life.
International agents on packaging projects and working with talent
Talent Talk: The Eyes of Orson Welles Award-winning filmmaker Mark Cousins in conversation with producer Adam Dawtrey
For up-to-date listings and services visit weareukfilm.com
• Information point • Expert advice
38 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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ANGEL FACE
@weareukfilm
Competition Olympia 2
LOS SILENCIOS
(Brazil) 88mins. Dir: Beatriz Seigner. Cast: Marleyda Soto, Enrique Diaz, Maria Paula Tabares Pena.
THE DEPARTURE
ASH IS PUREST WHITE
(Belgium) 93mins. Dir: Jerzy Skolimowski. Cast: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Catherine-Isabelle Duport. A young hairdresser is determined to acquire a Porsche in order to enter a motor race.
(China) 150mins. Dir: Zhang-Ke Jia. Cast: Zhao Tao, Fan Liao.
(US) 118mins. Dir: Jonathan Demme. Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins. A young FBI agent seeks the advice of a cannibal to apprehend a serial killer.
Competition Olympia 1
Cinema On The Beach Plage Mace
GIRLS OF THE SUN
(France) 115mins. Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Emmanuelle Bercot.
(France) 110mins. Dir: Marie Monge. Cast: Tahar Rahim, Stacy Martin. Ella’s life is turned upside down when she meets Abel. Irresistibly
10/05/2018 14:25
23:30 THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
MIDNIGHT FAHRENHEIT 451
(France) 100mins. Dir: Benedikt Erlingsson. Cast: Halldora Geirharosdottir.
(US) 98mins. Dir: Ramin Bahrani. Cast: Sofia Boutella, Michael Shannon, Michael B Jordan. A young man whose job as a fireman is to burn all books, questions his actions after meeting a young girl and begins to rebel.
Critics’ Week Miramar
Midnight Screenings Lumiere Ticket required
Competition Bazin Press
TREAT ME LIKE FIRE
• Meet UK agencies & experts
• Wifi and Café
22:00
GIRLS OF THE SUN
(France) 115mins. Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Emmanuelle Bercot.
Un Certain Regard Debussy Press
Cinema On The Beach Plage Mace
Also at the UK Film Centre:
Directors’ Fortnight Studio 13
22:30
See box, above
3 FACES
16.00-17.00
drawn to this elusive lover, the young woman discovers the cosmopolitan, underground world of Parisian gaming circles, where adrenaline and money reign supreme. Their love story, begun as a mere bet, turns into a devouring passion.
Arcades 1
21:30
Speakers: Mikey Schwartz-Wright (agent, United Talent Agency), Kristen Konvitz (agent international and independent film, ICM Partners), Nick LoPiccolo (agent, Paradigm Talent Agency), Cynthia Okoye, (agent Film & TV, Curtis Brown Group)
Competition Lumiere Ticket required
(France) 108mins. Dir: Vanessa Filho. Cast: Marion Cotillard, Ayline Etaix, Alban Lenoir, Amélie Daure.
Directors’ Fortnight Theatre Croisette
In association with Screen International
careers: one from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution; one a popular star of today in Iran; and a young girl longing to attend a drama conservatory.
WOMAN AT WAR
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»
SCREENINGS
MARKET SCREENINGS
09:00
Anders, 28, has just graduated when he leaves his native Denmark to teach at a primary school in a tiny village on Greenland’s remote east coast. Gray 2
SORRY ANGEL
Galway Film Fleadh 10th-15th July 2018
(France) 132mins. MK2 Films. Dir: Christophe Honoré. Cast: Vincent Lacoste, Pierre Deladonchamps, Denis Podalydès. Jacques is a writer living in Paris. He hasn’t turned 40 but already doubts that the best in life is yet to come. Arthur is a student. He reads and smiles a lot and doesn’t believe anything is impossible. Jacques and Arthur will like each other. Olympia 6 Priority badges only
09:15 REAL GIRL
(France) 115mins. Nippon TV (NTV/ Nippon Television Network Corp). Dir: Hanabusa Tsutomu. A high school senior is the quintessential ‘2D otaku’ obsessed with the twodimensional worlds that unfold in his gadgets and books. That is until a bizarre incident leads him into a romance with a gorgeous girl. Olympia 3
09:30 A POLAR YEAR
(France) 94mins. Kinology. Dir: Samuel Collardey.
ABDEL AND THE COUNTESS
(France) 95mins. SND — Groupe M6. Dir: Isabelle Doval. Cast: Charlotte De Turckheim, Amir El Kacem, Margaux Chatelier. Olympia 3
ANY ONE OF US
(US) 90mins. Red Bull Media House. Dir: Fernando Villena. Cast: Paul Basagoitia, Nichole Munk, Cam Zink. After a devastating spinal cord injury, a driven champion intimately chronicles his life as he battles body and mind in an inspiring story of resilience.
CARGA
(Portugal) 113mins. Wide. Dir: Bruno Gascon. Cast: Michalina Olszanska, Vitor Norte, Rita Blanco. A truck driver tormented by the load he carries… a road that should lead to a better life… human beings treated as goods for selling. In a capitalist society where each person focuses on their own needs, it is easy to forget about those around us and only do what is best for each of us. This is the story of Viktoriya, a young woman who throws everything away in search of a better life. From the moment the doors of the truck in which she travels open up, Viktoriya is confronted with the cruel reality of human trafficking. Can she escape her fate? Palais F
Gray 4
DEPARTURES BROKEN GHOST
(US) 93mins. Film Mode Entertainment. Dir: Richard Gray. Cast: Autry Haydon-Wilson, Devon Bagby, Nick Farnell, Scottie Thompson. Desperate to start a new life, Imogen and her family move to a small town to bury their secrets. But when they begin to suspect their new home is haunted, the ghosts of their past are not the only ones they have to deal with. Lerins 2
(US) 92mins. Voltage Pictures. Dir: Peter Hutchings. Cast: Maisie Williams, Nina Dobrev, Peyton List. A hypochondriac working as an airport baggage handler is forced to confront his fears when a British teenager with a terminal illness enlists him to help her carry out her eccentric bucket list. Riviera 2 By invitation only
THE FRESHMEN See box, below
Galway Film Fair 12th–15th July 2018
MARKET 09:30 THE FRESHMEN
(France) 92mins. Le Pacte. Dir: Thomas Lilti. Cast: Vincent Lacoste, William Legbhil. Antoine is starting his first year of
medical school for the third time. Benjamin is making his first try. In this competitive environment, the freshmen search for some balance between despair for the present and hope for the future. Arcades 2 Press allowed
»
40 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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MARKET SCREENINGS: Lerins M4 / info@visitfilms.com
TODAY / 13:30 / Palais J May 14 / 12:00 / Lerins 1
SCREENINGS
HOLY LANDS
(France) 110mins. Studiocanal. Dir: Amanda Sthers. Cast: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, James Caan, Rosanna Arquette. A Jewish-American cardiologist who left everything behind to become a pig farmer in Israel, including his ex-wife, decides to revisit their love story after finding out that she is terminally ill. Palais D
IN THE AISLES See box, left
INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTIONS — A SUCCESS FORMULA FOR EUROPEAN FILMS?
90mins. European Audiovisual Observatory.
MARKET
Olympia 1
09:30 IN THE AISLES
(Germany) 125mins. Beta Cinema. Dir: Thomas Stuber. Cast: Franz Rogowski, Peter Kurth, Sandra Huller.
Introverted Christian discovers love, friendship and a whole new and mysterious world between the aisles of a wholesale market. Lerins 4
Gyllenhaal, Rosa Salazar, Gael Garcia Bernal. A kindergarten teacher in New York becomes obsessed with a student, who she believes is a child prodigy. Arcades 3
Marlin. Cast: Nacer Khemir. Zachary, 17, gets out of jail. Rejected by his mother, he hangs out on the mean streets of Marseille. This is where he meets Shéhérazade. Palais J
LIKE A CAT ON A HIGHWAY
(Italy) 98mins. True Colours Glorious Films. Dir: Riccardo Milani. Cast: Paola Cortellesi, Antonio Albanese, Claudio Amendola. What happens when the teenage children of the most diverse people on of earth fall in love? He is an intellectual and she is a former cashier with a common goal: this love story, which has the life expectations of a cat on a highway, must end! Palais B
THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER
SHÉHÉRAZADE
(US) 96mins. Protagonist Pictures. Dir: Sara Colangelo. Cast: Maggie
(France) 106mins. Films Boutique. Dir: Jean-Bernard
TRICKY OLD DOGS
(France) 90mins. Gaumont. Dir: Christophe Duthuron. Cast: Pierre Richard, Eddy Mitchell, Alice Pol. Three elderly men who have been friends since the 1960s bond over their lifetime of experiences together despite their differences. Arcades 1
TWO GRAVES
(UK) 80mins. Moviehouse Entertainment. Dir: Gary Young. Cast: Dave Johns, David Hayman, Josh Herdman, Katie Jarvis,
RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER WERNER HERZOG WIM WENDERS TOM TYKWER PETER JACKSON JOHN WATERS DORIS DÖRRIE MAREN ADE CAROLINE LINK DETLEV BUCK AKI KAURISMÄKI CHRIS KRAUS JIM JARMUSCH WES CRAVEN SÖNKE WORTMANN SUSANNE BIER ROBERTO BENIGNI BRIAN DE PALMA EMILY ATEF DOMINIK GRAF PAUL SCHRADER JOHN CASSAVETES MIKE LEIGH ALLISON ANDERS TONY GATLIF CHRISTOPH SCHLINGENSIEF COSTA-GAVRAS JOHN CARPENTER HANS-CHRISTIAN SCHMID CHRISTIAN PETZOLD ALBERT MAYSLES ANNE ZOHRA BERRACHED DAVID CRONENBERG CATHERINE BREILLAT JOHN SAYLES BURHAN QURBANI JAN ZABEIL THOMAS STUBER CLARA LAW URSZULA ANTONIAK ALEXANDER KLUGE SAM FULLER ERAN RIKLIS ROGER CORMAN GEORGE A. ROMERO AMOS GITAI AMOS KOLLEK
Home of Films since 1967 – that’s where talent starts! 52. internationale
23 - 28 October 2018
52nd hof international film festival
hofer filmtage
Submit your film here www.hofer-filmtage.com
»
42 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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SCREENINGS
Cathy Tyson, Danielle Harold, Kedar WilliamStirling. Margaret Powers, a middle-aged, middle-class doctor of pathology, seeks a path of vengeance when she captures and tortures the young man she believes murdered her son, but in a bid to extract a confession, that path to vengeance leads to tragedy and unearths deeply troubling truths. Olympia 7
09:45 AMERICAN ANIMALS
(US) 117mins. Sierra/ Affinity. Dir: Bart Layton. Cast: Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson, Ann Dowd. The mostly true story of four young men who mistook their lives for a movie and attempted one of the most audacious heists in US history. Palais I
THE REALM
(Spain) 130mins. Latido Films. Dir: Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Cast: Antonio De La Torre, Josep Maria Pou, Barbara Lennie, Nacho Fresneda. Manuel Gomez Vidal is a beloved politician in his region: he enjoys a good social position, has a loving family, friends and plenty of natural charisma. He is also a corrupt man who has been enriching himself with public funds for years. After attempting to cover up for an associate, Manuel is left exposed. To his surprise, the party’s members seek to place the blame for the entire plot on his shoulders. But he will not surrender. How far is a person willing to go in order to hold on to power?
10:00 CANADA. BIG ON VR — PROGRAMME 1
60mins. Telefilm Canada. Next VR Cinema Ticket required
FRONTIÈRES PROOF OF CONCEPT
90mins. Frontières Platform. Trailers for 10 projects. Palais K
HUMOR ME
RIDE
(US) 93mins. Reason8 Films. Dir: Sam Hoffman. Cast: Jemaine Clement, Elliott Gould. Nate Kroll is an awardwinning playwright who suddenly finds himself wifeless, jobless and homeless. With literally nothing else to lose, he moves in with his eccentric father, Bob, and gets a job at an old folks home where he helps the elders put on a new play.
See box, right
Gray 3
Lerins 1 Priority badges only
MARKET 09:45 RIDE
(US) 90mins. Blue Fox Entertainment. Dir: Jeremy Ungar. Cast: Bella Thorne, Will Brill, Jessie T Usher. A cautionary tale aimed at a technology-
obsessed society. When James, an Uber driver, and his passenger Jessica, pick up the charismatic but manipulative Bruno, a night out in Los Angeles becomes a psychological battle for survival. Palais E
AU DI EN CE
AW AR D
WI NN
ER
:T HE
BR EA
DW
IN N
ER
JOIN US IN DUBLIN...
SUBMIT YOUR FILM NOW THROUGH FILM FREEWAY
20TH FEBRUARY–3RD MARCH 2019
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Each year, Irish audiences vote for the most popular film at the Audi Dublin International Film Festival. Winning filmmakers receive an exclusive travel and promotional bursary as part of the Audience Award. The 2018 Audience Award winners were Nora Twomey & Paul Young, director & producer of The Breadwinner. “You’ve got to go, it’s fantastic. It really is one of the best festivals around.” –Colin Firth” »
44 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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SCREENINGS
Constance Wu, Jonathan Kite, Amanda Fuller, Brea Grant, Graham Skipper, Stephanie Drake. An awkward date on Christmas Eve leads a couple into a strange theatre where they are treated to a bizarre and frightening collection of Christmas stories.
LE GRAND BAL
(France) 99mins. Pyramide International. Dir: Laetitia Carton. It’s the story of a ball. A big ball. Every summer, more than 2,000 people from all over Europe gather in a small town in the French countryside. During seven days and eight nights, people dance again and again, lose the notion of time, defy their fatigue and their bodies. It turns, it laughs, spins, cries and sings. And life pulses.
Palais H
BEATE
Riviera 1
THE IMAGE BOOK (AKA IMAGE AND WORD)
(France) 85mins. Wild Bunch. Dir: Jean-Luc Godard. Nothing but silence, nothing but a revolutionary song, a story in five chapters like the five fingers of a hand from the French New Wave legend. Olympia 8
MARKET 10:00 THE PERFECT GIRL
(Taiwan) 98mins. Creative Century Entertainment Co. Dir: Remus Kam. Cast: Tia Lee, Bryant
Chang, William Hsieh, Josie Leung. After getting involved in serial murder cases, Xin’s perfect life collapses like a pack of cards. Gray 5
MY FAVOURITE FABRIC
(France) 95mins. UDI — Urban Distribution International. Dir: Gaya Jiji. Cast: Manal Issa, Ula Tabari, Souraya Baghdadi. Damascus, spring 2011, in the early stages of the revolution: Nahla is torn between her desire for freedom and the hope of leaving the country thanks to her arranged marriage with Samir, a Syrian expatriate in America. When he chooses her younger, more docile sister Myriam, Nahla finds refuge with her neighbour,
the mysterious Ms Jiji.
THE PERFECT GIRL
defends his people, sacrificing everything to avenge his love, his people, and his God.
See box, above
Palais G
SAMSON
VULTURES
(South Africa) 110mins. Pure Flix/Quality Fix. Dir: Bruce Macdonald. Cast: Taylor James, Billy Zane, Jackson Rathbone, Rutger Hauer, Lindsay Wagner. After losing the love of his life to a cruel Philistine prince, a young Hebrew with supernatural strength
(Iceland) 95mins. WestEnd Films. Dir: Borkur Sigthorsson. Cast: Gisli Orn Gardarsson, Baltasar Breki Samper, Anna Prochniak, Marijana Jankovic. Two antagonistic brothers decide to smuggle drugs into their native Iceland using a young Polish
Lerins 3
girl as their mule. When everything goes off the rails, these anti-heroes’ fate spirals in a life-ordeath race against time. Gray 1
THE UNICORN
(US) 89mins. WTFilms. Dir: Robert Schwartzman. Cast: Lauren Lapkus, Nick Rutherford, Lucy Hale, Beck Bennett, Dree Hemingway, Darrell BrittGibson, Maya Kazan, John Kapelos, Beverly D’Angelo, Kyle Mooney. An indecisive couple facing the fourth year of their engagement are thrust into the most uncomfortable night of their lives by intentionally and unintentionally involving a third party in their relationship. Olympia 5
11:00 ARTE VR EXPERIENCES
45mins. Arte France. Next VR Cinema Ticket required
11:15 IN MY ROOM
(Germany) 120mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Ulrich Kohler. Cast: Hans Löw, Elena Radonicich, Michael Wittenborn. A bored man suddenly realises everyone around him has disappeared, though he isn’t quite sure what happened. Arcades 1 By invitation only
11:30 ALL THE CREATURES WERE STIRRING
(US) 90mins. Jinga Films. Dir: David Ian Mckendry, Rebekah Mckendry. Cast:
(Italy) 95mins. Media Luna New Films. Dir: Samad Zarmandili. Cast: Donatella Finocchiaro, Paolo Pierobon, Maria Roveran. Near Venice, the workers of a lingerie factory are about to be fired. Not far away, a handful of nuns risk being removed from their beloved convent. To oppose a destiny already marked, workers and nuns join forces and start a business outside the rules. Lerins 2 DISSONANCE
(Belgium) 90mins. Wide. Dir: Bernard Declercq. Cast: Pascal Greggory, Moana Ferré, Fabrizio Rongione, Nicolas Vaude, Benjamin Ramon, Renaud Rutten, Valentine Gerard. Dr Lepage is well acquainted with his wife, Francoise. He preserves her, watches over her… with a master’s hand, he will remove all the “butterflies” that will approach her. Francoise knows that she is beautiful, she sees him in the frightful look of desire she arouses among men.
»
46 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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London. The best place to tell a story. The end. If you’re working in film, TV, animation or games, Film London can offer you expert advice on locations, logistics and the UK’s generous tax reliefs. From big-budget blockbusters to ground-breaking indies, we can help you to create something special. Get in touch to find out more. @Film_London filmlondon.org.uk
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SCREENINGS
But with Jacques, she is sure, it’s different. Palais B
FUGUE
(Poland) 100mins. Alpha Violet. Dir: Agnieszka Smoczynska. Cast: Lukasz Simlat, Gabriela Muskala, Malgorzata Buczkowska. Alicja suffers from memory loss and has rebuilt her own free-spirited way of life. Two years later, she returns to her former family to assume — against her will — her role as wife, mother and daughter. Her estranged husband and son do not recognise this woman who looks familiar and yet behaves like a stranger. Riviera 2 Priority badges only
LAST RAMPAGE: THE ESCAPE OF GARY TISON
(US) 100mins. The Little Film Company. Dir: Dwight Little. Cast: Robert Patrick, Heather Graham, Bruce Davison, John Heard. The nightmare begins when convicted murderer Gary Tison’s three sons break him out of an Arizona prison. Tison and his gang murder six people before finally being stopped near the Mexican border following a manhunt of cold-blooded murder and criminal ruthlessness. Palais D
THE LOST LAND
(China) 104mins. Ori Pictures. Dir: Xiaoli Xu. Cast: Gaowa Siqin, Shuangzhong Chu, Xingqi Hao. Follows the involvement
Oduor, Kelvin Mutuku Ndinda. The transformation of a strong woman torn from her contented world during a sailing trip.
that what has emerged is superior to pure physics, understanding that human relationships are more complex than a simple exchange of caresses.
Lerins 4
Palais E
TEAM SPIRIT
BEYOND THE RAGING SEA (WIP) + PANEL
(France) 98mins. SND — Groupe M6. Dir: Vianney Lebasque. Cast: Ahmed Sylla, Olivier Barthelemy, Jean-Pierre Darroussin. Tracks the rise and fall of an anonymous trader just as the 2008 financial crisis was unfolding. Olympia 3
WE THE COYOTES
MARKET 11:30 MONKY
(Sweden) 90mins. Picture Tree International. Dir: Maria Blom. Cast: Frida Hallgren, Johan Petersson, Julius Jimenez Hugoson, Bianca Kronlof. When Frank finds a real live monkey in his family’s backyard, it does not take long
of a Chinese village in the New Life Movement, a government-led civic movement to promote cultural reform in the 1930s. Palais F
LOVE ADDICT
(France) 93mins. Metropolitan Filmexport.
MONKY
before the family realise this is no ordinary animal, and it was no coincidence it showed up in their backyard. Who is Monky? Where does she come from? Will they be able to keep her a secret in the village? A thrilling journey leads the family from Sweden to the jungles of Thailand in search of answers. Gray 2
Dir: Frank Bellocq. Cast: Kev Adams, Melanie Bernier, Marc Lavoine, Michael Madsen. Gabriel can’t resist a beautiful woman. But his womanising attitude is taking a toll on his career and social life. He decides to hire a life coach. Olympia 6
See box, left
RUDEBOY: THE STORY OF TROJAN RECORDS
(US) 81mins. Submarine Entertainment. Dir: Nicolas Jack Davies. Gray 4
STORM BOY
(Australia) 98mins. Kathy Morgan International. Dir: Shawn Seet. Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Jai Courtney, Morgana Davies, Finn Little. A rebellious young boy and a pelican changed each other’s lives forever. Olympia 7
STYX
(Germany) 94mins. Beta Cinema. Dir: Wolfgang Fischer. Cast: Susanne Wolff, Gedion Wekesa
(France) 87mins. Cercamon. Dir: Hanna Ladoul, Marco La Via. Cast: Morgan Saylor, McCaul Lombardi, Betsy Brandt, Khleo Thomas, Lorelei Linklater, Cameron Crovetti, Nicholas Crovetti, Vivian Bang, Ravil Isyanov. Amanda and Jake are in love and want to start a new life in Los Angeles. Will they make the right decisions? The first 24 hours of their new life take them all around the city, bringing them more surprises and frustrations than expected. Palais J
12:00 7:20 ONCE A WEEK
(Dominican Republic) 76mins. Intramovies. Dir: Matias Bize. Cast: Eva Arias, Josue Guerrero. Two strangers have an intense casual encounter but later both will realise
(Egypt) 45mins. Iefta. Dir: Marco Orsini. Cast: Omar Nour, Omar Samra. Participating in the world’s most gruelling open ocean race, two elite athletes endure the same misery, terror and danger as the refugees whose situation they were trying to publicise and assist. Palais K
THE CHINESE WIDOW
(US) 97mins. VMI Worldwide. Dir: Bille August. Cast: Emile Hirsch, Yifei Liu, Fangcong Li. When a Second World War American Air Force pilot crash-lands in China’s Zhejiang Province after a bombing run on Tokyo, he is rescued by a young Chinese widow and a heart-wrenching love story ensues. Gray 3
DISCARNATE
(US) 87mins. Octane Entertainment. Dir: Mario Sorrenti. Cast: Thomas Kretschmann, Nadine Velazquez, Josh Stewart, Bex Taylor-Klaus. A neuroscientist’s obsession with a drug that expands the human mind inadvertently unleashes a deadly supernatural force. Lerins 1
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48 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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SCREENINGS
and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family. Palais J
A THOUGHT OF ECSTASY
(Germany ) 87mins. Paul Thiltges Distributions. Dir: Rp Kahl. Cast: Deborah Kara Unger, Ava Verne, Lena Morris. A journey into America in the year 2019. A man in search of a lost love. A woman lost in desire for revenge. A country paralysed by heat and lost in suspicion and paranoia. And a 21-year-old diary that evokes memories. Lerins 4
THE COOLEST GUY MOVIE EVER
MARKET 12:00 WHEN THE TREES FALL
(Ukraine, Poland, Macedonia) 88mins. Latido Films. Dir: Marysia Nikitiuk. Cast: Sonya Halaimova, Anastasiia Pustovit, Maksym Samchik. Set in a godforsaken post-Soviet village, Larysa has fallen in love
EMPOWERED
(Spain) 87mins. Filmsharks International. Dir: Santiago Segura. Cast: Maribel Verdu, Santiago Segura, Rafael Spregelburd, Diego Martin. After a visit to an Indian healer, Paz loses control over what she says and starts speaking out everything that comes to her mind. Palais C
EUPHORIA
(Italy) 120mins. True Colours Glorious Films. Dir: Valeria Golino. Cast: Valerio Mastrandrea, Riccardo Scamarcio. Two distant brothers are forced together by life events.
with Scar, an attractive young criminal. After he heads to the city, she will be forced to follow the traditional life she has always refused. However, Vitka, her rebellious five-yearold cousin, holds a secret that can change everyone’s destiny. Riviera 1
the construction of an illegal dam. Gray 5
ONE DAY
(Hungary) 99mins. Films Boutique. Dir: Zsofia Szilagyi. Cast: Zsofia Szamosi, Leo Furedi, Ambrus Barcza. Anna, 40, has an average life: three healthy children, her work as an Italian teacher, a flat she owns with her husband and a mortgage that is not too bad. When she finds out that her husband is cheating on her with her best friend, her well situated life is put on the line and she runs the risk of losing control. Palais I
Lerins 3 Priority badges only
THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN
GANDHIS OF INDIAN JUNGLES
(US) 110mins. Voltage Pictures. Dir: Safinia Farhad. Cast: Sean Penn, Natalie Dormer, Steve Coogan, Eddie Marsan, Jennifer Ehle. A professor begins work compiling words for the
94mins. Devenky Films. Dir: Ramesh Reddy Tummala. A few youths join hands with tribals of an Indian jungle and fight against
50 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid-19th century and receives more than 10,000 entries from a doctor at a lunatic asylum. Olympia 1 By invitation only
STOCKHOLM
(US) 96mins. Sierra/ Affinity. Dir: Robert Budreau. Cast: Ethan Hawke, Noomi Rapace, Mark Strong. Inspired by the absurd but true 1973 bank heist and hostage crisis in Stockholm that was documented as the origins of the psychological phenomenon the Stockholm Syndrome. The story focuses on one of the female bank employees who falls for her captor — an unhinged American outlaw — as she turns against the police and aids in his escape attempt. Arcades 2
Follows in the footsteps of German writer Marc Fischer, who obsessively searched for the legendary founding father of Bossa Nova, Brazilian musician Joao Gilberto, who has not been seen in public for decades. Fischer described his journey in a book, ‘Hobalala’, but committed suicide one week before it was published. By taking up Fischer’s quest, following his steps one by one, we pursue Joao Gilberto to understand the history, the very soul and essence of Bossa Nova. But who can tell whether we will meet him or not?
Dir: Yen Tan. Cast: Cory Michael Smith, Virginia Madsen, Michael Chiklis, Jamie Chung, Aidan Langford. A closeted young man returns home for Christmas during the first wave of the AIDS crisis
(US) 57mins. Virgil Films And Entertainment. Dir: Christophe Espenan. Cast: Lawrence Montaigne. The definitive look at the making of the 1963 classic ‘The Great Escape’. Palais F
Palais G
WOMEN IN FILM & TV INTERNATIONAL — WORKING FOR CHANGE
90mins. Women In Film & TV International. Olympia 4
U — JULY 22 See box, right
VERSATILE PRIVATE SCREENING
105mins. Versatile. Gray 1
VROOM@CANNES — PART 1
44mins. Vrroom. Next VR Cinema Ticket required
WHEN THE TREES FALL See box, above
WHERE ARE YOU, JOAO GILBERTO?
(Switzerland) 106mins. Doc & Film International. Dir: Georges Gachot.
YOMEDDINE
(Austria) 97mins. Wild Bunch. Dir: AB Shawky. Cast: Rady Gamal, Ahmed Abdelhafiz, Shahira Fahmy. A Coptic leper and his orphaned apprentice leave the confines of the leper colony for the first time and embark on a journey across Egypt to search for what is left of their families. Olympia 8
13:30 1985
MARKET 12:00 U — JULY 22
(Norway) 92mins. TrustNordisk. Dir: Erik Poppe. Cast: Andrea Berntzen, Aleksander Holmen, Brede Fristad. On July 22, 2011, more than 500 youths at a political summer camp on an island outside Oslo were attacked by an armed, right-wing extremist. Earlier that day he bombed a government building in Oslo before making his
way to Utoya island. In this first fictional movie about the attack, we get to know Kaja, 18, and her friends. The movie starts when the youngsters — shocked by the bombing in Oslo — reassure their relatives that they are far away from the incident. Suddenly, the safe atmosphere is shattered when shots are heard. We then follow Kaja as she tries to survive, minute by minute. Olympia 5
(US) 85mins. Visit Films.
»
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SCREENING TODAY SATURDAY, MAY 12 • PALAIS D • 11:30AM Robert Patrick, Heather Graham Bruce Davison, John Heard
LAST RAMPAGE: THE ESCAPE OF GARY TISON Directed by Dwight Little Based on the best-selling book by James W. Clarke
SCREENING TOMORROW SUNDAY, MAY 13 • PALAIS I • 4:00PM Sheridan Smith, Mark Addy, Ella Hunt, Sally Phillips, Shelia Hancock, Ricky Tomlinson
THE MORE YOU IGNORE ME Directed by Keith English
Based on the novel by Jo Brand
SCREENING TOMORROW SUNDAY, MAY 13 PALAIS H • 11:30AM Marcel Iures, Victor Rebengiuc Eric Aradits, Alessia Tofan
OCTAV
Directed by Serge Ioan Celebidachi
APARTMENT C42 RELAIS DE LA REINE 42/43 LA CROISETTE
ROY OR RIAYA +44 7710 305 326 DEBBIE GRAY +44 7708 407 948 debbie@genesiuspictures.com ELLEN LITTLE ellen@thelittlefilmcompany.com
SCREENINGS
Cast: Elke Krüger, Juan Pinzas, Maria Villar, Katherine Sorel. In this original proposal for European auteurist cinema, Julian Pintos, alter ego of the filmmaker Juan Pinzas, in his dreamlike universe, makes an introspective journey from the belly of his mother to the belly of Europe without severing the umbilical cord. Gray 5
BORDER
MARKET 13:30 HOLY TOUR
(Belgium) 70mins. Be For Films. Dirs: Valéry Rosier, Méryl Fortunat-Rossi. Faithful followers converging on a mountaintop… a stage
DONBASS
110mins. Pyramide International. Dir: Sergei Loznitsa. Cast: Boris Kamorzin, Valeriu Andriuta. In the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, a hybrid war takes place, involving an open-armed conflict alongside robberies on a mass-scale perpetrated by gangs. Riviera 2
EVERYBODY KNOWS
(France) 132mins. Memento Films International. Dir: Asghar Farhadi. Cast: Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darin. Olympia 2
THE HAPPY PRINCE
(UK) 105mins. Beta Cinema. Dir: Rupert Everett. Cast: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Colin Morgan. The story of the last days of Oscar Wilde in exile.
MURDER ME, MONSTER
of the legendary bicycle race is coming… throngs of RVs ‘round the bend… the ritual gathering has begun. A film about the fans who come to cheer the Tour de France race. Palais B
Ah-Hai is praised as a martyr and TL Petrochemical is ordered by the authorities to suspend all operations pending further investigation. Medical examiner Chou is assigned to work on the case with public prosecutor Kim who happens to be Chou’s former fiancée. Chou discovers suspicious evidence in the autopsy and concludes Ah-Hai did not commit suicide.
(Argentina) 103mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Fadel Alejandro. Cast: Esteban Bigliardi, Francisco Carrasco, Tania Casciani. Rural police officer Cruz investigates the bizarre case of a headless woman’s body found in a remote region by the Andes Mountains. David, the husband of Cruz’s lover Francisca, becomes the prime suspect and is sent to a local mental hospital. David blames the crime on the inexplicable and brutal appearance of the “Monster”. Cruz stumbles on a mysterious theory involving geometric landscapes, mountain motorcyclists and a mantra stuck in his head: “Murder Me, Monster”. Arcades 1 By invitation only
Gray 4
THE SCHOOL HOLY TOUR See box, above
JONATHAN
(UK) 90mins. Great Point Media. Dir: Bill Oliver. Cast: Ansel Elgort, Suki Waterhouse, Patricia Clarkson, Matt Bomer. Twins Jonathan and John, live in harmony… until the arrival of a new girlfriend. Olympia 7
KILIAN JORNET: PATH TO EVEREST
Arcades 3
See box, right
HIGH FLASH
MADNESS IN THE METHOD
(Taiwan) 102mins. Activator Marketing. Dir: Chuang Ching-shen. Cast: Wu Kang-Jen, Yao Yi-Ti, Shin Yin. Fisherman Ah-Hai is found dead of self-immolation during a large-scale protest against TL Petrochemical.
(US) 95mins. Hawthorn Productions. Dir: Jason Mewes. Cast: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee, Vinnie Jones, Danny Trejo, Jaime Camil, Teri Hatcher, Dean Cain, Judd Nelson, Evanna Lynch. Olympia 6 By invitation only
52 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
(Australia) 87mins. CMG — Cinema Management Group. Dir: Storm Ashwood. Cast: Megan Drury, William McDonald, Nicholas Hope. An attractive surgeon finds herself trapped in a world where children from her past emerge to taunt and test her. Will she learn to play by the rules of “The School” and save herself and her missing son?
MMA champion’s small, idyllic island hometown.
a mission to save the world from an unusual epidemic.
Palais H
Olympia 9
TO THE FOUR WINDS
(France) 100mins. Jour2Fete Sales. Dir: Michel Toesca. In the Roya valley located between France and Italy, thousands of migrants try to cross the border each month in search for a better life. A local farmer has been welcoming migrants at his home since the beginning of the crisis, turning his backyard into a much-needed shelter. Olympia 3 Priority badges only
13:45 TITO AND THE BIRDS
(Brazil) 73mins. Indie Sales. Dir: Gustavo Steinberg, Gabriel Bitar, Andre Catoto. Follows the life of Tito, a 10-year-old boy who is on
14:00 ALL ABOUT MOTHERS
(France) 100mins. Gaumont. Dir: MarieCastille Mention-Schaar. Cast: Audrey Fleurot, Clothilde Courau, Nicole Garcia. A tribute to all the mothers in the world. Arcades 2
AUSTRALIAN IMMERSION PRESENTED BY THE BYRON BAY IFF AND COLLECTIVE REALITY
39mins. Byron Bay International Film Festival. Next VR Cinema Ticket required
THE BELLY OF EUROPE
(Spain) 90mins. Abstracto/Atlantico Films. Dir: Juan Pinzas.
(Sweden) 102mins. Films Boutique. Dir: Ali Abbasi. Cast: Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff. When a boarder guard with a sixth sense for identifying smugglers encounters the first person she cannot prove is guilty, she is forced to confront terrifying revelations about herself and humankind. Olympia 5
CAPTAIN MORTEN AND THE SPIDER QUEEN
(Estonia) 75mins. Sola Media. Dirs: Kaspar Jancis, Henry Nicholson, Riho Unt. Cast: Michael McElhatton, Ciaran Hinds, Brendan Gleeson. A young boy learns to take control over his life when he is shrunk to the size of an insect and has to sail his own toy boat through a flooded cafe. He has to be shrunk down before he can grow up. Lerins 1 Press allowed
Lerins 2
THE TRIGONAL: FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
(Philippines) 98mins. Multivisionnaire Pictures. Dir: Vincent Soberano. Cast: Rhian Ramos, Sarah Chang. An underground fighting circuit run by an international crime syndicate invades a retired
MARKET 13:30 KILIAN JORNET: PATH TO EVEREST
(Spain) 80mins. Filmax International. Dir: Josep Serra. Cast: Kilian Jornet. Retraces the journey that led Kilian
Jornet to the world’s highest peak, in an intimate portrait that reveals his fears, his contradictions and his desire to keep finding new challenges. Gray 2
»
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SCREENINGS
CASSANDRO THE EXOTICO!
(France) 73mins. UDI — Urban Distribution International. Dir: Marie Losier. Cast: Saul Almendariz. After 26 years of spinning dives and flying uppercuts in the ring, Cassandro, the star of the genderbending cross-dressing Mexican wrestlers known as the Exoticos, is far from retiring. But with dozens of broken bones and metal pins in his body, he must now reinvent himself. Riviera 1
CATS
(China) 105mins. All Rights Entertainment. Dir: Gary Wang. Cape, a highly intelligent little yellow cat, leaves his owner’s home and his father in search of the fabled Peach Blossom Land where all cats may live a wonderful life. In his search, he uses his own inventions, like a rocket or a diving bell, and is helped by Wanderer, a mysterious stray cat. Olympia 8
DIAMANTINO
(Portugal) 92mins. Charades. Dirs: Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt. Cast: Carla Maciel, Carloto Cotta, Anabela Moreira.
MARKET Diamantino, the world’s premiere soccer star, loses his special touch and ends his career in disgrace. Searching for a new purpose, the international icon sets on a delirious odyssey where he confronts neo-fascism, the refugee crisis, genetic modification and the hunt for the source of genius. Gray 1
DOC ALLIANCE GOES TO CANNES
110mins. Doc Alliance Films. Palais K
OUT
(France) 70mins. Upside Distribution. Dir: Denis Parrot. The first documentary to address LGBTQ+ coming out stories exclusively through social media footage. Palais E By invitation only
Marina Rocco. Simone, a clumsy financier, falls in love with Claudia, who’s living on her grandma’s retirement money. When the old lady dies, Claudia hides the body in a freezer and sets up a fraud with the help of some friends to avoid bankruptcy.
PUT GRANDMA IN THE FREEZER
Lerins 3
(Italy) 100mins. True Colours Glorious Films. Dirs: Giancarlo Fontana, Giuseppe G Stasi. Cast: Fabio De Luigi, Miriam Leone, Lucia Ocone,
SMILE
(Germany) 81mins. Wide. Dir: Steffen Kohn. Cast: Mercedes Müller, Hanna Hilsdorf, Mehmet Sozer. The young and lonesome 18-year-old Mercedes visits the legendary techno festival Heimat for the first time in her life. She is longingly hoping for experiences of proximity, joy and intensity. Instead, she finds herself confronted with the abysses of this alleged perfect world. Palais G
UP COMING FANTASTIC FILMS
(Argentina) 100mins. Blood Window.
15:30 FRIENDS IN LAW
(India) 100mins. Dancing Shiva. Dir: Amit Khanna. Cast: Shreedevi Chowdary. A south Indian orthodox woman ends up spending 10 days with
15:00 TRENDS PRESENTS
45mins. Ventana Sur. Next VR Cinema Ticket required
15:30
(South Korea) 125mins. Contents Panda/Next Entertainment World. Dir: Lee Hae-Young. Cast: Cho Jin-Woong, Ryu Jun-Yeol, Kim SungRyoung, Park Hae-Jun. Follows an investigator who, in an effort to bring down the boss of Asia’s biggest drug cartel, conspires with a lowly member of the gang seeking revenge against the boss. Palais J By invitation only
BLACK 47
15:30 BLACK 47
(Ireland) 100mins. Altitude Film Sales. Dir: Lance Daly. Cast: Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, James Frecheville, Freddie Fox, Stephen Rea, Barry Keoghan, Moe Dunford. Ireland — 1847, during the Great
WHAT KEEPS YOU ALIVE
Famine: Feeney, a hardened ranger, deserts his post with the British Army and returns home to find his family slain at the brutal hands of the English. He sets out to avenge their deaths, working his way up the political and social hierarchy. Arcades 3
(Canada) 98mins. MPI Media Group. Dir: Colin Minihan. Cast: Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen. On their one-year anniversary, Jackie reveals the brutal psychopath she really is to her wife Jules. Palais C
54 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
Palais F
Naples in a near future. A mysterious teenager seduced by a Mafia boss and persecuted by a vicious stepmother. ‘Gomorrah’ meets ‘Cinderella’. Riviera 2 By invitation only
BELIEVER
Olympia 4
MARKET
her gay son’s boyfriend in Bangkok. The story revolves around experiences that change her perspective towards life and acceptance, and leads to a path of selfrealisation.
See box, left
CINDERELLA THE CAT
(Italy) 86mins. Rai Com. Dirs: Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri, Alessandro Rak, Dario Sansone. Cast: Massimiliano Gallo, Maria Pia Calzone, Alessandro Gassman.
FRIENDS IN LAW See box, above
HEAVY TRIP
(Finland) 90mins. LevelK. Dirs: Juuso Laatio, Jukka Vidgren. Cast: Torstein Bjorklund, Minka Kuustonen, Ville Tiihonen. Turo, 25, is trying to overcome his fears by leading the most unknown heavy metal band in Finland, Impaled Rektum, to the hottest metal festival of Norway. The journey includes heavy metal, grave robbing, Viking heaven and an armed conflict between Finland and Norway. Palais D
HELP, I SHRUNK MY PARENTS
(Germany) 95mins. Arri Media International. »
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Tue., May 15 • 10:00H • LERINS 1
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SCREENINGS
PT OF PALSHI
(India) 101mins. Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation. Dir: Dhondiba Karande. Cast: Kiran Dhane, Rahul Belapurkar, Dhondiba Karande. Olympia 7
16:00 ADELAIDE See box, below
AS NEEDED
MARKET 15:30 THE INHABITANT
(Chile) 92mins. Filmsharks International. Dir: Guillermo Amoedo. Cast: Maria Evoli, Vanesa Restrepo, Natasha Cubria, Gabriela de la Garza, Flavio Medina, Fernando Becerril, Dir: Tim Trageser. Cast: Oskar Keymer, Anja Kling, Andrea Sawatzki, Axel Stein, Julia Hartmann, Lina Hüesker, Michael Ostrowski, Johannes Zeiler. Felix’s school is haunted again, only this time it’s not the benevolent spirit of school founder Otto Leonhard and the nuisance he caused, but the hated and long-since dead Director Hulda Stingbeard. A coincidence causes the former shrunken and skeletonised school ghoul to rise again. Lerins 4
THE INHABITANT See box, above
KNUCKLEBALL
(Canada) 90mins. Telefilm Canada. Dir: Michael Peterson. Cast: Michael Ironside, Munro Chambers, Luca Villacis. Alone, and targeted on an isolated farm, 12-year-old Henry finds himself at the centre of a maelstrom of
Carla Adell. Three edgy sisters break into the house of a very important senator to steal money he received in bribes. The strange noises coming from the basement arouse a curiosity in them that will take them to a terrifying universe. Palais B
terror and a dark family legacy, when his secretive grandfather dies suddenly in the night.
falls for Zoher, she’s reluctant to introduce him to her brothers. But maybe the time has come for Lola to enjoy a love life without interference, and settle down at last. Olympia 6 By invitation only
MAD MOM
(France) 82mins. Gaumont. Dir: Fréderic Quiring. Cast: Audrey Lamy, Florent Peyre, Max Boublil. Everything is for the best in Fanny’s perfect housewife life, until one day she discovers that her
darling nine-year-old son is being bullied by three boys at school.
daughter of a visiting French teacher. Olympia 3
Olympia 9
OUT OF TIME OLD BOYS
(UK) 96mins. WestEnd Films. Dir: Toby Macdonald. Cast: Alex Lawther, Jonah HauerKing, Pauline Etienne, Denis Menochet. In this school-set re-working of ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’, an awkward but imaginative pupil helps the handsome but spectacularly dim schoolhero pursue the fiery
(US) 90mins. California Pictures. Dir: Handy Matt. Cast: Blake Boyd, Nadège August. A time travelling G-man from the 1950s chases three escaped aliens to present-day Los Angeles, where he’s forced to convince an LAPD detective to help him prevent the destruction of the world. Palais H
(Italy) 92mins. True Colours Glorious Films. Dir: Francesco Falaschi. Cast: Vinicio Marchioni, Valeria Solarino, Luigi Fedele. Arturo, a talented chef with a troubled past, is sentenced to community service at the San Donato Institute, teaching cookery to a group of guys with Asperger syndrome. Guido, a 20 year old with Asperger’s and a great talent for cooking, is one of the pupils he teaches. The unlikely friendship between the two will help Arturo to change his life. Riviera 1
BEST OF TRIBECA CINEMA360@NEXT
45mins. Tribeca Film Festival. Next VR Cinema Ticket required
Gray 2
LOLA AND HER BROTHERS
(France) 100mins. Tf1 Studio. Dir: Jean-Paul Rouve. Cast: Ludivine Sagnier, José Garcia, Jean-Paul Rouve, Ramzy Bedia. You can’t pick your family — but you can still love them. Lola, Pierre and Benoit lost their parents a long time ago. Familywise, they’re all they’ve got. A 35-year-old lawyer, Lola is the youngest of the three and her big brothers may be overprotective, but she’s actually like a mother to them. Especially when Pierre freaks out because he lost his job and pretends to everyone that he’s still employed. Or when paternity-shy Benoit bends over backward to accommodate his new bride Sarah, on having children. And so, as Lola
56 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
MARKET 16:00 ADELAIDE
(Portugal) 102mins. Reel Suspects. Dir: Justin Amorim. Cast: Diana Marques Guerra, Anabela Teixeira, Alba Baptista, Mikaela Lupu, Jose Fidalgo, Joao Mota, Ruben Rua, Pedro Barroso, Alda Gomes, Ines Aguiar.
The lives of three sisters are turned upside down after their mother mysteriously goes missing during her 50th birthday party. They join forces with the new brothers in town after discovering their other brother also went missing on that same night, and embark on a journey of self-discovery towards the unknown. Palais E
»
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SCREENINGS
Cohen Media Group. Dir: Laura Fairrie. The story of how a cycle of fear, hatred and violence has taken hold. In portraying the resurgence of anti-Semitism in France and in the wider world, the film trains its gaze on individuals, witnesses on all sides of the conflicts that have fuelled this escalation. Lerins 3 Priority badges only
TAXI 5
MARKET 16:00 KEEPERS
(UK) 107mins. Protagonist Pictures. Dir: Kristoffer Nyholm. Cast: Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan, Olafur Darri Olafsson. On an uninhabited island 20 miles off the rugged Scottish coast, three lighthouse keepers arrive for their six-week shift. As Thomas, James and Donald settle into their normal quiet
routine, something unexpected, potentially life-changing occurs — they stumble upon gold. Where did it come from? Who does it belong to? A boat appears in the distance that might hold the answer to these questions. What follows is a tense battle for survival, fed by isolation, paranoia and greed, leading three honest men down a path to destruction. Olympia 5
CELLULOID DREAMS PRIVATE SCREENING 1
years have been darkened by the shadow of war.
82mins. Celluloid Dreams/Celluloid Nightmares.
Palais G
Arcades 2
See box, above
HAF GOES TO CANNES
LARGER THAN LIFE : THE KEVYN AUCOIN STORY
110mins. Hong Kong International Film Festival Society. Palais K
HAYATI (MY LIFE)
(Spain) 80mins. Doc & Film International. Dirs: Torres Liliana, Sofi Escude Poulenc. In 2015, Osama Abdul Mohsen and his son were abused by a Hungarian journalist. The video of the incident scandalised the entire world. This is the story of Osama and his son, Zeid. It is also the story of Moatassam, Youssef and Muhannad — three promising Syrian football players whose best
he’s packed a murder kit. He’s planned everything meticulously: he’ll check into a hotel, call an escort service and kill an unsuspecting prostitute. Only then will he rid himself of his murderous urges. But Reed’s plan could not account for Jackie, the alluring and mysterious call girl who arrives at his room. Olympia 4
PIN CUSHION
(UK) 83mins. Stray Dogs. Dir: Deborah Haywood. Cast: Joanna Scanlan. An all-girl gothic fairy tale set in the British workingclass suburbs.
THE SNATCH THIEF
(Argentina) 93mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Agustin Toscano. Cast: Sergio Prina, Liliana Juarez, Leon Zelarayan. A robber regrets having brutally hit an elderly woman in order to grab her handbag and attempts to make up for the damage he inflicted. But his past deeds as snatch thief hunt him, keeping him from restarting his life anew.
(France) 101mins. Europacorp. Dir: Franck Gastambide. Cast: Franck Gastambide, Malik Bentalha. To stop a famous gang of burglars in Marseille, a Parisian police officer teams up with the worst Uber driver in town, the only one who can drive the legendary ‘Taxi’. Olympia 2
THE TROUBLESHOOTER
SPIRAL
(France) 84mins. Le Pacte. Dir: Julien Guetta. Cast: Eric Judor, Laure Calamy. Alex, 43, is not a man of many responsibilities. He works as a tow truck driver. One day, he assists a woman and ends up spending the night at her place. The next morning, Alex discovers that he is alone… with three kids.
(UK) 80mins.
Lerins 1 Press allowed
Gray 1 Priority badges only
17:00 HERMITAGE VR
25mins. Artekom. Next VR Cinema Ticket required
17:30 303
(Germany) 120mins. Global Screen. Dir: Hans Weingartner. Cast: Mala Emde, Anton Spieker. Pregnant student Jule picks up hitchhiker Jan on her way to find her boyfriend Alex in Portugal. On the road, Jan and Jule discuss the world and soon they find they have more in common as well. Lerins 4
BIG KILL
(US) 120mins. Archstone Distribution. Dir: Scott Martin. Cast: Jason Patric, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christoph Sanders. A tenderfoot from Philadelphia, two misfit gamblers and a deadly preacher have a date with destiny in a boom town gone bust called Big Kill. Lerins 2
BLOODY RICHARD
(Italy) 90mins. Adriana Chiesa Enterprises. Dir: Roberta Torre. Cast: Massimo Ranieri, Sonia Bergamasco. A pop revisiting of
Gray 5
KEEPERS
(US) 98mins. Wide House. Dir: Tiffany Bartok. Cast: Christy Turlington, Tori Amos, Kevyn Aucoin. Documentary film about legendary makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin. Palais C
PIERCING
(US) 82mins. Memento Films International. Dir: Nicolas Pesce. Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Christopher Abbott, Laia Costa, Wendell Pierce. Reed kisses his wife and baby goodbye, seemingly headed away on business. But instead of clothes,
58 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
THE OTHER WOMAN
(France) 86mins. Other Angle Pictures. Dir: Daniel Auteuil. Cast: Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil. Daniel is very much in love with his wife but has a lot of imagination and a very demanding best friend. When his friend insists to introduce him his very young and beautiful new girlfriend over a dinner between couples, Daniel finds himself trapped between his wife who knows him inside out, and his fantasies that can take him places he didn’t expect. Palais I
PUZZLE
MARKET 16:00 PUZZLE
(South Korea) 90mins. Mirovision. Dir: Lim Jinseung. Cast: Ji Seunghyeon, Kang Kiyoung, Lee Se-mi.
A bored businessman looking for a bit of excitement gets up to no good while his wife is away, and is ultimately caught in a nebulous conspiracy determined to unravel his seemingly picture-perfect life. Gray 3
»
See box, right
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Full_Page_Dailies.indd 1
4.05.18 19:26
SCREENINGS
GASTON
with his idol, Mike, and Mike’s beautiful wife Natasha will change his life forever. Together they will build Viktor’s legend and make him immortal.
See box, right
Olympia 7
KAYAK TO KLEMTU
LUST
(Canada) 90mins. Scythia Films. Dir: Zoe Leigh Hopkins. Cast: Ta’Kaiya Blaney, Lorne Cardinal, Sonja Bennett, Evan Adams, Jared Ager-Foster. Fourteen-year-old Ella is determined to travel the length of the Inside Passage by kayak, along the shores of the Great Bear Rainforest, in order to testify against a proposed pipeline that would see oil tanker traffic through her beloved homeland waters.
(India) 69mins. Nez Moving Pixels. Dir: Sarkar Sudeep Ranjan. Cast: Mandeep Ghai, Parijat Chakraborty, Neha Kapoor, Rajiv Paul, Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar. Lust is a dialogue between consciousness and ego, with two females questioning consciousness about the need and necessity of lust and consciousness through a storyteller justifying lust.
Gray 2
79mins. Autlook Filmsales. Dirs: Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting. Cast: Nick Bostrom, Justine Cassell, Albert Chi. Explores the promises and the complex role of artificial intelligence in today’s world and the consequences of those promises becoming reality.
Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’ set in the underground of Rome’s crime world. Arcades 3
KSHITIJ See box, below
LETO
(France) 126mins. Charades. Dir: Kirill Serebrennikov. Cast: Teo Yoo,Irina Starshenbaum, Filip Avdeev, Alexandr Gorchilin, Alexandr Kuznetsov. Leningrad, summer 1981: the underground rock scene is booming. Among the followers of Led Zeppelin and Bowie, young Viktor Tsoi is eager to make a name for himself. The encounter
Palais D
MARKET
MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN
Palais B
RBG
(US) 97mins. Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing. Dirs: Betsy West, Julie Cohen. Cast: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Steinem, Nina Totenberg.
The exceptional life and career of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. Palais H
LOS SILENCIOS
(Brazil) 88mins. Pyramide International. Dir: Beatriz Seigner. Cast: Marleyda Soto, Enrique Diaz, Maria Paula Tabares Pena, Adolfo Savinino. Nuria and Fabio arrive with their mother Amparo at an unknown island on the border between Brazil, Colombia and
Peru. They are fleeing the conflict in Colombia. Fearful of betraying family secrets, Nuria goes silent. In the midst of this, the family tries to receive compensation for the father’s death and to obtain a visa to emigrate to Brazil. By covering up this story, they uncover others about the family’s past. Riviera 2
18:00 ALONE AT MY WEDDING
(Belgium) 120mins. Cercamon. Dir: Marta Bergman. Cast: Alina Serban, Tom Vermeir, Viorica Tudor, Marian Samu, Marie Denarnaud, Jonas Bloquet, Johan Leysen, Karin Tanghe, Rebeca Anghel. Pamela, a young Roma, is different from other women in her community. A single mother, she lives with her grandmother and her little girl in a small hut where the three of them share a bed. How can she reconcile the needs of her two-year old daughter and her dream of freedom? Palais C
17:30 GASTON
(France) 85mins. Gaumont. Dir: Pierre Francois Martin-Laval. Cast: Théo Fernandez, Pierre Francois MartinLaval, Alison Wheeler,
BIRDS OF PASSAGE
(Colombia) 120mins. Films Boutique. Dir: Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra. Cast: Carmina Martinez, Jose Acosta. In the 1970s, as the American youth embraces hippie culture, a marijuana bonanza hits Colombia, quickly turning farmers into seasoned businessmen. In the Guajira desert, a Wayuu indigenous family takes a leading role in this new venture and discovers the perks of wealth and power. But when greed, passion and honour blend together, a fratricidal war breaks out. Arcades 2
CERN AND THE SENSE OF BEAUTY
(Switzerland) 75mins. First Hand Films. Dir: Valerio Jalongo. Palais E
THE ART OF MUSEUMS
MARKET 17:30 KSHITIJ
(India) 95mins. Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation. Dir: Manouj Kadaamh. Cast: Upendra Limaye, Vaishnavi
60 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
104 min. Autlook Film Sales. Tangde, Kanchan Jadhav, Rajkumar Tangde, Arnav Mandrupkar. The story of a 12-year-old girl’s struggle to continue her education in the face of adversity. Gray 4
Olympia 5
Arnaud Ducret. Gaston might just be the clumsiest and yet the most endearing character you have ever met. He lives in a world of his own, with his animal friends. Olympia 3
Quality Fix. Dir: Michael Mason. Cast: John Corbett, David AR White, Tatum O’Neal. When a tragic accident rocks the entire community and threatens the future of Pastor Dave’s church, his faith is put to the test. He is forced to confront the questions that so many of us face: “Where is ‘he’ when bad things happen?” Lerins 1
ICE
(Russia) 90mins. Art Pictures Studio/Art Pictures Group. Dir: Oleg Trofim. Cast: Mariya Aronova, Vilen Babichev, Maksim Belborodov. Nadya gives up her dream of becoming a champion figure skater when she is hospitalised with an injury. But then she meets Sasha, a hockey player, who decides to teach her to believe in herself.
DEAD SOULS — PART 1
Lerins 3
(France) 250mins. Doc & Film International. Dir: Wang Bing.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS
BEST OF MUSEUMS — 2 PILOTS
Palais K
104mins. Autlook Filmsales.
GOD’S NOT DEAD: A LIGHT IN DARKNESS
Olympia 5
(US) 118mins. Pure Flix/
(UAE) 80mins. Thirtythree Pictures. Dir: Rajiv Whabi. Cast: Sofia Asir, Ashley William Griffiths, Mina Kici Khattar. »
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SCREENINGS
The true and inspiring story of Brother Guo Jian Nan — the selfless individual who dedicated his life to the Poverty Alleviation Programme. Olympia 3
THE LOST STRAIT
COLD WAR
See box, left
Palais F
(Poland) 84mins. Mk2 Films. Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski. Cast: Tomasz Kot, Joanna Kulig, Agata Kulesza, Jeanne Balibar, Cedric Kahn. Set against the background of the Cold War in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris. Depicts an impossible love story in impossible times.
THUNDER ROAD
Arcades 3 Priority badges only
(Bangladesh) 115mins. XVIII Entertainment. Dir: Raihan Rafi. Cast: Siam Ahmed, Puja Cherry Roy, Prem Khan. A father begins to search for hope and strength following his daughter’s suicide.
20:00 THE LOST STRAIT
(Iran) 92mins. Ayat Media. Dir: Bahram Tavakoli. Cast: Javad Ezati, Hamid Reza Azarang, Amir Jadidi. A group of soldiers are returning to their homes
Julie Reynolds, a young woman surviving life in the big city, receives an anonymous email promising her money — if a stranger dies. Gray 5
KING LEAR
(UK) 115mins. Great Point Media. Dir: Richard Eyre. Cast: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent, Andrew Scott, Florence Pugh. An ageing king invites disaster when he abdicates in favour of his two corrupt elder daughters. Gray 1
PETRA
(Spain) 105mins. Film Factory Entertainment. Dir: Jaime Rosales. Cast: Barbara Lennie, Marisa Paredes, Alex Brendemühl. A portrait of a broken family. Riviera 1
SMUGGLING HENDRIX
(Cyprus) 93mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Mario Piperides. Cast: Adam Bousdoukos, Vicky
when news of an attack to a strategic border area presents them with a tough dilemma: should they return home for a family reunion or head to the battlefields? Palais H Press allowed
Papadopoulou, Ozgür Karadeniz. When Yiannis’s dog Jimi accidentally crosses the UN buffer zone that divides Cyprus between the “Greek South” and the “Turkish North”, the faded musician must join forces with a cast of unexpected characters to smuggle him back. Olympia 4 Priority badges only
THE COACH
(Russia) 150mins. Central Partnership Sales House. Dir: Danila Kozlovskiy. Cast: Danila Kozlovsky, Irina Gorbacheva, Andrey Smolyakov, Olga Zueva. National football team player Yuri Stoleshnikov fails to score a penalty at a crucial moment. After this fatal mistake he leaves the national team, finishes his career and becomes a coach of a small provincial team. It is with this club that Stoleshnikov has to perform a miracle and again believe in himself.
Global Chinese Film Forum. Dir: Jun Wu. OLYMPIA 8 YOU, YOUR, YOURS
(Japan) 104mins. Toei Company. Dir: Daigo Matsui. Cast: Sosuke Ikematsu, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Koji Okura, Kkobbi Kim. Three guys sharing an apartment are all crazy for the girl next door. So crazy that they have transformed themselves into her heroes — rock legend Yutaka Ozaki, Hollywood star Brad Pitt, and 19th century samurai icon Sakamoto Ryoma. The impersonators erase their own personalities to live and breathe as their celebrity subjects. Are the three impersonators stalkers, romantics in love, or just out for some self-indulgent fun? And what are the chances that their quirky idea of love could possibly produce the perfect couple?
Lerins 4
EVERYDAY HERO EVERYDAY DREAMS
(China) 90mins. Tricoast Worldwide. Dir: Hua Zheng.
(US) 90mins. Acid. Dir: Jim Cummings. Cast: Jim Cummings, Kendal Farr, Nican Robinson, Chelsea Edmundson, Macon Blair, Bill Wise. A tragicomic portrait of Jim Arnaud, a Texan police officer trying to raise his child Arcades 1
XIAO MEI See box, below
YOUTOPIA
(Italy) 94mins. TVCO. Dir: Berardo Carboni. Cast: Matilda De Angelis, Alessandro Haber, Donatella Finocchiaro, Federico Rosati, Paolo Sassanelli, Luca Lionello, Antoine-Olivier Pilon. Eighteen-year-old Matilde
22:30 GIRLS OF THE SUN
(France) 115mins. Elle Driver. Dir: Eva Husson. Cast: Emmanuelle Bercot. A young lawyer visits her family in a small town in Kurdistan. In a bloody attack led by extremists, her husband is killed and she’s taken prisoner with her son and thousands of other women and children. A few months after her escape, she’s now the commander of the ‘Girls of the Sun’, a female battalion. The objective: to take back the town where she was captured and bring back her hostage son. By her side is Mathilde, a veteran war reporter. Olympia 2
Gray 3
20:00 ALEPPO — ISTANBUL. THE GUEST
(Turkey) 85mins. Summerside International. Dir: Andac Haznedaroglu. Cast: Saba Mubarak, Rawan Iskeif. When a migration story becomes also one of motherhood. Gray 5
Palais G WIFI
DER GESCHMACK VON LEBEN
(China) 90mins.
(Germany) 88mins.
62 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
WTP International. Dir: Roland Reber. Cast: Antje Nikola Monning, Marina Anna Eich, Wolfgang Seidenberg, Iris Boss, Andreas Pegler. What does life taste of ? For joyful Nikki the answer is clear: of pleasure. Cheeky, explosive and full of easiness the film pictures life in associative images all around topics of sex and relationship, guilt and religion, sense and nonsense of conventions.
Olympia 7
20:30
PORAMON 2
MARKET
makes money by stripping online. But she has a special place out of her drab real life: a parallel online universe.
MARKET 20:00 XIAO MEI
(Taiwan) 95mins. Mandarinvision. Dir: Maren Hwang. Cast: Chen Yi-Wen, Shin Yin, Samantha Ko, Liu Kuan-Ting, Chang Shao-Huai, Wu
Kang-Jen, Jao Cincin. Xiao Mei is missing. The interviews and memories of nine individuals who all had connections with her gradually piece together the puzzles of her life. Palais J
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1 1. Irina Starshenbaum for the feature film in competition «Leto» 2. Fan Bingbing, Marion Cotillard, Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o for the project «355» 3. Natalia Reyes for the opening film of the Directors’ Fortnight «Birds of passage»
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#PLAGEMAJESTIC71 #byADR
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YOMEDDINE (Egy-Aust) AB Shawky
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LETO (Rus-Fr) Kirill Serebrennikov SORRY ANGEL (Fr) Christophe Honoré COLD WAR (Pol-Fr-UK) Pawel Pawlikowski
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AVERAGE
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SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
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ANTON DOLIN Meduza, Russia
MICHEL CIMENT Positif, France Culture, France
EVERYBODY KNOWS (Iran) Asghar Farhadi
JUSTIN CHANG Los Angeles Times, US
TIM ROBEY, ROBBIE COLLIN The Daily Telegraph, UK
KONG RITHDEE Bangkok Post, Thailand
NICK JAMES Sight & Sound, UK
WANG MUYAN Ellemen, China
★★★★
KATJA NICODEMUS Die Zeit, Germany
THE SCREEN JURY AT CANNES
JULIEN GESTER, DIDIER PERON Libération, France
JURY GRID
★★
★ ★★
1.8
★★
★ ★★
1.8
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2.4
★ ★★
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2.9
★★ Average ★ Poor
✖ Bad
Screen International office Majestic Barriere, 1st floor, Suites Joy and Alexandre, 10 Boulevard De La Croisette, 06400 Cannes E-mail: firstname.lastname@ screendaily.com (unless stated) Editorial +33 4 9706 8495 Editor Matt Mueller News editor Louise Tutt (tuttlouise@gmail.com) US editor Jeremy Kay (jeremykay67@gmail.com) Reviews editor and chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan (finn.halligan@ screendaily.com) Asia editor Liz Shackleton (lizshackleton@gmail. com) Senior editor, online Orlando Parfitt Senior reporter Tom Grater
THE IMAGE BOOK (Fr) Jean-Luc Godard
The latest project fact and fiction Arab world, ★★ ★★ from New ★★Wave legend ★★ Godard ★★mixes ★★ ★★ to explore ★★the contemporary ★★ ★★ having nearly two years in★★ various countries ★★ shot for ★★ ★★ ★★ across ★★the region. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
ASH IS PUREST WHITE (China-Fr-Jap) Jia Zhangke
Set in China’s★★ underworld, this tale★★ of love and★★ betrayal follows protect her ★★ ★★ ★★ a dancer ★★ who fires ★★a gun to ★★ ★★mobster boyfriend On release★★ from prison five years later, she★★ sets out to★★ find him. ★★ Zhao Tao and Liao Fan star. ★★ during ★★a fight.★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
Group head of production and art Mark Mowbray
GIRLS OF THE SUN (Fr) Eva Husson
Golshifteh as the leader battalion that to liberate★★ their town, ★★ Farahani ★★ stars ★★ ★★of a real-life ★★ Kurdish ★★female★★ ★★sets out★★ which by Isis extremists. Bercot co-stars with ★★has been ★★overrun★★ ★★ Emmanuelle ★★ ★★ ★★ as a journalist ★★ embedded ★★ ★★the fighters.
THREE FACES (Iran) Jafar Panahi
Panahi story of★★ three Iranian actresses: one from the pre-revolution days to stop acting, ★★ tells the ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★who had ★★ ★★ one popular of today and one girl longing ★★ star ★★ ★★ ★★ to attend ★★ a drama ★★conservatory. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
Reporters Melanie Goodfellow (melanie. goodfellow@btinternet.com), Geoffrey Macnab (geoffrey@macnab. demon.co.uk)
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Italy’s of her homeland man, living on the margins ★★Rohrwacher ★★ returns ★★to the countryside ★★ ★★ ★★ for the ★★tale of a★★ ★★ ★★ of society, HAPPY AS LAZZARO (It-Ger-Fr-Swi) Alice Rohrwacher who can travel through ★★ time. The cast Sergi Lopez ★★ ★★ ★★includes ★★ ★★and Nicoletta ★★ Braschi. ★★ ★★ ★★
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SHOPLIFTERS (Jap) Hirokazu Kore-eda
Lily Franky, Sakura Ando and Mayu★★ Matsuoka★★ star in the★★ story of a shoplifting father-and-son the little girl ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ duo and ★★ they take in from time in Competition. ★★ ★★the street. ★★It is Kore-eda’s ★★ fifth ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
ASAKO I & II (Jap) Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Asako her boyfriend’s double two ★★meets★★ ★★ perfect ★★ ★★years after ★★his abrupt ★★disappearance. ★★ Masahiro ★★ Higashide ★★ and Erika Karata star for Hamaguchi, who his Cannes★★ debut in Competition. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★makes ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
BLACKKKLANSMAN (US) Spike Lee
Lee’s inspired by the true story Stallworth, an undercover police officer ★★latest is★★ ★★ ★★ of Ron★★ ★★ ★★ African-American ★★ ★★ ★★ who infiltrated Ku Klux Klan. Adam Driver star. ★★ ★★ the★★ ★★John David ★★ Washington ★★ and★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
AT WAR (Fr) Stéphane Brizé
Brizé Vincent★★ Lindon reunite prize winner Man for another ★★and actor ★★ ★★after Cannes ★★ 2015 ★★ ★★The Measure ★★ Of A★★ ★★ socially engaged this time about leader fighting ★★ tale,★★ ★★ a union ★★ ★★ a factory ★★ closure. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
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a curious★★ mind who★★ investigates missing★★ persons from ★★ Garfield ★★heads this ★★trippy crime ★★ tale as ★★ ★★ ★★his UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (US) Andrew David Robert Mitchell neighbourhood. Topher Grace ★★ ★★Riley Keough ★★ and ★★ ★★also star. ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
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BURNING (S Kor) Lee Chang-dong
Lee’s Steven Yeun play a well-to-do with a secret Yoo Ah-in★★ as a part-time ★★love triangle ★★ sees ★★ ★★ ★★ man ★★ ★★ hobby,★★ ★★deliveryman hoping a novelist and woman ★★ who comes★★ between them. ★★ to be ★★ ★★newcomer ★★Jun Jong-seo ★★ as the ★★ ★★ ★★
DOGMAN (It-Fr-UK) Matteo Garrone
Billed is based★★ on a 30-year-old story and★★ centres on★★ a man (Marcello ★★as an ‘urban ★★ western’ ★★, Dogman ★★ ★★ news ★★ ★★ Fonte) seeking friend who him in jail. ★★ ★★ revenge ★★on an old ★★ ★★landed ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
CAPERNAUM (Leb-Fr) Nadine Labaki
Lebanese film focuses on a rebellious who wishes parents★★ for having him. ★★ filmmaker ★★ Labaki’s ★★ third★★ ★★ ★★ youth ★★ ★★to sue his ★★ Set in the titular village, the★★ film has a★★ cast of mainly actors. ★★ ★★ ★★Palestinian ★★fishing★★ ★★non-professional ★★ ★★
KNIFE + HEART (Fr) Yann Gonzalez
Vanessa a late-1970s-set about a Parisian executive seeking credibility with ★★ Paradis ★★stars in★★ ★★ story★★ ★★ TV★★ ★★ to restore ★★ her★★ a more is disrupted cast is targeted a serial killer. ★★ creatively ★★ ambitious ★★production, ★★ which★★ ★★when the ★★ ★★ by ★★ ★★
AYKA (Rus-Ger-Pol) Sergei Dvortsevoy
A young immigrant worker in★★ Moscow tries down her★★ baby, who★★ she abandoned hospital. ★★ Asian★★ ★★ ★★to track★★ ★★ at the★★ Samal Yeslyamova, and David★★ Alaverdyan star. ★★ ★★ Andrey ★★Pashnin★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
THE WILD PEAR TREE (Tur-Fr) Nuri Bilge Ceylan
An★★ aspiring writer to his native in rural Turkey, he becomes overwhelmed father’s debts. ★★ returns ★★ ★★village★★ ★★ where★★ ★★ ★★ by his★★ Dogu T Hazar★★ Erguclu and Ahmet Rifat star. ★★Demirkol, ★★ ★★ ★★Sungar★★ ★★ ★★ ★★ ★★
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64 Screen International at Cannes May 12, 2018
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PERSPECTIVE CANADA
MAKE ROOM IN YOUR AGENDA. A curated program of Canadian features screening at the Marché du film, financed by Telefilm Canada.
Market Premiere
April in Autumn Warren Sulatycky DRAMA
Production and Sales Raging River Productions Warren Sulatycky warrensulatycky@gmail.com Palais B
13/05 11:30
Market Premiere
The Fall of Sparta La chute de Sparte
I’m Not a Bad Person
COMEDY
Production Amazing Factory Productions Sales Goodbye Productions Amber Ripley ripley@goodbyeproductions.com
Tristan Dubois
Production Parallaxes Sales Filmoption International Andrew Noble anoble@filmoption.com Palais J
Market Premiere
Andrew Huculiak DRAMA
Gray 3
10/05 18:00
11/05 11:30
Market Premiere
Incredible Violence
Kayak to Klemtu
HORROR
ACTION-ADVENTURE
G. Patrick Condon
Market Premiere
Zoe Hopkins
Knuckleball
Michael Peterson THRILLER
Production and Sales The Hunting Party G. Patrick Condon gpcondon@gmail.com
Production and Sales Scythia Films Daniel Bekerman danielb@scythiafilms.com
Production 775 Media Corp. Sales Alliance Media Partners Timo Suomi timo@amp-film.com
Lerins 3
Gray 2
Gray 2
14/05 16:00
Market Premiere
Louise Lecavalier – In Motion Louise Lecavalier : sur son cheval de feu Raymond St-Jean DOCUMENTARY
Production Cine Qua Non Sales Filmoption International Andrew Noble anoble@filmoption.com Gray 3
12/05 17:30
Market Premiere
SuperGrid
Lowell Dean
ACTION-ADVENTURE
Production Echolands Creative Group Sales Raven Banner Michaelangelo Masangkay michaelangelo@ravenbanner.ca Palais J
11/05 9:30
Market Premiere
A Touch of Spring Un printemps d’ailleurs Xiaodan He DRAMA
Production GreenGround Productions Sales Filmoption International Andrew Noble anoble@filmoption.com Palais B
10/05 16:00
RDVCANADA.CA
12/05 15:30
13/05 9:30