Cannes Film Festival

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6 8 t h F ESTI VA L D E CA NN ES 13 t h - 24 t h M AY 2 015

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

PALME D’OR The Palme d’Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Fesitval, introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. Prior to this, the highest prize given was the Grand Prix de Fesitval International du Film. This replaced the Palme d’Or again in 1964, before it’s reintroduction in 1974.

UN CERTAIN REGARD This official selection is run at the salle Debussy, alongside the competition for the Palme d’Or. It was introduced in 1978

by Gilles Jacob, and features “original and different” works seeking international recognition.

SHORT FILM PALME D’OR This is the highest prize awarded to a short film at the Cannes Film Festival, and is chosen by the same jury as the Cinéfondation. Occasionally a ‘Special Mention’ or a Jury Prize will be awarded to other short films considered ‘worthy’ of that year.

CINEFONDATION La Cinéfondation is a foundation created to inspire and support the next generation of international film makers. Created in 1998 by Gilles Jacob, it has since developed complimentary programmes to help achieve it’s goal. It is divided into The Selection, The Residence and The Atelier.

This publication will take you through the different categories and a selection nominees for each individual award. The full selection of nominees can be found on the Cannes Film Festival official website (http://www.festival-cannes. com/en/archives/awardCompetition.html). This will allow you to plan your film festival experience in order to ensure you don’t miss any of your top choices!

PARALLEL SECTIONS INTERNATIONAL CRITICS’ WEEK

Founded and organised by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics in 1962, this is the oldest parallel competitave section of the Cannes Film Festival. It showcases first and second feature films by directors from all over the world and has maintained it’s tradition of discovering new talents.

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

The Directors’ Fortnight is an independent section of the Cannes Film Festival, started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild. It showcases a programme of shorts and feature films as wekk as documentaries from around the world.

THE HOMESMAN Director: Tommy Lee Jones Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Grace Gummer Three women who have been driven mad by pioneer life are to be transported across the country by covered wagon by the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy, who in turn employs low-life drifter George Briggs to assist her.

MR. TURNER Eighteen films were announced to compete for the Palme d’Or, named at the Cannes Press Conference on 17th April 2014. We have managed to put together a synopsis of a selection of the most highly anticipated of the selection.

CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA

MAPS TO THE STARS

Director: Olivier Assayas Starring: Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë Grace Moretz

Director: David Cronenberg Starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Robert Pattinson

At the peak of her international career, Maria Enders is asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous twenty years ago. But back then she played the role of Sigrid, an alluring young girl who disarms and eventually drives her boss Helena to suicide. Now she is being asked to step into the other role, that of the older Helena.

She departs with her assistant to rehearse in Sils Maria; a remote region of the Alps. A young Hollywood starlet with a penchant for scandal is to take on the role of Sigrid, and maria finds herself on the other side of the mirror, face to face with an ambiguously charming woman who is, in essence, an unsettling reflection of herself.

The Weiss family is the archetypical Hollywood dynasty: father Stafford is an analyst and coach, who has made a fortune with his self-help manuals; mother Cristina mostly looks after the career of their son Benjie, 13, a child star. One of Stafford’s clients, Havana, is an actress who dreams of shooting a remake of the movie that made her mother, Clarice, a star in the 60s. Clarice is dead now and visions of her come to haunt Havana at night... Adding to the toxic mix, Benjie has just come off a rehab program he joined when he was 9 and his sister, Agatha, has recently been released from a sanatorium where she was treated for criminal pyromania and befriended a limo driver Jerome who is also an aspiring actor.

WINTER SLEEP Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Starring: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen, Demet Akbag Aydin, a former actor, runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal with whom he has a stormy relationship and his sister Necla who is suffering from her recent divorce. In winter as the snow begins to fall, the hotel turns into a shelter but also an inescapable place that fuels their animosities...

THE CAPTIVE Director :Atom Egoyan Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson Eight years after the disappearance of Cassandra, some disturbing incidents seem to indicate that she’s still alive. Police, parents and Cassandra herself, will try to unravel the mystery of her disappearance.

The full selection of films in the Palme d’Or run can be found at http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/theDailyArticle/

Director: Mike Leigh Starring: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson.

Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.

FOXCATCHER Director: Bennett Miller Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo The greatest Olympic Wrestling Champion brother team joins Team Foxcatcher led by multimillionaire sponsor John E. du Pont as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul - a union that leads to unlikely circumstances.

TIMBUKTU Director: Abderrahmane Sissako Starring: Ibrahim Ahmed, Abel Jafri, Toulou Kiki Not far from the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu, proud cattle herder Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed aka Pino) lives peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima (Toulou Kiki), his daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed), and Issan (Mehdi Ag Mohamed), their twelveyear-old shepherd. In town, the people suffer, powerless, from the regime of terror imposed by the Jihadists determined to control their faith.

This feature acknowledges a selection of films from the Un Certain Regard category that have gained some critical aclaim prior to the awards. This section of the competition is reserved for those works that appear innovative and more original than others.

PARTY GIRL Director: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis Starring: Angélique Litzenburger, Joseph Bour, Mario Theis Angélique is sixty. But she is not old. The best proof is that she is still working as a taxi girl in a cabaret by the French-German border. And that her love for men is intact. And that she keeps loving partying.

And that there is nothing for her like night life... Of course clients are becoming rarer and rarer. Sure a few of them are offensive to her and treat her like meat... But what a surprise when Michel, a friendly retired miner, asks her to marry him! Will she be able to become a respected married lady? Will she manage to make it up with her family? Can she really say farewell to her present lifestyle?

BIRD PEOPLE Director: Pascale Ferran Starring: Josh Charles, Anaïs Demoustier, Roschdy Zem In an airport hotel on the outskirts of Paris, a Silicon Valley engineer abruptly chucks his job, breaks things off with his wife, and holes up in his room. Soon, fate draws him and a young French maid together.

FORSE MAJEURE Director: Ruben Östlund Starring: Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren A Swedish family travels to the French Alps to enjoy a few days of skiing. The sun is shining and the slopes are spectacular but, during a lunch at a mountainside restaurant, an avalanche turns everything upside down. With diners fleeing in all directions, mother Ebba calls for her husband Tomas as she tries to protect their children. Tomas, meanwhile, is running for his life... The anticipated disaster

failed to occur, and yet the family’s world has been shaken to its core, a question mark hanging over their father in particular. Tomas and Ebba’s marriage now hangs in the balance as Tomas struggles desperately to reclaim his role as family patriarch.

MISUNDERSTOOD Director: Asia Argento Starring: Giulia Salerno, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gabriel Garko Rome, 1984, Aria is nine-year-old girl. On the verge of divorce, Aria’s infantile and selfish parents are too preoccupied with their careers and extra-marital affairs to properly tend to any of Aria’s needs.

While her two older sisters are pampered, Aria is treated with cold indifference. Yet she yearns to love and to be loved. At school, Aria excels academically but is considered a misfit by everyone.

She is misunderstood. Aria finds comfort in her cat - Dac and in her best friend - Angelica. Thrown out of both parents’ homes, abandoned by all, even her best friend, Aria finally reaches the limit of what she can bear. She makes an unexpected decision in her life.

LOST RIVER Director: Ryan Gosling Starring: Eva Mendes, Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan A dark fairy tale about love, family and the fight for survival in the face of danger. In the virtually abandoned city of Lost River, Billy (Christina Hendricks), a

single mother of two, is led into a macabre underworld in her quest to save her childhood home and hold her family together. Her teenage son Bones (Iain De Casestecker) discovers a mystery about the origins of Lost River that triggers his curiosity and sets into motion an unexpected journey that will test his limits and the limits of those he loves.

WHITE GOD Director: Kornél Mundruczó Starring: Zsófia Psotta, Sándor Zsótér, Lili Horváth Thirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.

SNOW IN PARADISE Director: Andrew Hulme Starring: Frederick Schmidt, Martin Askew, David Spinx Dave’s a petty criminal living on drugs and violence in London. When his actions kill his best friend, he’s propelled into feelings of shame and remorse. Discovering Islam, he begins to find peace but his old life comes back to test him.

The full selectio of films in the Un Certain Regard category can be found at http://www.festivalcannes.fr/en/archives/unCertainRegard.html

OUR BLOOD Director: Max Chan Starring: Jim Joe Greedy, Matthew Newman, Molly Ruth A brother and sister meet for the first time on an isolated bison farm. What begins as an attempt to reunite a family ends in ecstatic violence when the two are seduced into transgressing primordial law.

A RADIANT LIFE Director: Meryll Hardt Starring: Jean-Jacques Brabant, Daniel Dobbels, Meryll Hardt Nineteen-fifty two, The Radiant City of Marseille receives its first occupants, eighty civil servants with war compensation, coming from the four corners of France. Some are led by the promise of Le Corbusier’s ideals. Upon arrival, a couple experience the location, facilities, and space allotted to them. The woman prepares a meal whilst the man sets up furniture in the living room downstairs. They each respond to the new habitat. Its uniqueness, its details.

Their bodies question its spatial radicalism.

STONE CARS Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green Starring: Olwethu Anita April, Lungisani Dyalvani Stone Cars is a coming of age love story set in the shacks of Khayelitsha township, one of the most dangerous areas in the world. April is faced with a decision that ultimately she will have to live with the rest of her life.

THE VISIT Director: Inbar Horesh

Cinéfondation focuses on student made films, this year selecting 16 out of 1.631 applications from 320 schools, half of which directed by men and half by women.

Hagar comes to visit her father who lives in a nursing home in Jerusalem.

Unable to deal with his condition she looks at him and turns away, but a series of incidents forces her to spend the day in the building. First a mishap which makes her change her clothes, then an old woman stuck with her wheelchair in the hallway and then the head nurse that thinks Hagar is a Rus-

sian caretaker. She gets swallowed up in the work and slowly becomes part of the staff. The short visit turns into a journey between the narrow corridors of society.

THE BIGGER PICTURE Director: Daisy Jacobs Starring: Anne Cunningham, Christopher Nightingale, Alisdair Simpson ‘You want to put her in a home; you tell her; tell her now!’ hisses one brother to the other. But Mother won’t go, and their own lives quickly unravel as she clings to life. Director Daisy Jacobs uses two-metre-high painted characters in full-size sets to tell the stark and darkly humorous tale of caring for an elderly relative. The Bigger Picture is quite simply the most innovative animated short you will see this year.

PROVINCIA Director: György Mór Kárpáti Starring: Ákos Orosz, Hermina Fátyol, István Göz Ottó works as a conveyor for a food store in Budapest. When his van breaks down during a countryside delivery, he finds himself on an archaeological excavation site. Ottó spends one day on the excavation.

THUNDERBIRDS Director: Léa Mysius Starring: Christian Holle, Bertrand Duvallet, Anne Charneau Antonin and Leonor are hunting the lark. He is as submissive as his sister is voracious. One day, a dog attacks them.

SKUNK Director: Annie Silverstein Starring: Heather Kafka, Jenivieve Nugent, Sam Stinson When her pit bull is stolen by an amateur dog fighter, 14-year old Leila is forced to stand up for herself, at the cost of her own innocence.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GLORY Director: Ran Huang Starring: Peng Wang, Hongming Liao, Cue Jian A shooting ritual is held in a ballroom. Then leads to 5 stories of different kinds of “stealing”. A office worker steals an ancient divine sword. Two mask-men steal the office worker’s car. A scientist steals people’s mind by his supernatural power experimentation. A loser steal other’s wine.

INVISIBLE SPACES Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili Starring: Mariam Dzidzikashvili, Rati Oneli, Nino Shengelaia In this Palme d’Or nominated minimalist drama, a seemingly calm family morning falls apart revealing hidden tensions.

HAPPO-EN Director: Masahiko Sato, Takayoshi Ohara, Yutaro Seki, Masayuki Toyota, Kentaro Hirase In our lives, you have to endure moments when you don’t know how to behave. In a Japanese wedding, everything proceeds as planned, but you can’t do something else even if you are bored, and you can’t look displeased because it is an auspicious occasion.

At the end, liberation should be awaiting…

LEIDI Director: Simón Mesa Soto Starring: Alejandra Montoya Villa, Hector Orrego Leidi lives with her mom and her baby. Her boyfriend, Alexis, hasn’t shown up in days.

That sunny morning, after she bathed her baby, Leidi was sent by her mother to buy plantains. She meets a guy that tells her he has seen Alexis with another girl. She forgets about bringing home the plantains and embarks on a journey to find him. Leidi won’t return home until she finds the father of her child.

THE LAST ONE Director: Sergey Pikalov Starring: Corc Qafarov, Idris Rustamov The old man outlived everyone. His friends, wife, children. But he wasn’t lonely. An old fridge buzzed hoarsely in the corridor, and - substituted for friends and family. The old man didn’t remember when he last left the house. There was no need for it. A neighbour boy brought the products, and there wasn’t anything else needed. The old man stuck to the principle: “Live each day as if it was your last”. Every evening he lay down to die. Waking up the next morning he shambled to the fridge. It wasn’t an easy companion. It would husk and jump, and then break off abruptly.

It annoyed the old man. He couldn’t predict the mood of his only friend. Every day he would sit down opposite the fridge and write: “8.00 - turned on; 9.15 - turned off; 9.47 turned on...”. Thus he hoped to comprehend the consistent pattern, in accordance to which his friend lived. That day started as usual. The old man woke up alive and headed to the porch. The fridge was in particular nasty. The old man got angry and switched on TV - for the first time in years. It changed his life forever.

AïSSA Director: Clément Tréhin-Lalanne Starring: Manda Touré, Bernard Campan Aissa is Congolese and is presently residing illegally on French territory. She claims to be a minor however the authorities believe she is over 18. In order to establish whether or not she can remain in the country a doctor must give her a physical examination.

LES CORPS ESTRANGER Diretor: Laura Wandel Starring: Michaël Abiteboul, Alain Eloy, Thomas Stuyck During his rehabilitation in a municipal swimming pool, a man has to learn how to cope with his new body though he is not ready to accept it. The physiotherapist accompanying him will try to bridge the distance that the man maintains both with his body and the swimming pool environment.

INTERNATIONAL CRITIC S’ WEEK DARKER THAN MIDNIGHT Director: Sebastiano Riso Starring: Vincenzo Amato, Davide Capone, Pippo Delbono Persecuted by his father for being different, androgynous boy Davide, 14, leaves home to live on the streets of Catania.

Starring: Brayan Santamarià, Carlos Fernando Perez, Alejandra Borrero Eric, 10, finds himself almost overnight living with Gabriel, his father, who he barely knows. The man has trouble keeping their heads above water and building a relationship with his son. Maria Isabel, the woman Gabriel works for as a carpenter, decides to take the child under her wing.

trapped within their respective worlds.

After a mix-up at a checkpoint, they find themselves living the life of the other on the opposite side of the border.

YOUNG LIONS OF GYPSY (SHORT) Director: Jonas Carpignano Starring: Cosimo Amato, Pio Amato, Francesco Papasergio A Ciambra takes us through a night in the life of Pio, a young Romani boy living in southern Italy.

THE TRIBE

WHEN ANIMALS DREAM

Director: Miroslav Slaboshpitsky Starring: Grigoriy Fesenko, Yana Novikova, Rosa Babiy

Director: Jonas Alexander Amby Starring: Sonia Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter

A deaf teenager enters a specialized boarding school where, to survive, he becomes part of a wild organization - the tribe. His love for one of the concubines will unwillingly lead him to break all the unwritten rules within the Tribe’s hierarchy.

16-year old Marie lives on a small island with her seriously ill mother and her father, who takes care of the family. But suddenly mysterious deaths happen and Marie can feel something strange happening to her body.

Suzanne has been a prostitute for 15 years. She has her turf, her regular johns, her freedom. One day, young African prostitutes settle nearby. Suzanne is threatened.

IT FOLLOWS

HOPE

A BLUE ROOM

Director: David Robert Mitchell Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi

Director: Boris Lojkine Starring: Justin Wang, Endurance Newton, Nabyl Fally Koivogui

Director: Tomasz Siwinski Starring: Masza Bogucha, Wojciech Poradowski, Antoni Lemanski

For nineteen-year-old Jay, Autumn should be about school, boys and weekends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, something, is following her. Faced with this burden, Jay and her friends must find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind.

On his clandestine journey from Cameroon to Europe through the Sahara desert, Léonard meets Hope, a Nigerian girl who’s following the same dream.

A man wakes up in a blue room.

He’s stuck inside. He can’t escape. A window is the only way to connect to the outside world. It filters the reality in a mysterious way.

GENTE DE BIEN Director: Franco Lolli

SELF MADE Director: Shira Geffen Starring: Sarah Adler, Samira Saraya, Doraid Liddawi Self Made tells the story of two women one Israeli, the other Palestinian- who are

BACK ALLEY (SHORT) Director: Cécile Ducrocq Starring: Laure Calamy, Bruce Chatirichvili, Bruno Clairefond

GIRLHOOD Director: Céline Sciamma Starring: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh Oppressed by her family setting, deadend school prospects and the boys law in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of 3 free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her dress code, and quits school to be accepted in the gang, hoping that this will be a way to freedom.

CATCH ME DADDY Director: Daniel Wolfe Starring: Sameena Jabeen Ahmed, Connor McCarron, Gary Lewis Laila, a girl on the run from her family is hiding out in West Yorkshire with her drifter boyfriend Aaron. When her brother arrives in town with a gang of thugs in tow, she is forced to flee for her life and faces her darkest night.

EAT YOUR BONES Director: Jean-Charles Hue Starring: Frédéric Dorkel, Jason François, Michael Dauber 18 year old Jason Dorkel belongs to a community of gypsies. He is about to celebrate his baptism when his half-brother Fred returns after fifteen years in prison.

Together, with their last brother, the violent, hot-headed Michael and their Christian activist cousin, the four young people set off on a binge among the “gadjos” in search of a cargo of copper.

LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT Director: Thomas Cailley Starring: Adèle Haenel, Kévin Azaïs, Antoine Laurent

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

Between his friends and the family business, Arnaud’s summer looks set to be a peaceful one. Peaceful until he runs into Madeleine, as beautiful as she is brusque, a concrete block of tensed muscles and doomsday prophecies. He expects nothing; she prepares for the worst. He takes things as they come, likes a good laugh.

She fights, runs, swims, pushes herself to the limit. Given she hasn’t asked him for anything, just how far will he go along with her? It’s a love story. Or a story of survival. Or both.

NEXT TO HER Director: Asaf Korman Starring: Liron Ben-Shlush, Liat Goren, Varda Ben Hur Rachel, 27, is raising her mentally challenged sister Gabby, 24, all by herself.

When the social worker finds out she leaves her sister alone in the house while at work, she is forced to place her in a day-care center. For the first time in her life she shares the upbringing of her dear sister with someone else, her daily routine collapses and the huge void, left by her sister’s absence, makes room for a man in Rachel’s life. That man, Zohar, tears another crack in the symbiotic relationship of the two sisters. Rachel hangs on to his love as if it was a life belt. But her inability to lead a normal, intimate and emotional relationship with anyone but her sister, forces them into a twisted threesome, where boundaries between love, sacrifice, nurturing and torturing - are broken

WHIPLASH Director: Damien Chazelle Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist A young and talented drummer attending

a prestigious music academy finds himself under the wing of the most respected professor at the school, one who does not hold back on abuse towards his students.

The two form an odd relationship as the student wants to achieve greatness, and the professor pushes him.

8 BULLETS (SHORT) Director: Frank Ternier Starring: Stéphane Gasc, Camille Trophème, Laurent Serron-Keller My name is Gabriel and I live in Taipei. I have lost my wife during an assault. A red-haired man came to me, he smelt of fried fish. He had a gun and he shot my family. Since, I feel empty as if I had a hole in the head.

IN AUGUST Director: Jenna Hasse Starring: Jenna Hasse, David Lemoîne, Clarisse Moussa Margaux, six years old, awakens early on this August morning. She goes to the window and sees her father putting objects and cardboard boxes into the car.

Her mother is still sleeping. This summer morning promises to be a singular one for the little girl, who is about to experience a significant moment in her life.