| |
 |
This year’s battle for the top prize Palme d’Or is one of the most exciting races, as more than half of the 21 competing films come from past Cannes winners or entrants. Only one film features a first-time director. Yet, his name is instantly recognized, as he is none other than actor Tommy Lee Jones.
One of the big names at this year’s Cannes line-up is Atom Egoyan, an Egyptian-born Canadian director who won Grand Prize of the Jury in 1997 for The Sweet Hereafter. This year, he returns with Where the Truth Lies, which follows an investigation of a crime allegedly committed by a pair of celebrities.
American director Gus Van Sant traveled between Cannes and Berlin film festivals often before winning Palm d’Or and Best Director for Elephant in 2003. His entry this year, Last Days, is a biography of a fictional rock musician similar to Kurt Cobain of Nirvana.
German-born Austrian director Michael Haneke won Grand Prize of the Jury in 2001 for The Piano Teacher, which also saw its two leading stars Isabelle Huppert winning Best Actress and Benoit Magimel winning Best Actor. His 2005 Cannes entry is Hidden, a dramatic thriller about an anonymous stalker.
Lars Von Trier of Denmark has received numerous awards from Cannes and has flown here to receive them even though he has a fear of flying (as confirmed by my Indonesian film critic who once interviewed him). He won Technical Grand Prize in 1984 for The Element of Crime and again in 1991 for Europa, the Grand Prize of the Jury in 1996 for Breaking the Waves, and the coveted Palm d’Or in 2000 for Dancer in the Dark. These four films plus The Idiots (1998) and Dogville (2003) all were invited to compete for Palm d’Or, making his entry this year, Manderlay, a story about American slavery in the 1930’s, his seventh film to make to Cannes.
Canadian director David Cronenberg is widely known as one of the best Cannes jury president, but he has only won the Special Jury Prize in 1996 for Crash. This year, he returns with A History of Violence about the plight of a family after one of them committed a murder in self-defense.
Cannes veteran Wim Wenders of Germany returns this year with his eighth Palm d’Or selection Don’t Come Knocking, about an aging cowboy movie star. He won the top prize in 1984 for Paris , Texas , Best Director in 1987 for Wings of Desire, and the Grand Prize of the Jury in 1993 for Faraway, So Close!.
Hou Hsiao-hsien from Taiwan has been at Cannes five times already and won a Jury Prize in 1993 for In the Hands of a Puppet Master. His new film, The Best of Our Times, however, has an uncertain fate because it was not yet finished when the list of competing films were announced. Let’s say that this film will be hot off the press.
Jim Jarmusch won artistic contribution prize from Mystery Train in 1989. His latest film Broken Flowers marks his fifth time vying for the Palm d’Or.
Last year, Johnny To from Hong Kong surprised everyone with his choice to screen the crime drama Breaking News at Cannes . To is the top grossing director in Hong Kong at the moment, with three top earners in a single year (one of his most well-known work is the 2003 romance Turn Left, Turn Right). This year, he brings to Cannes a gangster drama Election, which tops my personal list of films to see.
Wang Xiaoshuai from China is also another one to watch. While this year’s historical drama Shanghai Dreams is his first entry to Cannes , his previous works have competed in other prestigious film festivals. For example, Beijing Bicycle won the Jury Grand Prix from Berlin Film Festival in 2001.
South Korean director Sang-soo Hong may not be well known in Thailand but he is quite a legend in his home country, famous for The Power Of Kangwon Province (1998), Turning Gate (2002), and last year’s Palm d’Or entry Woman is the Future of Man . He returns this year with Tale of Cinema, which follows a man’s encounter with a movie’s lead actress after watching her film.
We will keep an eye on these films throughout the festival. The complete list of 21 films vying for Palm d’Or at Cannes 2005 Film Festival is as follows:
ALL OFFICIAL COMPETITION LIST
Bashing (Kobayashi Masahiro) – Japan
Battle in Heaven (Carlos Reygadas) – Mexico
Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch) – USA
Don’t Come Knocking (Wim Wenders) – Germany
Election (Johnny To) – Hong Kong
L’Enfant (Jean-Pierre Dardenne) – Belgium
Free Zone (Amos Gitai) – Israel
A History of Violence (David Cronenberg) – Canada
Hidden (Michael Haneke) – Austria / France
Kilometre Zero (Hiner Saleem) – Iraq
Last Days (Gus Van Sant) – USA
Lemming (Dominik Moll) – France
Manderlay (Lars Von Trier) – Denmark
Quando Sei Nato Non Puoi Piu Nasconderti (Marco Tullio Giordana) – Italy
Peindre ou Faire L’Amour (Arnaud Larrieu) – France
Shanghai Dreams (Wang Xiaoshuai) – China
Sin City (Robert Rodriguez) – USA
Tale of Cinema (Sang-soo Hong) – South Korea
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones) – USA
Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien) – Taiwan
Where the Truth Lies (Atom Egoyan) – Canada
|
