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Today organizers announced five (5) more films in the Official Selection, with Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive (with Tilda Swinton) going into the Competition, Claude Lanzmann's Le Dernier des Injustes out of competition and three (3) films in Un Certain Regard: Lucia Puenzo's Wakolda, Hiner Saleem's My Sweet Pepperland and Katrin Gebbe's Tore Tanzt.

4/18/13
A few minutes ago the Official Selection lineup was unveiled and yes, there are some very positive surprises for me even when most films in the main competition are the ones everyone was buzzing and speculating will make the selection. The surprises: the latest film by master filmmaker Jia Zhangke, one of my favorite Sixth Generation Chinese directors, and none other than Amat Escalante that even when his films are quite violent, truly mesmerizes me with his particular and peculiar style. Fantastic!

My biggest non-positive surprise is to find Steven Soderbergh latest film in the Official Selection (?!) not only is a TV movie (is HBO) but the film stills and promotion material seems truly awful representation of Liberace. Obviously now I know will expect more from this movie that will premier Sunday, May 26 at 9pm on HBO.

As have been doing in previous years in one post will list ALL films that made this year selection and will update as soon as they announce new films in any section.

Competition

Behind the Candelabra, Steven Soderbergh, USA
Borgman, Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands
Grisgris, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France and Chad
Heli, Amat Esclante, Mexico
Inside Llewyn Davis, Ethan and Joel Coen, USA
Jeune et Jolie, François Ozon, France
Jimmy P. (aka Jimmy Picard) (Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian), Aranud Desplechin, USA
La Vie d'A Adèle (aka Le Bleu est une coleur chaude), Abdellatif Kechiche, France
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Paolo Sorrentino, Italy and France
La Vénus à la fourrure (Venus in Fur), Roman Polansky, France
Le passé (The Past), Asghar Farhadi, France
Michael Kohlhaas, Arnaud des Pallières, France and Germany
The Immigrant (aka Lowlife), James Gray, USA
Nebraska, Alexander Payne, USA
Only Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch, USA
Only God Forgives, Nicolas Winding Refn, France and Denmark
そして父になる Soshite chichi ni naru (Like Father, Like Son), Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
天注定 Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch of Sin), Jia Zhangke, China
Un château en Italie, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, France
藁の楯 わらのたて Wara No Tate (Shield of Straw), Takashi Miike, Japan

Out of Competition
Opening Film: The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann, Australia and USA
Closing Film: Zulu, Jérôme Salle, France
All is Lost, J.C. Chandor, USA
Blood Ties, Guillaume Canet, France and USA
Le dernier des injustes, Claude Lanzmann, France and Austria

The Jury
President: Steven Spielberg, director, USA
Naomi Kawase, director, Japan
Cristian Mungiu, director, scriptwriter and producer, Romania
Lynne Ramsay, director, scriptwriter and producer, UK
Ang Lee, director, scriptwriter and producer, Taiwan
Daniel Auteuil, actor and director, France
Christoph Waltz, actor, Austria
Nicole Kidman, actress and  producer, Australia
Vidya Balan, actress, India

Un Certain Regard

Opening Film: The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola, USA
Anonymous, Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
As I Lay Dying, James Franco, USA
(*) Bends, Flora Lau, Hong Kong and China
Death March, Adolfo Alix Jr., Philippines
(*) Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler, USA
Grand Central, Rebecca Zlotowski, France
(*) La Jaula de Oro, Diego Quemada-Diez, Mexico
Les Salauds, Claire Denis, France
L'Image Manquante, Rithy Panh, Cambodia
L'Inconnu du lac, Alain Guiraudie, France
(*) Miele, Valeria Golino, France and Italy
My Sweet Pepperland, Hiner Saleem, Turkey, Iran, Irak
Norte, Hanggan ng kasaysayan (Norte, The End of History), Lav Diaz, Philippines
Omar, Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine and USA
(*) Sarah préfère la course, Chloé Robichaud, Canada
(*) Tore Tanzt, Katrin Gebbe, Germany
Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo, Argentina, Spain, France, Germany and Norway

Un Certain Regard Jury
President: Thomas Vinterberg, director, scriptwriter and producer, Denmark

Special Screenings
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, Stephen Frears, USA (TV movie)
Seduced and Abandoned, James Toback, USA (Documentary)
Stop the Pounding Heart, Roberto Minervini, Italy, Belgium and USA
Week End of A Champion, Roman Polanski, UK, 1972 (Documentary)

Midnight Screenings
盲探 Man Tam (Blind Detective) , Johnnie To, Hong Kong
(*) Moonsoon Shootout, Amit Kumar, India and UK

Cannes Classics
Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958

Jerry Lewis' Tribute
Max Rose, Daniel Noah, USA

Gala Screening, Tribute to India
Bombay Talkies, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee, India

Short Films Competition
37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'

Cinéfondation Selection
Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)

Special Screening
(*) Otdat Konci (Bite The Dust), Taisia Igumentseva, Russia

Short Films and Cinéfondation Jury
President: Jane Campion, director, New Zealand
Majida Abdi, actress, director and producer, Ethiopia
Nicoletta Braschi, actress and producer, Italy
Nandita Das, actress, India
Semih Kaplanoğlu, director, writer and producer, Turkey

(*) First film competes for the Camera d'Or

Main Competition, Out of Competition, Special Screenings and Tributes info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Un Certain Regard info, film stills or trailers @MOC
Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.

Read basic info for all films but will continue finding more information, film stills and/or trailers and will upload them at MOC. So will update links to each section asap.

Reliable news have already the ACID selection even when it is not posted at the official site of L'Association du Cinéma Indépendant pour sa Diffusion, so I'm doing post and will confirm as soon as they publish at official site plus will add the special screenings and any other event they program for this year.

Update
The announcement is up at official site thus films are confirmed.

These are the nine (9) feature films in the 2013 selection

Au Bord du Monde, Claus Drexel, France
Braddock America, Jean-Loic Porton and Gabriella Kessler, France (documentary)
C’est eux les chiens, Hicham Lasri, Morocco
Deux automnes, trois hivers, (Two Autumns, Three Winters), Sébastien Betbeder, France

La Bataille de Solferino, Justine Triet, France
Ô Heureux Jours!, Dominique Cabrera, France (documentary)
Swandown, Andrew Kötting, UK
The Strange Little Cat, Ramon Zürcher, Germany
Wajma, Barmak Akram, France and Afghanistan

For me it is a big surprise to find in L'ACID selection Barmak Akram's film Wajma, which won an award at 2013 Sundance as its presence in this section means that has no distribution.

Around minute 2 the list of movies begin with images in the below video, but if you wish to see the photos pleas go here.

Today Edouard Waintrop, Artistic Director, announced the Directors' Fortnight selection that includes comedies, thrillers, 2 horror films, and 3 documentaries. A total of 21 features will screen with 17 world premieres selected after checking 3,311 titles.

There are some surprises as Yolande Moreau's first solo film, Sebastian Silva's film, the only Romanian film in all Cannes (a short) plus the most surprising duo of Jodorowsky films (!) one by him and another about him.  But most impressive is the fact that I have seen one of the films in the selection, fabulous short film Swimmer by Lynne Shelton!

Feature Films
Opening Film: The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, France and Belgium
Closing Film: Henri, Yolande Moreau, France and Belgium

A Strange Course of Events, Raphaël Nadjari, Israel and France
(*) Les Apaches, Thierry de Peretti, France
(*) Ate ver a luz (After The Night), Basil Da Cunha, Switzerland
Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier, USA
La Danza de la Realidad, Alejandro Jodorowsky, France, Chile and Mexico
(*) L'Escale, Kveh Bakhtiari, France and Switzerland (documentary)
(*) La Fille du 14 Juillet, Antonin Peretjatko, France
(*) Ilo Ilo, Anthony Chen, Singapore
(*) Jodorowsky's Dune, Frank Pavich, USA (Documentary)
(*) Last Days on Mars, Ruairi Robinson, UK and Ireland
(*) Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table!, Guillaume Gallienne, France
Magic Magic, Sebastián Silva, USA and Chile
On The Job, Erik Matti, Philippines
The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard, UK
Tip Top, Serge Bozon, France
Ugly, Anurag Kashyap, India
Un Voyageur, Marcel Ophuls, France
El Verano de los Peces Voladores, Marcela Said, France and Chile
We Are What We Are, Jim Mickle, USA

(*) Competing for the Camera d'Or

Short Films
Gambozinos, João Nicolau, France and Portugal
Lágy Eső, Dénes Nagy, Belgium and Hungary
Le quepa sur la vilni, Yann Le Quellec, France
Man kann nicht alles auf einmal tun, aber man kann alles auf einmal lassen, Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, Switzerland
O umbra de nor, Radu Jude, Romania
Pouco mais de um mês, André Novais Oliveira, Brazil
Que je tombe tout le temps?, Eduardo Williams, France
Solecito, Oscar Ruiz Navia, Colombia, Denmark and France
Swimmer, Lynne Ramsay, UK

Beyond the selection, Directors’ Fortnight will host a range of peripheral events this year. These include the Taipei Factory, a joint initiative between Directors Fortnight and the Taiwan Film Commission to team four Taiwanese directors with four other filmmakers from around the world. The resulting shorts will be screened at Directors’ Fortnight.

Taipei Factory

The Pig, Singing Chen (Taiwan) and Jero Yun (Korea)
Silent Asylum, Midi Z (Taiwan) and Joana Preiss (France)
A Nice Factory, Shen Ko-Shang (Taiwan) and Luis Cifuentes (Chile)
Mr. Chang’s New Address, Chang Jung-Chi (Taiwan) and Alireza Khatami (Iran)

Other events includes a Tribute to Jane Campion, who this year will receive the Carrosse d'Or and the Directors' Assembly consisting of two panels to discuss key issues impacting the film industry today.

Directors' Assembly Program

Session 1 - Saturday May the 18th
Independent directors’ experiences worldwide

From their experiences, directors will talk about film production conditions and financial support schemes for cinema worldwide. It can be about the independent cinema in the United States, financing schemes in India, China, Brazil, and about everything directors wish to point out as well… They will talk about new creative and economic momentum that they conjure up to make their films. Daring productions sometimes turn away from cinema support schemes, as their heaviness and slowness weigh on creative energy. It will be about putting those systems and those different context to the test of the filmmaking reality and the work methods of each.

A new global and multipolar cinema leads to rapid mutations of our professional practices…

Session 2 - Tuesday May 21st
The European crisis and its consequences on its Member States’ cultural policies

Often in Europe, institutional stakeholders, producers and distributors script debates about cinema economics in which directors have a hard time finding their rightful place. Re-assessment of national cinema support schemes, coproductions difficulties, European funds shrinking… what role can they play in discussions about cultural policies ?

Cinema is not just an industry, neither is it an industry like any other : between cultural ambition and economic power, how to solve the visible contradiction between regulation, competition and cultural exception ?

Will check all films for info, original names, etc. and will update post accordingly ASAP.

A few minutes organizers released a video with Charles Tesson, Semaine Artistic Director, announcing this year selection with films that seem will be the usual "strange" films, which is absolutely Great!

As always there are seven (7) films in the Selection of 1st or 2nd films.

For Those in Peril, Paul Wright, UK
Dabba (The Lunchbox), Ritesh Batra, India, France and Germany
Le Démantèlement (The Dismantlement), Sébastien Pilote, Canada
Los Dueños, Agustin Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky, Argentina
Nos héros sont morts ce soir, David Perrault, France
Salvo, Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, Italy and France
МАЙОР The Major, Yury Bykov, Russia

Special Screenings
Opening Night: Suzanne, Katell Quillévéré, France
Closing Night: TBA
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery, USA
Les Rencontres d’après minuit, Yann Gonzalez, France

Short Films
Agit Pop, Nicolas Pariser, France
Breathe Me, Han Eun-young, South Korea
Komm und Spiel (Come and Play), Daria Belova, Germany
La lampe au beurre de Yak, Hu Wei, France and China
Océan, Emmanuel Laborie, France
Pátio, Ali Muritiba, Brazil
Pleasure, Ninja Thyberg, Sweden
Tau Seru, Rodd Rathjen, India and Australia
The Opportunist, David Lassiter, USA
Vikingar, Magali Magistry, France and Iceland

Check info, stills and/or trailer @MOC

Film info is not yet at site, but will check the net to find what is available for each film. In the meantime see the video with the announcement (has English subtitles) to check photos from some of the films.

In last Thursday press conference besides announcing the lineup a few more things happened that are worth sharing. First was the release of "A Word From The President" were Gilles Jacob tells us about his vision for current edition and second, a hosting fund raising auction with Plantu & Friends in an event called Cartooning For Peace.

A Word From The President

Everyone knows the Cannes event that changes every year: poster, films, juries, prizes; behind its walls, there’s also an attitude which, decade in decade out, guarantees the continuing existence of this institution. The idea is one I particularly like, and it sees the festival as a shelter for endangered artists. Our influence has a long history: in the 1970s, already, Robert Favre le Bret and Maurice Bessy fou ght over Andrei Tarkovski; next, with Pierre Viot, we invited film makers harassed in their own countries, but who would be protected by the aura of the festival. Such watchfulness set precedents. I’m not going to list the names of those who benefitted, from Eastern Europe, Asia or the Middle East, but when we come across them, even years later, the warmth of their friendship is proof of their gratitude. And our doors remain open, both to them and to others... To all the others ...

Cannes, land of welcome. The 2013 edition illustrates – quite literally – this trait of ours. Indeed, we’ve invited press cartoonists to attend, they who have their own unique way to fight for liberty. On the press floor, under the eye of Plantu, there’ll be an exhibition of satirical, sharp and talented drawings on the theme of cinema. You’ll find a note about it in your press books.

And, so it is, that cartoonists from countries where freedom of expression is not a given will be rubbing up against each other. It’s like a signal: in the freest of countries, isn’t the ultimate dream of those in power for critics of their actions to be completely ignored? We must do all we can to ensure that the light of cartoonists, their art which consists in withholding nothing while summarizing fully in a single image, that that light never goes out: it’s the very last bastion against the despotism and dictatorship of the strong over the weak. By programming an event within which lies inherent a call to insurrection, the festival should perhaps fear that one day it might fall victim itself!

There is another philosophy that leaders should never forget, and that’s the hard work over many years that has enabled the identifying, help with developing, the encouraging, confidence-building and the time-saving given to successive generations of young film makers. We’ve been at this task of sifting and educating, or monitoring, rather, for a long time via a consistent process which became the Caméra d’or, the Cinéfondation and it’s Résidence, and the Atelier... I never miss a chance to say: sow and you shall reap the Fellinis of tomorrow. And the Bergmans and Buñuels. And the Jane Campions.

We thank the great artists who give of their time, expertise and enthusiasm to our young green shoots by heading up the Cinéfondation and short film jury. Helping burgeoning film makers dodge difficulties, get their projects known , and find the money to make them: that’s vocational for a few generous artists who find helping the newcomers to be vocational.

Thus, our good fairy this year is Jane Campion, who loved the idea of presiding over this jury, in the wake of Scorsese, Kusturica, the Dardenne brothers, Hou Hsiao Hsien, and all the others... Lady Jane, as I’ve been calling her since we met, is power, unity, harsh poetry and violence. She knows what she’s talking about. The three shorts of hers that we screened as a group when she first came in ’86 encapsulated everything about her world. They were great for all of the qualities mentioned, but they were also great because they were not copies of things that already existed. And then, 7 years after
Peel, The Piano won the Palme d’Or. What a beautiful example, what an inspiration for our filmmakers of tomorrow... At her side will be Maji-daAbdi, the Ethiopian director and producer, Nicoletta Braschi, the Italian actress, Nandita Das, the Indian actress and Semih Kaplanoglu, the Turkish director.

And now, it’s time to switch on the projectors, the official selection is about to be revealed...

Gilles Jacob

So, besides giving us his vision about this years' festival, praising Jane Campion and presenting us the complete Short Films and Cinéfondation jury, he announced an event that hopefully we will be able to see the works online, as yes I am curious to see the cartoons, especially those of many of my favorite directors.

The Event: Les dessins de la Liberté

The Festival de Cannes is hosting a fund raising auction sale on Monday, 20th of May at the Festival Agora to support Cartooning for Peace. This event, co-organized by Piasa, will present cartoonists Willis from Tunis (Tunisia), Dilem (Algeria), Kichka (Israel) and Plantu (Le Monde and L’Express) and will be conducted by the auctioneer James Fattori. For this unprecedented meeting between editorial cartoons and films, original collector artwork will be put on sale. The funds raised will benefit Cartooning for Peace to support their action.

Created in 2008 by Kofi Annan and Plantu, Cartooning for Peace aims to promote a better understanding and mutual respect between people of different cultures and beliefs using editorial cartoons as a universal language, by subtly shaking politically correct mindsets.

The exhibition linked to the benefit event, will be presented at the Palais des Festivals, during the whole festival.

A selection of eighty cartoons portrays legendary films, the film industry and famous film directors such as Fellini, Bergman, Spielberg or Haneke, in a light and satirical tone. Some cartoons also remind us that cinema creativity is still threatened in countries such as Iran or Algeria. If a film director has a problem with authorities, cartoonists from all over the world will take his defense and report freedom of expression violations.

Freedom of expression is under the spotlight to defend artistic freedom!

Nice work Cannes.

Cheers!!!

While the Official Selection of feature films for the 66th Festival de Cannes will be revealed on Thursday 18th April, the list of Short Films is unveiled today.

As we already know the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury, presided by Jane Campion, will announce the award winners for the Short Film Competition and the Cinéfondation Selection.

Short Films Competition

This year, the Selection Committee received 3,500 short films, representing productions from no fewer than 132 countries.

Nine films will compete in 2013 for the Short Film Palme d’Or, to be awarded by Jane Campion, President of the Jury, at the Closing Ceremony of the 66th Festival de Cannes on 26th May. For the first time, a Palestinian film will take part in the Short Films Competition.

37°4 S, Adriano Valerio, France, 11'
Bishtar az do saat (More Than Two Hours), Ali Asgari, Iran, 15'
Condom Lead, Mohammed Abou Nasser and Ahmad Abou Nasser, Palestine and Jordan, 14'
Hvalfjörður (Whale Valley, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, Iceland and Denmark, 15'
Inseki to Impotence (The Meteorite and Impotence), Omoi Sasaki, Japan, 10'
Mont Blanc, Gilles Coulier, Belgium, 14'
Olena, Elżbieta Benkowska, Poland, 14'
Ophelia, Annarita Zambrano, Poland, 14'
Safe, Moon Byoung-gon, South Korea, 13'

Cinéfondation Selection

The Cinéfondation Selection selected 18 films (14 fiction films and 4 animated films) among the 1,550 submitted this year from 277 schools from all around the world

By focusing on the quality of work submitted by lesser-known institutions, the Selection is a true reflection of the diversity of film schools. This year sees a particularly significant broadening of scope, with a third of the schools being selected for the first time and one country – Chile – which has never previously been selected.

The following are the short films in competition; the schools are in parenthesis.

Asunción, Camila Luna Toledo, Chile, 21', (Pontificia Universidad Catolica)
Au-delà de l'Hiver (After the Winter), Zhi Wei Jow, France, 19' (Le Fresnoy)
Babaga, Gan de Lange, Israel, 26' (The Sam Spiegel Film & TV School)
Contrafábula de una Niña Disecada (Fable of a Blood-Drained Girl), Alejandro Iglesias Mendizábal, Mexico, 25' (CCC)
Danse Macabre, Małgorzata Rżanek, Poland, 5' (Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw)
Duet, Navid Danesh, Iran, 24', (Karnameh Film School)
En Attendant le dégel (Waiting for the Thaw), Sarah Hirtt, Belgium, 20' (INSAS)
Exil (Exile), Vladilen Vierny, France, 16' (La fémis)
Going South, Jefferson Moneo, USA, 15' (Columbia University)
În acvariu (In the Fishtank), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu, Romania, 20' (UNATC)
Mañana Todas Las Cosas (Tomorrow All The Things), Sebastián Schjaer, Argentina, 17' (UCINE)
Needle, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, USA, 21' (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
O Šunce, Eliška Chytková, Czech Republic, 6' (Tomas Bata University in Zlίn)
Pandy (Pandas), Matúš Vizár, Czech Republic, 12' (FAMU)
The Magnificent Lion Boy, Ana Caro, UK, 10' (NFTS)
The Norm of Life, Evgeny Byalo, Russia, 23' (High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors)
Seon (The Line), Kim Soo-Jin, South Korea, 27' (Chung-Ang University)
Stepsister, Joey Izzo, USA, 18' (San Francisco State University)

The three Cinéfondation Prizes will be awarded at a ceremony prior to the screening of the winning films on Friday 24th May in the Buñuel Theatre.

Check trailers for some Cinéfondation shorts at MOC.

After reading, see film stills and/or trailer for all short films, can say that some seem very interesting; unfortunatelly not all have trailers and/or film stills but will be frequently checking to post at MOC trailers when they are released.

Cheers!!! Cannes has started.

As next Thursday April 18 we will learn the Cannes Official Selection let me share with you all my wish list with films that hopefully will make any section of the festival but IF they don't still believe that most films will be must be seen.

The Masters

Le Passe (The Past) by Asghar Farhadi.
Know director became famous for his Oscar winner film but I follow him closely since his 2006 Fireworks Wednesday and this is must be seen for me for him and because Tahar Rahim is the lead. Let's hope Bérénice Bejo acts better here than in her other films, sigh.

La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) by Paolo Sorrentino.
Absolutely must be seen for me as teaser has such beautiful images of Rome on top the star is none other than Toni Sevillo. (Photo)

Nymphomaniac by Lars Von Trier.
Soon we will know if director deeply tarnished his relationship with the festival or not. If film is not in Cannes then surely will be in Venice. Who can resist Charlotte Gainsbourg performing a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac? Not me.

Malavita by Luc Besson.

Female Master Directors

Abus de faiblesse (Abuse of Weakness) by Catherine Breillat.
The star is none other than Isabelle Huppert so we know that the story has to be intense and perhaps much more as Breillat adapted her novel -with the same name- about her true personal experience with professional conman Christophe Rocancourt.

Les Salauds (The Bastards) by Claire Denis.
With Chiara Mastroianni and Vincent Lindon. Not crazy about director but this revenge drama seems could be interesting. (Photo)

Serena by Susanne Bier.
The great Danish director took a break from her amazing dramas to direct light Love is All You Need; now she plays again with the English language to tell a very American story. The catch is that the leads are none other than Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper; but has great British actors too.

Bird People by Pascale Ferran.
Nude Area by Urszula Antoniak.
Wakolda by Lucia Puenzo.

Great Filmmakers ("walking" to become Masters)

Le Bleu est une couleur chaude (Blue is the Earmest Color) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
Really enjoy his movies and more if the star is none other than Léa Seydoux and has a story that seems will have lesbian interest (!!!). (Photo)

A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn.
Images suggest that Corbijn kept his peculiar fabulous style in this adaptation of John le Carre's espionage thriller starring none other than Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Only God Forgives by Nicolas Winding Refn.
Trailer impressed me but I was more impressed by Kristin Scott Thomas as hardly recognized her. Director regular Ryan Goslin (recall Drive?) is also here in a film that I suspect will be even more violent than Drive.

Twelve Years a Slave by Steve McQueen.
McQueen's regular, great Michael Fassbender stars in this very American slavery story that know will have director impressive style (has to). My only concern is that Brad Pitt also stars in film. Still, European buzz wonder if film will be ready for Cannes.

Tom à la ferme (Tom at the Farm) by Xavier Dolan.
Cannes "enfant not-so-terrible" maybe will make his dream come true this year IF his latest film finally makes the Official Selection; but no matter where it lands, film has to be his most drama intensive when he tells about a grieven man meeting his lover's family, who were not aware of this son's sexual orientation. The best, Dolan also acts (I enjoy his performances). If film makes Cannes be sure that film will compete for a Teddy. Just read that "maybe" film will NOT be in Cannes, shame.

Jeune et jolie by François Ozon.
Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Kore-Eda.
Nine Minutes Interval by Corneliu Porumboiu.

In English

Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet.
Yes he is directing his first English language film and is a remake of Les Liens du Sang where he was the main actor. Perhaps the only good thing film has is his wife acting in film.

The Buttler by Lee Daniels.
After being highly impressed with the Paperboy this tale about a butler who served eight different American Presidents at the White House could be better than what I imagined before seeing the Paperboy; so the great cast (John Cusack, Vanessa Redgrave, Alan Rickman, etc) could make this movie (hopefully) good.

The Congress by Ari Folman.
Highly impressed with his Waltz with Bashir but as some do Folman went to America to do an English movie with American stars and Sci-Fi genre. Still story (an aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job...) could be interesting specially when Robin Wright plays a version of herself who travels to the future.  The Great news, film is a blend of live action (70 mins) and animation (50 mins) that looks/feels like his previous film.

The list could grow exponentially but let's stop here as we only have to wait 5 days to learn which film made the Official Selection plus the selection in the parallel sections and beyond. Can't wait for Cannes and know you can tell.

Cheers!!!!

Located at the heart of Cannes Film Festival’s international village, the pavilion is a unique venue dedicated to filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Near and Middle East. As a platform for working and networking opportunities, it has become the place to be for artists, professionals and international institutions seeking information on world cinema during the festival.

Since 2009, the Cinémas du Monde Pavilion has been run by the Institut Français in partnership with the International Organisation of La Francophonie, the Audiovisuel Extérieur de la France – composed of RFI, Monte Carlo Doualiya, France 24, and the partner French-language channel TV5 Monde. With their shared desire to promote cultural dialogue and diversity, the pavilion’s partners have contributed resources and expertise enabling world cinema to have its own workspace and networking area at the biggest international festivals.

A delegation of young directors and their producers have been invited to take part in the Fabrique Les Cinémas du Monde, a programme supporting talented new filmmakers. Its excellent workshops and abundant professional contacts have already helped several films and projects find co-production and international distribution opportunities.

In 2013, just like in the previous editions, a renowed cinema personnality will sponsor the Pavilion. He will brilliantly follow in the footsteps of his prestigious predecessors : Maria De Medeiros, Elia Suleiman Elsa Zylberstein, Pablo Trapero, Sandrine Bonnaire, Rithy Panh, and Juliette Binoche and Abderrahmane Sissako.

Raoul Peck will be the patron of the 2013 edition of the La Fabrique Les Cinémas du Monde. He will share his experience with young directors and hold a master class.

The 2013 selection

9 talented young directors from emerging countries, and their producers, will will be able to take advantage of personalised project support through one-to-one meetings with key players in the film industry.

Before Leaving, Mohammed Latrèche, Algeria
Territoria, Nora Martirosyan, Armenia
Loveling, Gustavo Pizzi, Brazil
The Siren of Faso Fani, Michel K. Zongo, Burkina Faso
The Taste in our Tongues, Monica Bravo, Colombia
Carmen, Pierre Lucson Bellegarde, Haiti
Jambula Tree, Kahui Wanuri, Kenya and South Africa
The Sigbin Chronicles, Joanna Arong, Philippines
The Mercy Of The Jungle, Joel Karekezi, Rwanda

4 countries will be represented for the first time: Armenia, Burkina Faso, Haiti and the Philippines. To learn more about the program and/or each of the projects please go to official site.

For L’Atelier’s 9th edition, 15 projects from 14 countries have been selected. Since its creation in 2005, L’Atelier has been stimulating creative filmmaking and encouraging the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers.

By inviting directors and their producers to meet hundreds of potential partners during the Festival de Cannes, L’Atelier offers its participants access to international co-production, thereby maximizing their chances of completing their projects. So far, out of 126 projects presented over the last eight years, 83 have been completed and 29 are currently in pre-production.


The Projects

Rey, Niles Attalah, Chile
Ciao Ciao, Song Chuan, China
Out/In the Streets, Jasmina Metwaly and Philip Rizk, Egypt
Lamb, Yared Zeleke, Ethiopia
Je ne suis pas un salaud, Emmanuel Finkiel, France
Stage Fright, Yorgos Zois, Greece
Chenu, Manjeet Singh,India
Holy Air, Shady Srour, Israel
The House on Fin Street, Amir Manor,Israel
Sworn Virgin, Laura Bispuri, Italia
Me, Myself and Murdoch, Yahya Alabdallah, Jordan / Palestine
Days of Cannibalism, Teboho Joscha Edkins, South Africa
Memories of the Wind, Özcan Alper,Turkey
Road Kill, Yuichi Hibi, U.S.A.
Los Herederos (The Heirs), Jorge Hernández Aldana, Mexico

To learn more about each project please read the Livre des Projects below.

Today the poster was released and the following is the commentary for the poster selection.

For its 52nd edition, La Semaine de la Critique continues its series of portraits initiated last year with the collaboration of Les Bons Faiseurs agency.  Following on from Anamaria Vartolomei's classic pale beauty, the beautifully lit face of Soko stands out against the logo of the Selection that revealed her in the superb Augustine, Alice Winocour's debut film.

By discovering first features, the section in charge of talent scouting also showcases new actors, often performing their first roles on the big screen. Maggie Cheung, Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Gael García Bernal, Alice de Lencquesaing, all these actors whose early and promising years are reflected in Soko's luminescent and serene beauty, which radiates the pleasure and sensuality of performance.

The Selection of the 52nd edition and a commentary by Charles Tesson, Artistic Director, will be posted online on April 22nd.

Interesting is to notice that the three Cannes 2013 posters are really movie related in direct or indirect ways. That's great!

Today the release of the parallel Cannes section poster, perhaps because is a black and white photo or maybe because is an excellent composition but I'm finding 2013 Cannes graphic identity outstanding as the Festival de Cannes poster is amazing and now this section releases another great poster with a great reasoning behind.

Poster 2013

Two persons in the middle of the desert, under a distant western sky.

The epitome of Adventure. Two modern-day cow-boys in a motor vehicle.

Or, why not, the vehicle of two filmmakers scouting locations, who briefly, forget their solitude to confront their experience and their destiny under a Fordain sky.

The Quinzaine des Réalisateurs this year will be a meeting place for creative artists in the midst of desire.

And a series of adventures, comedies and tragedies of today.

Life, indeed, but under skies bigger than life, as Nicholas Ray would put it...Movies, in short.

Edouard Waintrop

The poster for the 2013 Quinzaine des Réalisateurs was based on a photo by Cécile Burban. Michel Welfringer was in charge of the graphic conception.

Now I'm looking forward to see La Semaine poster as hopefully they will keep similar basic graphic identity.

Banner

A few minutes ago the official festival poster was announced with American movie icons Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman in a 1963 photo from the shooting of Melville Shavelson's A New Kind of Love.

The following is what the festival announced about the original photo and the poster.

The original photo

To grace the poster for its 66th edition, the Festival de Cannes has chosen a couple who embody the spirit of cinema like no other: Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, photographed during the shooting of the aptly named A New Kind of Love, by Melville Shavelson (1963).

For the Festival it is a chance both to pay tribute to the memory of Paul Newman, who passed away in 2008, and to mark its undying admiration for Joanne Woodward, his wife and most favored co-star.

They were honored at the Festival de Cannes in 1958 – the year of their marriage – with the selection In Competition of Martin Ritt’s The Long Hot Summer, the first film in which they appeared together. The links between their story and that of the Festival continued with a series of films directed by Newman, who cast Woodward in unforgettable roles in The Effect of the Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (Competition – 1973) and The Glass Menagerie (Competition – 1987).

The 2013 Festival Poster

The photograph from the shoot was isolated, remastered and redesigned by the Bronx agency, who added a kinetic element, toying with the impression of movement and depth in order to enhance the cinematographic effect.

The poster evokes a luminous and tender image of the modern couple, intertwined in perfect balance at the heart of the dizzying whirlwind that is love. The vision of these two lovers caught in a vertiginous embrace, oblivious of the world around them, invites us to experience cinema with all the passion of an everlasting desire.

The ★ Bronx agency (Paris) was responsible for all the graphics of the 2013 Festival.

It also created an animated film for the poster, to the soundtrack of a remixed version of the Festival’s musical theme. Arrangements: Olivier Huguenard - Emmanuel Plégat / Sismic Music.



Can't help but share that one film that never has left my memory is The Long Hot Summer, which perhaps is my favorite from the real life husband and wife couple and a film that I highly recommend to see if you haven't seen it yet. My only suggestion is to see it as a period film from a long-gone era.

Because photos are really worth watching, suggest you check the Poster Couple article at official festival site here.

Find the poster interesting, somehow a great portrait from the sixties but believe that the graphic representation in the vertical, horizontal and square materials is very suggestive as we know this is the 66th edition but because the photo chosen seems more a 69 than a 66. Wonder if is on purpose or just my imagination.

For L’Atelier’s 9th edition, 15 projects from 14 countries have been selected. Since its creation in 2005, L’Atelier has been stimulating creative filmmaking and encouraging the emergence of a new generation of filmmakers. By inviting directors and their producers to meet hundreds of potential partners during the Festival de Cannes, L’Atelier offers its participants access to international co-production, thereby maximizing their chances of completing their projects. So far, out of 126 projects presented over the last eight years, 83 have been completed and 29 are currently in pre-production.

From May 17 to 23, L’Atelier will arrange meetings with the directors for film industry professionals interested in investing in their projects. The Livre des Projets and the meeting request forms will be available online at the beginning of April on Cinéfondation official site.

The following are the 15 selected projects.

Chenu, Manjeet Singh, India
Ciao Ciao, Song Chuan, China
Days of Cannibalism, Teboho Joscha Edkins, South Africa
Holy Air, Shady Srour, Israel
Je ne suis pas un salaud, Emmanuel Finkiel, France
Lamb, Yared Zeleke, Ethiopia
Me, Myself and Murdoch, Yahya Alabdallah, Jordan and Palestine
Memories of the Wind, Özcan Alper, Turkey
Out/In the Streets, Jasmina Metwaly and Philip Rizk, Egypt
Rey, Niles Attalah,Chile
Road Kill, Yuichi Hibi, USA
Stage Fright, Yorgos Zois, Greece
Sworn Virgin, Laura Bispuri, Italia
The House on Fin Street, Amir Manor, Israel
The Heirs, Jorge Hernández Aldana, Mexico

Let's hope that many of the above projects find the necessary help to continue the process of making their films.

Winter is almost over so let's recall some of the movies I have seen during the cold season.

Infancia Clandestina (Clandestine Childhood), Benjamín Ávila, Argentina, Spain and Brazil
Known for his documentary Nietos (Identidad y Memorial) Avila debuts with his first feature film about a similar subject, the children in the troubled Argentinean days of the late 70's. As stated by Avila film story is not autobiographical even when he mixes some of his personal memories with fiction and tells story from a child point of view, which is very safe but becomes a lot less engaging for viewers as at moments becomes a melodrama about puppy love more than how to handle a double identity when you are so young. In this sense while watching story became very familiar for me and not unique as similar stories were told by films like 1988 Sidney Lumet's Running on Empty and 2000 Christian Petzold's Die innere Sicherheit (The State I Am In). The second is also Petzold's feature film debut and for a debut is a very engaging film and story, an opportunity that is lost in Avila's film perhaps because is not easy to objectively direct a film about what happened in your real life.

As we know was Argentina's submission to 2013 Oscar, an honor that perhaps was given more for the story film tells than for film's quality. Still stories like this one need to be told and people need to know them. Watch at your own risk but do not expect much from film specs and perhaps you will enjoy it more than me. Enjoy!  Trailer.


Las Malas Intenciones (The Bad Intentions), Rosario Garcia-Montero, Peru, Argentina and Germany
The debut feature film by Garcia-Montero that also has a story centered in a child and her view of everything that surrounds her in the critical and violent moments in Peru of the early 80's. This time the story is set in a wealthy family where the lonely young girl world collapses as her mother tells her she is going to have a sibling, which is the excuse to lightly explore Peru's conflicts. Not many stories have been told from this specific conflict, so there was a big opportunity for this film to excel at least for the story told, but no it did not as the little girl personal story overshadows everything else that is also told. Then you have the problem of not-so-good acting which makes film very hard to sustain watching.

Peru's submission to 2013 Oscar definitively has not the quality of films by more accomplished Peruvian directors like Claudia Llosa or Vega brothers outstanding films so suggest to watch at your own risk not expecting a great film and maybe you will enjoy it more than what I did. Sigh. Trailer.

Todos Tenemos Un Plan (Everybody Has a Plan), Ana Piterbarg, Argentina, Spain and Germany
Another debut feature film by Ana Piterbarg that unfortunately is not much amazing perhaps due to the lack of developed directorial skills as film starts very well both story wise and tech specs but around the middle film clearly lost direction after setting up some really interesting concepts that are abandoned for stretching a film too long without a clear direction to a much predictable end.

The best film has is that Viggo Mortensen performance looks great thanks to other actors really bad performances. Alright there is something else, Piterbarg style suggests that she will have a good future in filmmaking when her directorial skills improve. Enjoy.  Trailer.

Blancanieves, Pablo Berger, Spain
A very interesting take on classic Snow White tale as film is one of the most clearly Spain's values showcase that I have seen in ages, not only because is about bullfighting, has great music score (mostly Flamenco) but because is set in the 20's and has some great costumes. Also as film is black and white delights us with some very interesting use of light creating some outstanding to watch compositions. The silent film is an homage to German Expressionism which makes film very different to the "other" recent silent film and makes it a very artistic feast to the eyes. That's the good part.

On the not-great side, unfortunately some of the performances doesn't fit what you expect from a silent film nor recreates the fantastic performances in films of the German Expressionism era. For me performances are "too modern" with the occasional exceptions when the necessary silent film dramatic-exaggerated performance is present in scenes by Maribel Verdú. Still and considering modern performances is Macarena García who captured my attention and who I enjoyed most in film.

Spain's submission to 2013 Oscar was surely overshadowed by last year Best Picture Oscar winner but do not let this fool you as this is a movie that I strongly suggest you do not skip especially if you appreciate art in movies but somehow I know that due to the known tale very unconventional adaptation could please wider audiences that never imagined Snow White could be told as is told here. Enjoy!!! Trailer.

Hypnotisören (The Hypnotist), Lasse Hallström, Sweden
A great entertaining film that in my opinion represents well Nordic mainstream films as absolutely has the fantastic cold performances style, blueish/greyish look, slowish pace and a story that can easily capture your attention. But one word of advice, do NOT expect this film to be a Hollywood thriller as thankfully it is NOT.

My best reference is that if you enjoyed 2008 Tomas Alfredson's Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In), 2006 Baltasar Kormákur's Mýrin (Jar City) and/or the original 2009 Niels Arden Oplev's Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) then perhaps you will also enjoy this film that was Sweden submission to 2013 Oscar. Enjoy!! Trailer.

Den skaldede frisør (Love Is All You Need), Susanne Bier, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, France and Germany
Was expecting a less mainstream movie but movie is really mainstream cinema and perhaps the most crowd-pleaser/feel-good that Bier has done. Unfortunately and mainly due to casting but also because story, film makes you think about Mamma Mia! -without the songs- which somehow didn't help me to enjoy more film. Still film has some great Nordic style performances by Trine Dyrholm's as Ida and Paprika Steen as very unpleasant Benedikte; the only cast misfortune is Pierce Brosnan even when his performance is not bad, role should have been given to another good actor that hasn't star in a similar story high profile movie.

This romcom is nice to watch but please do not expect a Hollywood romcom as there is nothing American in this film, not the performances, not the storytelling style, not the humor, not the background drama, nor anything else. Film is an enjoyable entertaining moment that could please many that enjoy European cinema. Enjoy!! Trailer.

Cloclo (My Way), Florent-Emilio Siri, France and Belgium
Was more interesting in recalling the life of Claude François than watching film as a film, so you can say that my expectations were very low which was perfect as film as a film is not that good. Assume that this biopic will please many fans of the French pop singer but wonder if those not familiar with him and his brief life could enjoy film that much. Still Jérémie Renier performance is very acceptable as if not has the true looks has most of the mannerisms of Claude François, however is Benoît Magimel transformation what impressed me the most.

For those not familiar with the French singer (he was contemporary of Gilbert Bécaud, Johnny Hallyday and Frances Gall -all are in movie) perhaps knowing that he was the co creator of one of the most famous songs in the world, My Way that Paul Anka bought the rights, created new English lyrics and Frank Sinatra made it an international success. In this sense perhaps what film also has is an interesting take in how songs are translated into other languages to make local singers very popular in that language-speaking countries, sometimes overshadowing locally the success of the "original" song/singer and this story works BOTH ways here, from English to French and from French to English.

It is a very French film with a very French story that I am not sure non-French can enjoy, so my best suggestion is to watch Youtube video clips of the real Claude François before watching movie. Enjoy! Trailer.

The Paperboy, Lee Daniels, USA
With the mostly not positive reviews was expecting a film that I could not enjoy, but surprise, surprise film is truly "trashy" but highly enjoyable with one scene that I know will NOT forget, ever. This particular scene made me jump with a mix of disgust and incredibility as even when during the entire movie I really forgot I was watching Nicole Kidman in the screen, during this scene I couldn't help but seeing her doing a very sexually graphic scene (actually you see not much as almost everything is suggested) that yes, shocked me. Please do not allow me to confuse you, this is one the best Kidman's performances I have seen and one that everyone should see.

Know that film is not for everyone as is very violent, very sexually suggestive (not much is actually shown but it is suggested and makes your imagination flow into only one direction), highly homoerotic (again not much shown but suggested) and story is in one word, bizarre. But somehow Daniels take on the Pete Dexter award winner novel reminds me of Tarantino and bet you all that if Tarantino dared to tell this story, many will praise his work. Then you can't forget that Pedro Almodovar produced film which makes the Daniels-Almodovar collaboration very unconventional and yes, bizarre. Great.

I couldn't watch Daniels previous film as was too much for me, but this one strongly recommend you watch it; however prepare yourself for a sleazy/trashy very unconventional film. Enjoy!!! Trailer.

Have seen many more films but this is it for today. Cheers!

Today at the César Awards ceremony Les Révélations were announced and here they are:

Izïa Higelin in Mauvaise Fille (photo)
Matthias Schoenaerts in De rouille et d’os

Congratulations!

1/26/13
As announced yesterday in *BLUE are the Newcomers that were nominated in the 38th César Awards.

11/19/12
Today the French Academy released the list with the 32 actors that made the selection for this year newcomers. The 4,199 Academy members will vote to select the nominees in the 2013 César Awards Best Female Newcomer and Best Male Newcomer categories.

Actresses
Laurence Arné in Bowling
Alice Belaïd in Les Kaïras
Agathe Bonitzer in Une bouteille à la mer
Lola Créton in Après mai
*Alice de Lencquesaing in Au galop
*Lola Dewaere in Mince alors!
Arta Dobroshi in Trois mondes
*Julia Faure in Camille Redouble
*India Hair in Camille Redouble
*Izïa Higelin in Mauvaise Fille
Sarah Le Picard in Alyah
Sofiia Manousha in Le noir (te) vous va si bien
Noémie Merlant in L’orpheline avec en plus un bras en moins
Alice Pol in Un plan parfait
Clara Ponsot in Bye Bye Blondie
Camille Rutherford in Low Life

Actors
Ben in Superstar
Emile Berling in Comme un homme
Jonathan Cohen in Un plan parfait
Mehdi Dehbi in Le fils de l’Autre
Vincent Lacoste in Astérix et Obélix au service de sa Majesté
Benjamin Lavernhe in Radiostars
Côme Levin in Radiostars
Clément Metayer in Après mai
*Félix Moati in Télé Gaucho
Grégory Montel in L’air de rien
*Kacey Mottet Klein in L’enfant d’en haut
*Pierre Niney in Comme des frères
*Matthias Schoenaerts in De rouille et d’os
Mahmoud Shalaby in Une bouteille à la mer
Stéphane Soo Mongo in Rengaine
*Ernst Umhauer in Dans la maison

There are too many films that I have not seen but from the ones I have there is no doubt in my mind that Matthias Schoenaerts (photo) and Kacey Mottet Klein are two actors that deserve the honor this year; in the actress category and from the movies I have seen, I do not believe they deserve the honor, but haven't seen most of the selection films. Nevertheless I will not be surprised if Arta Dobroshi (photo) gets a nomination as she deserved the honor since she had the lead role in the Dardennes' Le silence de Lorna (Lorna's Silence).

On January 24, 2013 Les Révélations gala will take place and we will learn the nominees for the 2013 César Awards categories.

Award ceremony was really fun to watch and only hope that next Sunday ceremony is as funny as this one was. BIG winner was Amour by master filmmaker extraordinaire Michael Haneke. BRAVO!

Winners are in *BLUE. Check post bottom for some pictures.

1/26/13
Yesterday the French Academy announced the nominations for the current edition and Noémie Lvovsky's Camille Rewinds leads with 13 nominations followed by Michael Haneke's Amour and Benoît Jacquot's Farewell My Queen with 10 nods each; with 9 nominations each Holy Motors by Léos Carax, In The House by François Ozon and Le Prénom by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière.

Poster for the 38th edition is truly outstanding with an awesome Simone Signoret photo that made me recall how beautiful this remarkable actress was in so many movies and how great actress she was in her whole career.

Awards ceremony will be on February 22 at Théâtre du Châtelet and will be broadcast live by Canal +; again Antoine de Caunes will host the ceremony and the Gala Dinner will be at Fouquet. Let's hope this year we will be able to watch a live streaming or maybe TV5 Monde will broadcast it live and not only deferred; however we always have Twitter that has become the best social media to learn winners when organizers do not stream live their ceremonies.

Absolutely another great year for French Cinema as there are many excellent films in this list plus some more mainstream movies that are equally great to watch and enjoy. These films are my kind of French films, the ones that have made me fall and continue to LOVE great French Cinema. Long Live Great French Cinema!

Best Film
Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell My Queen), Benoît Jacquot
*Amour (Love), Michael Haneke
Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds), Noémie Lvovsky
Dans la maison (In The House), François Ozon
De rouille et d’os (Rust & Bone) Jacques Audiard
Holy Motors, Léos Carax
Le prénom, Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière

Best First Film
Augustine, Alice Winocour
Comme des frères, Hugo Gélin
*Louise Wimmer, Cyril Mennegun
Populaire, Régis Roinsard
Rengaine, Rachid Djaïdani

Best Animated Film
Edmond était un âne, Franck Dion
*Ernest et Célestine, Benjamin Renner, Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier
Kirikou et les hommes et les femmes, Michel Ocelot
Oh Willy, Emma de Swaef and Marc Roels
Zarafa, Rémi Bezançon and Jean-Christophe Lie

Best Foreign Film
The Angels' Share, Ken Loach
A perdre la raison (Our Children), Joachim Lafosse
*Argo, Ben Affleck
En kongelig affære (Royal Affair), Nikolaj Arcel
Laurence Anyways, Xavier Dolan
Oslo, 31. august (Oslo, August 31st), Joachim Trier
Rundskop (Bullhead), Michael R. Roskam

Best Director
Benoît Jacquot for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell My Queen)
*Michael Haneke for Amour (Love)
Noémie Lvovsky for Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds)
François Ozon for Dans la maison (In The House)
Jacques Audiard for De rouille et dos (Rust & Bone)
Leos Carax for Holy Motors
Stéphane Brizé for Quelques heures de printemps (A Few Hours of Spring)

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard in De rouille et d’os (Rust & Bone)
Catherine Frot in Les saveurs du palais (Haute Cuisine )
Noémie Lvovsky in Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
Corinne Masiero in Louise Wimmer
*Emmanuelle Riva in Amour (Love)
Léa Seydoux in Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell my Queen)
Hélène Vincent in Quelques heures de printemps (A Few Hours of Spring)

Best Supporting Actress
*Valérie Benguigui in Le prénom
Judith Chemla in Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
Isabelle Huppert in Amour (Love)
Yolande Moreau in Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
Edith Scob in Holy Motors

Best Female Newcomer
Alice de Lencquesaing in Au galop (In a Rush)
Lola Dewaere in Mince alors!
Julia Faure in Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
India Hair in Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
*Izia Higelin in Mauvaise fille

Best Actor
Jean-Pierre Bacri in Cherchez Hortense
Patrick Bruel in Le prénom
Denis Lavant in Holy Motors
Vincent Lindon in Quelques heures de printemps (A Few Hours of Spring)
Fabrice Luchini in Dans la maison (In the house)
Jérémie Renier in Cloclo (My Way)
*Jean-Louis Trintignant in Amour (Love)

Best Supporting Actor
*Guillaume de Tonquedec in Le prénom
Samir Guesmi in Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
Benoît Magimel in Cloclo (My Way)
Claude Rich in Cherchez Hortense
Michel Vuillermoz in Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)

Best Male Newcomer
Félix Moati in Télé gaucho
Kacey Mottet Klein in L’enfant d’en haut (Sister)
Pierre Niney in Comme des frères
*Matthias Schoenaerts in De rouille et d’os (Rust & Bone)
Ernest Umhauer in Dans La Maison (In the House)

Best Original Screenplay
Bruno et Denis Podalydès for Adieu Berthe ou l’enterrement de Mémé (Granny's Funeral)
*Michael Haneke for Amour (Love)
Noémie Lvovsky, Florence Seyvos, Maud Ameline and Pierre-Olivier Mattei for Camille redouble (Camille Rewinds)
Léos Carax for Holy Motors
Florence Vignon & Stéphane Brizé for Quelques heures de printemps (A Few Hours of Spring)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Lucas Belvaux for 38 Témoins (38 Witnesses)
Gilles Taurand and Benoît Jacquot for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell My Quee)
François Ozon for Dans la maison (In The House)
*Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain for De rouille et d’os (Rust & Bone)
Matthieu Delaporte & Alexandre de la Patellière for Le prénom

Best Cinematography
*Romain Winding for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell my Queen)
Darius Khondji for Amour (Love)
Stéphane Fontaine for De rouile et d’os (Rust & Bone)
Caroline Champetier for Holy Motors
Guillaume Schiffman for Populaire

Best Editing
Luc Barnier for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell my Queen)
Monika Willi for Amour (Love)
Annette Dutertre and Michel Klochendler for Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
*Juliette Welfling for De rouile et d’os (Rust & Bone)
Nelly Quettier for Holy Motors

Best Original Soundtrack
Bruno Coulais for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell my Queen)
Gaetan Roussel for Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
Philippe Rombi for Dans la maison (In the House)
*Alexandre Desplat for De rouile et d’os (Rust & Bone)
Rob and Emmanuel d’Orlando for Populaire

Best Sound
Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier and Olivier Goinard for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell my Queen)
Guillaume Sciama, Nadine Muse and Jean-Pierre Laforce for Amour (Love)
*Antoine Deflandre, Germain Bouylay and Eric Tisserand for Cloclo (My Way)
Brigitte Taillandier, Pascal Villard and Jean-Paul Hurier for De rouile et d’os (Rust & Bone)
Erwan Kerzanet, Josefina Rodriguez and Emmanuele Croset for Holy Motors

Best Costumes
*Christian Gasc for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell my Queen)
Pascale Chavanne for Augustine
Madeline Fontaine for Camille Redouble (Camille Rewinds)
Mimi Lempicka for Cloclo (My Way)
Charlotte David for Populaire

Best Set Design
*Katia Wyszkop for Les Adieux à la reine (Farewell my Queen)
Jean-Vincent Puzos for Amour (Love)
Philippe Chiffre for Cloclo (My Way)
Florian Sanson for Holy Motors
Sylvie Olivé for Populaire

Best Documentary
Bovines ou la vraie vie des vaches, Emmanuel Gras
Duch, le maître des forges, Rithy Panh
*Les invisibles, Sébastien Lifshitz
Journal de France, Claudine Nougaret and Raymond Depardon
Les nouveaux chiens de garde, Gilles Balbastre and Yannick Kergoat

Best Short Film
Ce n’est pas un film de cow-boys, Benjamin Parent
Ce qu’il restera de nous, Vincent Macaigne
*Le cri du homard, Nicolas Guiot
Les meutes, Manuel Schapira
La vie parisienne, Vincent Dietschy

As has been proven across the pond, this is the YEAR when Michael Haneke is being recognized as the filmmaker extraordinaire he truly is; his master opus Amour has been collecting so many honors that makes me believe it's a record and when the awards season is over will confirm it as I'm willing to count each and all the awards the movie collected plus other honors. Let's hope that French Academy members also highly honors Haneke's "perfect" film but I do recognize there are some categories were film was nominated that have great competition.

Cheers!!!

In Photos: Winners, Emmanuelle Riva, Valérie Benguigui, Guillaume de Tonquedec, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Jacques Audiard