The Curtain Raiser
- France’s premier festival begins with a star-studded gala evening hosted by Monica Bellucci and the screening of Fanfan la Tulipe starring Penelope Cruz
The 56th Cannes Film Festival will get off to a beautiful start – literally – when Italian superstar Monica Bellucci opens the proceedings tonight and presents the inaugural film, Fanfan la Tulipe [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring the talented Iberian beauty, Penelope Cruz.
Five of the 20 films selected for this year’s competition are French, the country has staked a claim to the prestigious Palme d’Or which it last won in 1987 with Maurice Pialat’s Under Satan’s Sun. But it’s anyone’s guess how things will turn out especially since this year’s president of the jury, French director Patrice Chéreau is known for his predilection for Asian cinema and is a fan of Lars von Trier’s. The latest film by the Danish director, Dogville [+see also:
trailer
film profile] starring Nicole Kidman is in competition and is already attracting huge media attention.
It would be difficult to come up with a more ecletic and interesting jury: Steven Soderbergh, Danis Tanovic, Jean Rochefort, Erri De Luca, Jiang Wen, Karin Viard, Meg Ryan and Aishwarya Rai.
Industry operators will find this year’s Cannes particularly satisfying: the titles selected in the various sections reflect the entire complex filmmaking panorama and new talents are almost certainly going to emerge in Un Certain Regard, Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight.
(Translated from French)
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