14/05/2007

A gala opening at the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday, is lined up for the new and powerful international sales outfit Dreamachine, (see news), created from a merger of UK company HanWay and Paris-based Celluloid Dreams, and for their former respective directors Jeremy Thomas and Hengameh Panahi.

To celebrate its creation, the event’s various sections have selected six titles in the Dreamachine line-up, two of which are in official competition: directing duo Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s French animated film Persepolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marc-Antoine Robert
interview: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Pa…
film profile] (see article) and Mogari No Mori by Japanese director Naomi Kawase, co-produced by Celluloïd Dreams.

The Un Certain Regard hosts British/French co-production Mister Lonely [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by US director Harmony Korine, while French helmer Jean-Pierre Limosin’s documentary Young Yakusa will have a Special Screening in the Official Selection.

Dreamachine is betting on Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s bloody film Inside [+see also:
trailer
film profile], starring Béatrice Dalle, which will have a Very Special Screening in Critics’ Week, and on Tom Kalin’s Savage Grace [+see also:
film review
film profile], starring Julianne Moore, a three-way production between Spain (Montfort Producciones), Germany (Celluloid Dreams) and the US (Killer Films), which will be presented in Directors’ Fortnight.

A number of major Anglo-Saxon projects in pre-production also feature in the line-up, in particular Michael Winterbottom’s Genova, starring Colin Firth, as well as Gerald McMorrow ’s Franklyn, starring Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany, Eva Green and John Hurt (see news).

Other titles include British-made features Julian Jarrold’s Brideshead Revisited, starring Emma Thompson (see article) and Nick Broomfield’s Battle for Haditha (see news), Phillip Noyce’s Australian feature Dirt Music, starring Rachel Weisz and Colin Farrell, and Arvin Brown’s US production Hurricane Mary.

Dreamachine films in post-production are also an attractive lot: Asif Kapadia’s True North with Michelle Yeoh; Paolo Barzman’s Canadian feature Emotional Arithmetic, starring Gabriel Byrne and Susan Sarandon; Nikolai Mullerschon’s German production The Red Baron, with Matthias Schweighofer, Lena Headey, Joseph Fiennes and Til Schweiger; Bille Eltringham’s British film Mrs Ratcliffe’s Revolution and Sonetaula by Italy’s Salvatore Mereu.

Other titles up for grabs are Todd Haynes’ I'm Not There and Austrian helmer Michael Haneke’s Funny Games remake.

Diversity of genres are also plentiful in supply, for example French animated collective film Peur(s) du noir and Steven Sebring’s documentary Patti Smith.

Music will also be in the air during the Market screenings, with Julian Temple’s The Future is Unwritten – Joe Strummer and Sundance winner Padre Nostro by Christopher Zalla, among others.

(Translated from French)