The Cannes competition list was published this morning. Here’s the list as given by Screendaily:
Moonrise Kingdom, dir. Wes Anderson (opening film)
Rust & Bone, dir. Jacques Audiard
Holly Motors, dir. Leos Carax
Cosmopolis, dir. David Cronenberg
Paperboy, dir. Lee Daniels
Killing Them Softly, dir. Andrew Dominik
Reality, dir. Matteo Garrone
Amour, dir. Michael Haneke
Lawless, dir. John Hillcoat
In Another Country, dir. Hong Sang Soo
The Taste of Money, dir. Im Sang-Soo
Like Someone in Love, dir. Abbas Kiarostami
The Angels’ Share, dir. Ken Loach
Beyond the Hills, dir. Cristian Mungiu
After the Battle, dir.Yousry Nasrallah
Mud, dir. Jeff Nichols
Vous n’avez encore rien vu, dir. Alan Resnais
Post Tenebras Lux, dir. Carlos Reygadas
On the Road, dir. Walter Salles
Paradis: Liebe (Paradise: Love), Ulrich Seidl
The Hunt, dir. Thomas Vinterberg
In The Fog (Im Nebel), dir Sergei Loznitsa
My first reaction is that it seems like a long list. Next, there isn’t a single woman – last year there were four (see our 2011 coverage of the Cannes announcement). I’m not sure what this means. There are three US independents including Lee Daniels, two auteurs from Latin America and two from South Korea – but none from China, Japan or India. Hooray then for the inclusion of Yousry Nasrallah representing Egypt. Otherwise it’s mainly Europeans and Anglos – Abbas Kiarostami notwithstanding.
It feels like a heavyweight competition without the major Hollywood names who usually spoil it for me (I reserve judgement on Wes Anderson). The return of Leos Carax is intriguing and it will be good to see Denis Lavant again – assuming of course that the film gets a UK release.
