Jones, Godard, Cronenberg among filmmakers in competition at Cannes
By Jamey Keaten
PARIS (AP) --David Cronenberg deconstructs Hollywood, Tommy Lee Jones goes Western and reclusive New Wave legend Jean-Luc Godard returns in 3D in films competing at next month's Cannes Film Festival.
Organizers of the famed Riviera festival announced the much-heralded lineup Thursday for the May 14-25 event, including 18 films vying for the top prize — the Palme d'Or.
Also competing for the top prize are two women directors, Naomi Kawase of Japan and Alice Rohrwacher of Italy; "The Artist" director Michel Hazanavicius of France, Britain's Mike Leigh, Ken Loach of Ireland, and Belgium's Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, who will be angling for their third Palme d'Or.
But Cannes is about far more than just the top award. Some 49 feature-length films from 28 nations — including 15 by women directors — will be shown at the 11-day cinema extravaganza.
"It is important for us that the Cannes selection is a voyage through cinema, and the world," Director-General Thierry Fremaux said.
Director Jane Campion, the only woman to win the Palme d'Or, is leading this year's jury festival, which opens with Nicole Kidman starring in the world premiere of director Olivier Dahan's out-of-competition biopic "Grace of Monaco."
In the Palme d'Or chase, Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars" takes aim at today's media-crazed society, while Jones directs and acts in "The Homesman" alongside Hilary Swank and Godard presents his movie "Adieu Au Language" ("Goodbye to Language").
American actor Ryan Gosling makes his directorial debut among the 19 films competing for the "Un Certain Regard" prize, presented a day before the Palme d'Or to honor up-and-coming or innovative filmmakers.
Gosling's "Lost River" stars Christina Hendricks and will be up against films from Italy's Asia Argento, France's Mathieu Amalric and "Paris, Texas" director Wim Wenders of Germany.
Adding to the international tilt, Chinese actress Gong Li returns to the Cannes red carpet in Zhang Yimou's "Coming Home," screening out of competition.
Cannes bosses took some flack two years ago after no film by any female director was in the competition. Fremaux said at the time that cinema needed to give "greater space" to women, and not just at Cannes.
This year's festival poster features a black-and-white photo of the late Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni — a conscious choice of a male following criticism that past posters featuring women had unfairly objectified them, Fremaux said.
Last year, in a first, the Palme d'Or was shared by two actresses for "Blue is the Warmest Color" along with its director.
Here's a rundown of films in competition for the 2014 Palme d'Or award at the May 14-25 Cannes Film Festival. The name of the film is followed by its director.
"Sils Maria," Olivier Assayas
"Saint Laurent," Bertrand Bonello
"Kis Uykusu" ("Winter's Sleep"), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
"Maps to the Stars," David Cronenberg
"Deux Jours, Une Nuit" ("Two Days, One Night"), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
"Mommy," Xavier Dolan
"Captives" ("The Captive"), Atom Egoyan
"Adieu au Langage" ("Goodbye to Language"), Jean-Luc Godard
"The Search," Michel Hazanavicius
"The Homesman," Tommy Lee Jones
"Futatsume No Mado" ("Still the Water"), Naomi Kawase
"Mr. Turner," Mike Leigh
"Jimmy's Hall," Ken Loach
"Foxcatcher," Bennett Miller
"La Meraviglie," Alice Rohrwacher
"Timbuktu," Abderrahmane Sissako
"Relatos Salvajes" ("Wild Tales"), Damian Szifron
"Leviathan," Andrey Zvyagintsev
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More