[attach id=193804 size="medium"]The official poster of the 65th International Cannes film, made of a photo of Marilyn Monroe taken from her 1959 film Some Like It Hot.[/attach]
David Cronenberg, Ken Loach and Michael Haneke will headline the race for Cannes gold at the Riviera festival next month, in a line-up studded with stars like Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt.
It’s a journey through cinema and a journey around the world
With a month to go until the May 16-27 event, organisers named the 54 films awarded a red-carpet slot at the world cinema showcase, 22 in the official race for the Palme d’Or and the rest in the new talent section, Un Certain Regard.
Canada’s Mr Cronenberg starring Robert Pattinson as a billionaire asset manager was tipped for Cosmopolis, while Britain’s Loach will return for the 17th time with The Angel’s Share, a bittersweet comedy about former offenders who try their hand at whisky-making.
Among other film giants billed to take part are Austria’s Michael Haneke − who took the 2009 Palme d’Or for The White Ribbon − and French actress Isabelle Huppert as the daughter of a woman hit by a stroke in Amour (Love).
“It’s a journey through cinema and a journey around the world,” said Cannes’ general delegate Thierry Fremaux, who picked the films to be put before the festival’s jury, headed this year by Italian Palme d’Or winner Nanni Moretti.
Mr Fremaux told the press conference he made his selection from among 1,779 submissions, often favouring smaller directors, but with A-listers in top roles.
Star-wise, Mr Pattinson will be reunited on the Riviera with his on-screen lover from the Twilight films, Kristen Stewart, who stars in On the Road by the Brazilian Walter Salles, adapted from the Jack Kerouac novel.
Marion Cotillard will add to the glamour in Of Rust and Bone by Jacques Audiard, one of three French directors in the main competition along with New Wave veteran Alain Resnais, 89, and the edgy Leos Carax with Holy Motors.
In a quirky twist, Mr Cronenberg father and son will both be in Cannes, with Brandon Cronenberg showing his first film Antiviral in the new talent section chaired by British actor and director Tim Roth.
Mr Fremaux said this year stood out for the large number of US productions − not all of them directed by Americans − that “bridge the chasm between the small, independent directors and the big studios”.
US actor Jeff Nichols − noted for the apocalyptic drama Take Shelter − will compete with his new film Mud, about two teenage boys and a fugitive.
And Wes Anderson’s 1960s teen love story Moonrise Kingdom, already announced as the Cannes opening film, will run in the official competition.
Surprises in the Palme d’Or line-up include the presence of two South Koreans: Im Sangsoo with erotic thriller Taste of Money, and Hong Sangsoo with In Another Country starring France’s Huppert.
Berenice Bejo, co-star of the hit French silent movie The Artist, will be hosting the Cannes opening and closing ceremonies.
The festival will close with a screening of Claude Miller’s Therese Desqueyroux, a tribute to the French film-maker who had barely finished editing the movie when he died this month aged 70.
Films in the running for Palme d’Or
• Opening film: Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson (US)
• De Rouille et d’Os (Of Rust and Bone), Jacques Audiard (France)
• Holy Motors, Leos Carax (France)
• Cosmopolis, David Cronenberg (Canada)
• Reality, Matteo Garrone (Italy)
• Amour, Michael Haneke, (Austria)
• Mud, Jeff Nichols (US)
• In Another Country, HONG Sangsoo (South Korea)
• Do-Nui-Mat (Taste of Money), Im Sangsoo (South Korea)
• Angel’s Share, Ken Loach (Britain)
• The Paperboy, Lee Daniels (US)
• Like Someone In love, Abbas Kiarostami (Iran)
• Im Nebel (In the Fog), Sergei Loznitsa (Ukraine)
• Beyond the Hills, Cristian Mungiu (Romania)
• Baad El Mawkeaa (After the Battle), Yousry Nasrallah (Egypt)
• Killing Them Softly, Andrew Dominik (Australia)
• Lawless, John Hillcoat (Australia)
• Vous n’avez encore rien vu (You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet), Alain Resnais (France)
• Post Tenebras Lux, Carlos Reygadas (Mexico)
• On the Road, Walter Salles (Brazil)
• Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love), Ulrich Seidl (Germany)
• The Hunt, Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark)