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MUMBAI:
A Singaporean, a Chinese and a Filipino are the Asian film
industry's representation in this year's Cannes Film Festival
Competition for the Palme d'Or between 14 May and 25 May.
Like several years now, no Indian film maker has made it to
the list. Three Americans, two French, two Italians, a Belgian,
a Canadian, Hungarian, an Isreali, a Turkish, and a German
film maker are in the list.
Singaporean
Eric Khoo - whose film Be with Me opened the directors fortnight in Cannes two
years - is in contention with his latest offering My Magic. Chinese director Jia
Zhangke's entry for the competition is 24 City while Filipino director Brillante
Mendoza's film Serbis, which chronicles the struggles of a rural family that decides
to run a prostitute service based in a fake theater, is the final Asian entry.
Mendoza is just the second Filipino director to make it to the competition list. Clint
Eastwood's Changeling which is premiering at the festival will also be competing
for the big prize. But he will be up against the two Argentinian directors Lucrecia
Martel (La Mujer Sin Cabeza) and Pablo Trapero (Leonera). Brazillian director
Walter Salles (Linha de Passe) and U.S based director Steven Soderbergh's Che
(on the life of Che Guevara) is also on the A list. Other films and filmmakers
who are in the running include: --
"Uc Maymun" (The Three Monkeys) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey) --
"Le Silence De Lorna" (The Silence of Lorna) by Jean-Pierre and Luc
Dardenne (Belgium) --
"Un Conte de Noel" (A Christmas Tale) by Arnaud Desplechin (France) --
"Changeling" by Clint Eastwood (United States) --
"Adoration" by Atom Egoyan (Canada) --
"Waltz With Bashir" by Ari Folman (Israel) --
"La Frontiere De l'Aube" (The Frontier Of Dawn) by Philippe Garrel (France) --
"Gomorra" by Matteo Garrone (Italy) --
"24 City" by Jia Zhangke (China) --
"Synecdoche, New York" by Charlie Kaufman (United States) --
"My Magic" by Eric Khoo (Singapore) --
"La Mujer Sin Cabeza" (Woman Without A Head) by Lucrecia Martel (Argentina) --
"Serbis" by Brillante Mendoza (Philippines) --
"Delta" by Kornel Mundruczo (Hungary) --
"Linha de Passe" (Line of Passage) by Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas
(Brazil) --
"Che" by Steven Soderbergh (United States) --
"Il Divo" by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy) --
"Leonera" by Pablo Trapero (Argentina) --
"The Palermo Shooting" by Wim Wenders (Germany) Other
big ticket films which are being screened but out of competition include: --
"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" by Woody Allen (United States) --
"The Good, The Bad, The Weird" by Kim Jee-Woon (South Korea) --
"Kung Fu Panda" by Mark Osborne, John Stevenson (United States) --
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" by Steven Spielberg
(United States)
2008's
feature film jury is chaired by American actor, director and
screenwriter Sean Penn. Italian director and screenwriter
Sergio Castellitto, Israeli American actor Natalie Portman,
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, Thai director Apichatpong
Weerasethakul, German actress Alexandra Maria Lara, and French
director Rachid Bouchareb will help decide who will take home
the famed Palme d'Or.
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