THE WHITE RIBBON

Written and directed by Michael Haneke

Christian Friedel
Ernst Jacobi
Leonie Benesch
Ulrich Tukur
Maria-Victoria Dragus
Leonard Proxauf

Premiere date: May 21, 2009 (Cannes Film Festival)
R for some disturbing content involving violence and sexuality.

In a village in Protestant northern Germany, on the eve of World War I, the children of a church and school run by the village schoolteacher and their families experience a series of bizarre incidents that inexplicably assume the characteristics of a punishment ritual. Who could be responsible for such bizarre transgressions?

Cannes Film Festival

Palme d'Or

FIPRESCI Prize

Cinema Prize of the French National Education System

2009 Foreign Language Contenders

The deadline for foreign language submissions is today, so the list is starting to firm up. We'll have a shortlist later this year before nomination time in January. Here are the 59 entrants thus far:

ALBANIA - Alive
ARGENTINA - The Secret in Their Eyes
ARMENIA - Autumn of the Magician
AUSTRALIA - Samson & Delilah
AUSTRIA - For a Moment, Freedom
BANGLADESH - Beyond the Circle
BELGIUM - The Misfortunates
BOLIVIA - Southern Zone
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - Guardians of the Night
BRAZIL - Salve Geral
BULGARIA - The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner
CANADA - I Killed My Mother
CHILE - Dawson, Island 10
CHINA - Forever Enthralled
CROATIA - Donkey
CZECH REPUBLIC - Protector
DENMARK - Terribly Happy
ESTONIA - December Heat
FINLAND - Letters to Father Jacob
FRANCE - A Prophet
GERMANY - The White Ribbon
HONG KONG - Prince of Tears
HUNGARY - Chameleon
ICELAND - Reykjavik-Rotterdam
INDIA - Harishchandrachi Factory
INDONESIA - Jamila and the President
IRAN - About Elly
ISRAEL - Ajami
ITALY - Baaria
JAPAN - Nobody to Watch Over Me
KAZAKHSTAN - Kelin
KOREA - Mother
LITHUANIA - Waterhole
LUXEMBOURG - Refractaire
MACEDONIA - Wingless
MEXICO - Backyard
MONGOLIA - By the Will of Genghis Khan
MOROCCO - Casanegra
NETHERLANDS - The Silent Army
NORWAY - Max Manus
PHILIPPENES - Ded na Si Lolo
POLAND - Reverse
PORTUGAL - Doomed Love
ROMANIA - Police, Adjective
RUSSIA - Ward No. 6
SERBIA - St. George Shoots the Dragon
SLOVAKIA - Broken Promise
SLOVENIA - Landscape No. 2
SOUTH AFRICA - White Wedding
SPAIN - The Dancer and the Thief
SRI LANKA - Flowers in the Sky
SWEDEN - Involuntary
SWITZERLAND - Home
TAIWAN - No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti
THAILAND - Best in Time
TURKEY - I Saw the Sun
URUGUAY - Bad Day to Go Fishing
VENEZUELA - Libertador Morales, El Justiciero
VIETNAM - Don't Burn

There were a couple of surprises with the selections. Israel was widely expected to submit Venice winner Lebanon, and Spain passed over Almodovar's Broken Embraces. I think the major players will be Germany's The White Ribbon, which won Michael Haneke the Palme d'Or back in May, France's A Prophet, which also did well at Cannes, and Korea's Mother.

I'm dying to see The White Ribbon and Australia's Samson & Deliliah. Which foreign titles are you most looking forward to?

Trailer for The White Ribbon

Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke won the Palme d'Or at Cannes earlier this year for The White Ribbon, which focuses on a children's choir in northern Germany just before World War I. The film is also playing at Telluride and Toronto this month.

The international trailer just recently made its way online, and it looks great. I'm of the opinion that black and white is criminally under-used today. I think it makes for some beautiful imagery when used correctly (the red coat in Schindler's List comes to mind), and I love to see modern filmmakers put it to good use.

Germany selected the film as its official entry to the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Film race, and it also picked up the FIPRESCI Best Picture prize last month. It may be the most decorated film of the year so far.

The White Ribbon will hit US theaters December 30th.

Telluride 2009

The 36th Telluride Film Festival starts tomorrow and wraps up on Monday. What's cool about Telluride is that it keeps its lineup a secret until just as the fest is getting started. More screenings are announced throughout the week, so there's never any knowing exactly what's in store at this one.

The festival has just announced its lineup today, and there are a lot of big titles showing this year, namely the Sundance champ An Education and Palme d'Or winner The White Ribbon.

• A Prophet (D: Jacques Audiard, Germany/Austria/France)
• An Education (D: Lone Scherfig, UK)
• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (D: Werner Herzog, US)
• Bright Star (D: Jane Campion, UK/Australia/France)
• Coco Before Chanel (D: Anne Fontaine, France)
• Farewell (D: Christian Carion, France)
• Fish Tank (D: Andrea Arnold, UK)
• Gigante (D: Adrian Biniez, Uruguay)
• Henri-Georges Clouzout's Inferno (D: Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea, France)
• Life During Wartime (D: Todd Solondz, US)
• London River (D: Rachid Bouchareb, UK/France/Algeria)
• Red Riding (three-part series) 1974 (D: Julian Jarrold, UK), 1980 (D: James Marsh, UK), 1983 (Anand Tucker, UK)
• Room and a Half (D: Andrey Khrzhanovsky, Russia)
• Samson & Delillah (D: Warwick Thornton, Australia)
• Sleep Furiously (D: Gideon Koppel, UK)
• Terra Madre (D: Ermanno Olmi, Italy)
• The Jazz Baroness (D: Hannah Rothschild, UK)
• The Last Station (D: Michael Hoffman, UK)
• The Miscreants of Taliwood (D: George Gittoes, Australia/Pakistan)
• The Road (John Hillcoat, US)
• The White Ribbon (D: Michael Haneke, Germany/Australia/France)
• Vincere (D: Marco Bellocchio, Italy)
• Vision (D: Margarethe von Trotta, Germany)
• Window (D: Buddhadeb Dasgupta, India)

Lots of anticipated titles to talk about. I'm really looking forward to hearing more about these, especially A Prophet, An Education, Fish Tank, The Last Station, and The White Ribbon.

Cannes Winners

Last time I was here, the Cannes Film Festival was just starting up overseas. Well, obviously, we have a winner. Here's the full list of honored films from the festival.

Palme d'Or: The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke

Grand Prix: A Prophet by Jacques Audiard

Best Director: Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay

Jury Prize: Fish Tank by Andrea Arnold, Bakjwi by Park Chan-wook

Best Screenplay: Spring Fever by Lou Ye

Best Actress: Charlotte Gainsburg in Antichrist

Best Actor: Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

Lifetime Achievement Award: Alain Resnais

Short Film Palme d'Or: Arena by Joao Salivixa

Short Film - Special Distinction: The Six Dollar Fifty Man by Louis Sutherland

Prix Un Certain Regard: Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos

Un Certain Regard - Jury Prize: Police, Adjective

Un Certain Regard - Special Jury Prize: No One Knows About Persian Cats by Bahman Ghobadi, The Father of My Children by Mia Hansen-Love

Cinefondation: 1st prize - Baba by Zuzana Kirchnerova, 2nd prize - Goodbye by Fang, 3rd prize - Diploma by Yaelle Kayam, Don't Step Out of the House by Jo Sung-hee

Camera d'Or: Samson and Delilah by Warwick Thornton

Camera d'Or - Special Distinction: Ajami by Scandar Copti

The one that shocked me was Best Director going to Brillane Mendoza for Kinatay. Not to say I know anything about Mendoza's directorial skills. I definitely don't. But Kinatay was so severely panned by the press during Cannes that I really didn't think it stood a chance at winning anything. The acclaim may prove to add ammunition to some AMPAS campaigns next year. Specifically for The White Ribbon, A Prophet, and Christoph Waltz's much talked about performance in Tarantino's latest.