Sony Pictures Classics Gets Get Low, Lebanon

Sony Pictures Classics picked up two big titles today, the first being Lebanon, the Israeli war film that just won the Golden Lion in Venice last week. The other is the Robert Duvall picture, Get Low, which picked up quite a bit of buzz for the actor in Toronto.

No release dates have been announced as of yet, but Sony Pictures Classics has a slew of buzzy titles on its slate this year. It picked up An Education out of Sundance earlier this year, and also has Palme d'Or winner The White Ribbon, the critically-acclaimed A Prophet, and Pedro Almodovar's latest, Broken Embraces.

This is a studio that's not afraid of a good campaign, especially on behalf of its actors. Last year it landed Melissa Leo and Anne Hathaway in the Best Actress race. Let's see if they can work some magic again this year.

Toronto

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.

September 2009

September is the month that the Oscar race officially begins. We have a slew of festivals coming up in the next couple of weeks (Telluride, Venice, Toronto) and when things calm down we'll have a much clearer view of where this awards season is headed.

Only a few contenders are making their way into the fray this month, however. September 18th will usher in Jane Campion's period romance Bright Star and the Steven Soderbergh corporate comedy The Informant! Both of which have picked up some buzz already.

We'll also see Jennifer's Body, a film that has no awards potential (Megan Fox seriously cannot act, and high school killer comedies are not AMPAS cuppa), but has a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. I must admit I have an interest here. It's embarrassing, since I don't exactly expect the movie to be good, but I'm interested in Cody's Juno follow-up.

I was hoping we'd have heard good things about Coco Before Chanel, starring the lovely French actress Audrey Tautou (Amelie) as the fashion legend, but so far the response has been rather muted. Ah, well. There are always a few that disappoint.

This month will definitely be laying the foundation for the forthcoming Oscar season. What are you looking forward to seeing in September?

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.

Cannes Looking Up

Some news out of Cannes, for you all. I'm not in a position to get to attend, but I hope to someday! For now I'll have to just link ya to all the buzz. Enjoy!

The festival starts tonight, so not much news yet. Refresh your memory on the line-up here.

"Up" is the first animated film and the first film in 3-D ever to open the festival, and people are in L.O.V.E. with it. Take a moment to read some of the raving reviews!

Roger Ebert compliments the film (and rags on the use of 3-D in cinema) at his blog.
Todd McCarthy's review at Variety.
The Hollywood Reporter's take.
USAToday reports Pixarians feelings on their film being chosen as the Cannes opener.
Another glowing response, this one from the Chicago Tribune.

PERSEPOLIS

Based on the comic book by Marjane Satrapi
Written and directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

Chiara Mastroianni
Catherine Deneuve
Danielle Darrieux
Simon Abkarian

Premiere date: May 23, 2007 (Cannes Film Festival)
PG-13 for mature thematic material including violent images, sexual references, language and brief drug content.

Marjane is an innocent nine-year-old living in Iran, surrounded by a loving but incredibly protective mother and father. She finds comfort in the carefree spirit of her grandmother, as well as music by artists as diverse as ABBA and Iron Maiden. When Marjane's uncle is killed in the Iran/Iraq war, her parents send her to school in Austria, where she can study in safety. But her Middle Eastern appearance frightens people, giving her a harsh lesson in racial prejudice. Somehow, Marjane's fiery spirit doesn't succumb to any of the negativity. Eventually, she returns home to Iranvto be closer to her family. But even though she settles into married life, the tyrannical pressures of Iranian society force her to abandon her country once again, sending her to France for the start of another journey.

Cannes Film Festival
Jury Prize
xxx
National Board of Review
The Bvlgari Award for Freedom of Expression
xxx
1 Academy Award Nomination
Best Animated Feature

MAN ON WIRE

Based on the book To Reach the Clouds by Philippe Petit

Directed by James Marsh

Premiere date: January 22, 2008 (Sundance Film Festival)

PG-13 for some sexuality and nudity, and drug references.

On August 7, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released.

Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Philippe spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challenges: he had to find a way to bypass the WTC's security; smuggle the heavy steel cable and rigging equipment into the towers; pass the wire between the two rooftops; anchor the wire and tension it to withstand the winds and the swaying of the buildings. The rigging was done by night in complete secrecy. At 7:15 AM, Philippe took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan...

James Marsh's documentary brings Petit's extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as "the artistic crime of the century."

Sundance Film Festival

Audience Award

Grand Jury Award for Best World Cinema Documentary
XXX

National Board of Review

Best Documentary

XXX

1 Academy Award Nomination, 1 Win

Best Documentary Feature

Cannes Cannes Cannes

This was announced a couple of weeks ago, but since the Cannes Film Festival is now only a week away, I thought I'd go ahead and post the lineup and the jury members. Here's hoping we'll hear about some possible awards contenders next week.

( * denotes a film I'm particularly excited to hear responses to)

The festival runs from May 13th through the 24th.



OPENING FILM
Up (USA - Directors Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)*

IN COMPETITION
Bright Star (Australia, UK, France - Director Jane Campion)*
Spring Fever (China, France - Director Lou Ye)
Antichrist (Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy - Director Lars von Trier)
Enter the Void (France - Director Gaspar Noe)
Face (France, Taiwan, Netherlands, Belgium - Director Tsai Ming-liang)
Les Herbes folles (France, Italy - Director Alain Resnais)
In the Beginning (France - Director Xavier Giannoli)
A Prophet (France - Director Jacques Audiard)
The White Ribbon (Germany, Austria, France - Director Michael Haneke)
Vengeance (Hong Kong, France, USA - Director Johnnie To)
The Time That Remains (Israel, France, Belgium, Italy - Director Elia Suleiman)
Vincere (Italy, France - Director Marco Bellocchio)
Kinatay (Philippines - Director Brillante Mendoza)
Thirst (South Korea, USA - Director Park Chan-wook)
Broken Embraces (Spain - Director Pedro Almodovar)*
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (Spain - Director Isabel Coixet)
Fish Tank (UH, Netherlands - Director Andrea Arnold)
Looking for Eric (UK, France, Belgium, Italy - Director Ken Loach)
Inglorious Basterds (USA - Director Quentin Tarantino)*
Taking Woodstock (USA - Director Ang Lee)*

CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (France - Director Jan Kounen)

OUT OF COMPETITION
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Canada, France - Director Terry Gilliam)*
The Army of Crime (France - Director Robert Guediguian)
Agora (Spain - Director Alejandro Amenabar)*

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
A Town Called Panic (Belgium - Directors Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar)
Ne te retourne pas (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy - Director Marina de Van)
Drag Me to Hell (USA - Director Sam Raimi)

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Petition (China - Director Zhao Liang)
L'epine dans le coeur (France - Director Michel Gondry)*
Min ye (France, Mali - Director Souleyumane Cisse)
Jaffa (Israel, France, Germany - Director Keren Yedaya)
Manila (Philippines - Directors Adolfo Alix, Jr. and Raya Martin)
My Neighbor, My Killer (USA - Director Anne Aghion)

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Samson & Delilah (Australia - Director Warwick Thornton)
Adrift (Brazil - Director Heitor Dhalia)
The Wind Journeys (Colombia - Director Ciro Guerra)
Demain des l'aube (France - Director Denis Dercourt)
Irene (France - Director Alain Cavalier)
Air Doll (Japan - Director Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Independance (Philippines, France, Germany - Director Raya Martin)
Le Pere de mes enfants (France, Germany - Director Mia Hansen-Love)
Dogtooth (Greece - Director Yorgos Lanthimos)
Nobody Knows About the Persian Cats (Iran - Director Bahman Ghobadi)
Eyes Wide Open (Israel - Director Haim Tabakman)
Mother (South Korea - Director Bong Joon-ho)
The Silent Army (Netherlands - Director Jean van de Velde)
To Die Like a Man (Portugal - Director Joao Pedro Rodrigues)
Police, Adjective (Romania - Director Corneliu Porumboiu)
Tales from the Golden Age (Romania - Directors Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu and Ioana Uricaru)
Tale in the Darkness (Russia - Director Nikolay Khomeriki)
Tzar (Russia, France - Director Pavel Lounguine)
Nymph (Thailand - Director Pen-ek Ratanaruang)
Precious (USA - Director Lee Daniels)*

THE JURY
Isabelle Huppert (Actress - France)
Asia Argento (Actress, director and screenwriter - Italy)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Director, screenwriter and actor - Turkey)
Lee Chang-dong (Director, author and screenwriter - South Korea)
James Gray (Director and screenwriter - USA)
Hanif Kureishi (Author and screenwriter - UK)
Shu Qi (Actress - Taiwan)
Robin Wright Penn (Actress - USA)

LA CINEFONDATION AND SHORT FILM JURY
John Boorman (Director, author and producer - UK)
Bertrand Bonello (Director - France)
Ferid Boughedir (Director - Tunisia)
Leonor Silveira (Actress - Portugal)
Zhang Ziyi (Actress - China)