Cannes Film Festival 2011

The official selection for this years Cannes Film Festival line-up:

 OPENING FILM:

• Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen's latest starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard and Michael Sheen.

IN COMPETITION:

• The Skin That I Inhabit- The latest from Pedro Almodovar starring Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon on the hunt for the man who raped his daughter.  Almodovar famously takes all his films to Cannes and is the past recipient of the Best Director prize (for All About My Mother) and the Best Screenplay prize (for Volver.)
• L'Apollonide- French film from director Bertrand Bonello, who made his Cannes debut in 2003 with Tiresia.
• Foot Note- Joseph Cedar.
• Paterre- Alain Cavalier.
• Once Upon a Time in Anatonlia- Turkish film from longtime Cannes mainstay Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won the Best Director prize in 2008 (for Three Monkeys), the FIPRESCI Prize in 2006 (for Climates), and the Grand Prix in 2004 (for Distant.)
• The Kids With the Bike- Longtime Cannes favorites, the Dardenne Brothers-- Jean Pierre and Luc return in competition this year with their latest French offering.  They've previously won Best Screenplay (for 2008's Lorna's Silence), and the Palme D'Or twice (in 2005 for The Child and in 2999 for Rosetta.)
• Le Havre- Acclaimed filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki (winner of the Grand Prix in 2002 for The Man Without a Past, which was incidentally an Oscar nominee for foreign language film the following year) returns with his latest French-Finnish-German offering.
• Hanezu no Tsuki- Naomi Kawase.
• Sleeping Beauty- Australian film from debut director Julia Leigh.  Described as a haunting erotic fairy tale about Lucy (played by Sucker Punch's Emily Browning), a young college girl drawn into a hidden world of beauty and desire.
• The Tree of Life- After year of waiting, and endless speculation...Terrence Malick's latest will officially unveil at Cannes.  In his 40-plus year career, this is only Malick's fifth feature.  He previously was honored at the 1979 Cannes for Best Director (for Days of Heaven.)
• La Source des Femmes- French battle of the sexes comedy\drama from director Radu Mihaileanu, who directed the Melanie Laurent film The Concert.
• Polisse- From director\actress Maiwenn Le Besco comes a French film about a journalist who is assigned to a juvenile division and has an affair with one of her subjects.
• Harakiri- Latest from the Japanese director Takashi Miike (Audition.)
• We Have a Pope- Italian film, from Cannes favorite Nanni Moretti concerns the relationship between a newly elected Pope and his therapist (a bit too soon for a King's Speech knock off, right?)  Moretti has previously won the Palme D'Or (for 2001's The Son's Room) and the Best Director prize (for 1994's Caro Diario.)
• Melancholia- Lars von Trier's latest provocation, and end of days movie starring Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg.  von Trier has a storied history with the festival, winning the Palme D'or for 2000's Dancer in the Dark, and the Grand Prix for 1996's Breaking the Waves.
• Michael- Markus Schleinzer.
• This Must Be the Place- From Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (winner of the 2008's Grand Prix for Il Divo) directs Sean Penn and Frances McDormand in a story about a retired rock star who sets out to find his father's executioner, an ex-Nazi war criminal.
• Drive- From director Nicholas Winding Refn (the writer\director of 2009's Bronson, which introduced art house fans to Tom Hardy) stars Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan.  About a Hollywood stunt performer who moonlights as a wheelman and discovers that a contract has been put on him after a heist gone wrong.
• We Need to Talk About Kevin- Acclaimed Scottish director Lynne Ramsay returns to movies, after a nine year absence-- her last film, Morvern Callar, which starred Samantha Morton, earned her two awards at 2002 Cannes Film Festival.  Her latest, starring John C. Rielly, Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller (City Island) is about the mother of a teenage boy who went on a high school killing spree trying to deal with her grief and responsibilities of her child's actions.

UN CERTAIN REGARD:

• Restless- The latest from Gus van Sant starring Mia Wasikowska.
• Martha Marcy May Marlene- The Sundance hit from director Sean Durkin.
• The Hunter- Bazur Bakuradze.
• Halt auf frier Strecke- Andreas Dresen.
• Skoonheid- Oliver Hermanus.
• Hors Satan- Director Bruno Dumont won the Grand Prix in 2006 (for Flanders) and again in 1999 for Humanite.
• Les Neiges du Kilmimandjaro- Robert Guediguian.
• The Day He Arrives- Hong Sang-Soo.
• Bonsai- Christian Jimenez.
• Tatsumi- Erik Khoo.
• En maintenant, on va ou?- Nadine Labaki.
• Ariang- Kim Ki Duk.
• Loverboy- Catalin Mitulescu.
• Toomelah- Ivan Sen.
• Yellow Sea- Na Hong-Jin.
• Miss Bala- Gerardo Naranjo.
• L'exercice de l'Etat- Pierre Schoeller.
• Oslo, August 31st- Joachim Trier, director of the acclaimed 2006 film, Reprise.
• Travailler Fatigue- Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra.

OUT OF COMPETITION:

• The Beaver- Jodie Foster's latest with Mel Gibson and a puppet.
• The Artist- Michel Hazanavicius.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides- Rob Marshall and Disney make some direly needed publicity.
• La Conquete- Xavier Durringer.
• Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom- Jennifer Yuh.