The Cannes Watch
Posted by v on May 13, 2008
PARIS, France — “Blindness,” a Fernando Meirelles movie starring Julianne Moore, will open this year’s Cannes Film Festival, organizers said Tuesday. Based on a novel by Nobel laureate Jose Saramago, it’s about a city where inhabitants inexplicably go blind, one by one. Moore stars as the sole person to keep her sight during the ordeal. Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal co-star.
Official schedule of the Cannes Festival
Barry Levinson’s “What Just Happened?,” about a Hollywood producer struggling to make a film, is scheduled to close the festival. It stars Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Robin Wright Penn, John Turturro and Sean Penn. Festival organizers said Tuesday that De Niro also is slated to present the top Palme d’Or prize at the end of the festival May 25. It kicks off May 14.
Cannes opens in full swing Wednesday. American big movie names do not dominate this years event so expect to see less blockbuster hyped movies and a healthier dose of global glitz and glamour. And if past years are any indication, a few of the films unfurled here could fire the opening shots in this year’s Oscar race.
There are several films of interest on the line up. One which I would love to see is Marina Zenovich’s documentary “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” It was the belle of the ball at the Sundance Film Festival in January where it was purchased by HBO. In Cannes “Polanski” will play as one of six films in the special screenings selection. HBO has already given the documentary a one-week theatrical run to make it eligible for Academy Award consideration prior to airing it on television.
The much hyped ““Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” has its premiers and world junket in Cannes on May 18. No pressure, None at all. Is that why Harrison Ford did not bring a clip on Jay Leno?
Couturiers, thread your needles. The race to the Oscars has begun.
