Short Film Online Competition — Cannes 2008

Watch the best films premiering at this year’s Cannes Short Film Corner and vote for your favorites by rating them with 5 stars. The film with the best ratings will win a special award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival!

Check this site out and you get to vote for the winner. Some great little films: My favorite is “Struck.”  “Struck” all star cast includes Kelly Preston, Jenna Elfman, Nancy Cartwright and more.

You be the judge and enjoy.

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The Cannes Film Festival will pay tribute to Warner Bros.’ 85th anniversary by bowing Richard Schickel’s PBS documentary “You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story” and unspooling a Warner film every night under the Cannes Classics section. This is a wonderful way to acknowledge the pioneers of film. Congratulations Warner Bros.

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Tomas Alfredson’s “Lat den ratte komma in” (Let the Right One In), centering on the first love between a young boy and the vampire next door, won the feature prize as the Tribeca Film Festival named the winners of its seventh annual competition.  

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Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles’ “Blindness” is the opening film for the Cannes Film Festival on May 14^th.   I just saw the trailer at Hollywood Reporter and it eerie.  

“Blindness,” the English-language adaptation of Jose Saramago’s best-selling mystery novel, stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal in a story about a city struck by a strange blindness epidemic.

Here’s what else is lined up for the festival. Also added to the festival lineup was pair of Competition titles. Laurent Cantet’s “Entre Les Murs” will be the third Gallic title in the section, while James Gray’s “Two Lovers,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow, also will vie for this year’s Palme d’Or.

Cantet’s “Murs” is an adaptation of prolific French author Francois Begaudeau’s novel about a French teacher at a secondary school in a rough neighborhood.

Barry Levinson’s “What Just Happened,” starring Robert De Niro, will close the festival May 25.

De Niro will serve double duty on closing night. In addition to presenting the Levinson film, the actor will bestow the Palme d’Or on the festival’s top film.

Rounding out the Sean Penn-chaired jury are two new members: French actress Jeanne Balibar and Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian author and director of last year’s animated Cannes hit “Persepolis.”

Steve McQueen’s “Hunger” will open Un Certain Regard on May 15.

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Check out Variety’s video interviews with the producers, directors and actors of the films at Tribeca Film Festival. The interviews are candid and entertaining. Here’s the link — Tribeca Film Festival.

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“Burn After Reading” by the Coen Brothers opens the 65th Venice Film Festival.

As usual “Burn” is a dark spy comedy,  and stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and Tilda Swinton.  

If you can make the festival, the film comes to the U.S. in September.  

There has been a lot of buzz about “Burn,” which the Coens wrote and directed. The story pivots on an ousted CIA official, Malkovich, whose memoir falls into the hands of two Washington, D.C., gym employees, who decide to attempt to exploit their find.

 ”Burn” marks the second consecutive year a film from the Working Title stable opens Venice, following “Atonement” last year.

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Twelve of the 22 films are either French films or co-productions for the 40th Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight. There is also a good showing from Spain and Latin America, with five films, but the U.S. films count is way down to just the one, “The Pleasure of Being Robbed,” which closes the section, compared with five last year.

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

“Four Nights With Anna,” France-Poland, Jerzy Skolimowski (opener)
“The Pleasure of Being Robbed,” U.S., Josh Safdie (closer)
“Acne,” Uruguay-Spain-Argentina-Mexico, Federico Veiroj
“Aquele querido mes de agosto,” Portugal-France, Miguel Gomes
“Boogie,” Romania, Radu Muntean
“Les Bureaux de Dieu,” France, Claire Simon
“El Cant dels ocells,” Spain, Albert Serra
“De la guerre,” France, Bertrand Bonello
“Le Dernier Maquis,” France-Algeria, Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche
“Eldorado,” Belgium-France, Bouli Lanners
“Eleve libre,” Belgium-France, Joachim Lafosse
“Liverpool,” Argentina-France-Netherlands-Spain-Germany, Lisandro Alonso
“Monsieur Morimoto,” France, Nicola Sornaga
“Knitting,” China, Yin Lichuan
“Now Showing,” Philippines-France, Raya Martin
“Il Resto della notte,” Italy, Francesco Munzi
“Salamandra,” Argentina-France-Germany, Pablo Aguero
“Shultes,” Russia, Bakur Bakuradze
“Blind Loves,” Slovakia, Juraj Lehotsky
“Lonely Tune of Tehran,” Iran, Saman Salour
“Tony Manero,” Chile-Brazil, Pablo Larrain
“Le Voyage aux Pyrenees,” France, Jean-Marie Larrieu, Arnaud Larrieu

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Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski’s first movie in a long time, “Four Nights With Anna,” world premiers as the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival’s 40th Directors’ Fortnight.

“Four Nights With Anna” is a tale of amour fou, detailing one man’s voyeuristic relationship with a woman while it develops over four days.

Shot in Poland, “Anna” stars Polish actors Kinga Preis and Artur Sterando.

“Four Nights” is Skolimowski’s first film since 1991’s “30 Door Key.”        

According to Variety, since 1991, Skolimowski has dedicated his time to painting and acting, appearing as Uncle Stepan in David Cronenberg’s “Eastern Promises.”

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A new ‘Hamlet 2′ trailer - it’s hilarious and utterly politically incorrect - awesome! The comedy stars  Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, David Arquette and Elisabeth Shue.

A world premiere at - and the comedy smash of - the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, in the irreverent comedy, a failed actor-turned-worse-high-school-drama teacher (Steve Coogan) rallies his Tucson, AZ students as he conceives and stages a politically incorrect musical sequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

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Steven Soderbergh’s two films Che bio and Clint Eastwood’s”The Changeling” look like crowd and judges favorites at 61st Cannes Film Festival, meaning the U.S. has a contention for the Palme d’Or.

Soderbergh’s involvement appears to be a last-minute decision.

According to Variety, for much of this week, there seemed genuine uncertainty as to whether he

As made know earlier this year, Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” world premiers at the Croisette, hopefully Sunday May 18. It suppose to be this fest’s must-attend, highest-glam event.

Variety, also, reports, out-of-competition, DreamWorks Animation’s “Kung Fu Panda,” an adventure, comedic chop-soc tooner, promises another Hollywood red-carpet cavalcade.

Also non-competing, as is Woody Allen’s custom, is the Spain-shot “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

Clint Eastwood’s “The Changeling,” a 1920s-set kidnap thriller, with Angelina Jolie.

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