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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Academy Award winning actress, Tilda Swinton,  is set to star in an Italian movie with director Luca Guadagino’s “Io sono l’amore” (I Am Love). The movie is a romantic drama where Swinton plays a foreign society matron in Milan. She falls for a young chef.

Guadagnino, whose previous credits include Swinton starrer “The Protagonists” and Sony’s “Melissa P.,” will start shooting the Italo-language film in Milan this summer. I wish I could go - Milan!

Guadagnino explained “L’amore” storyline to Variety, “the irreparable consequences brought about by love in a high-bourgeois family.”

Joining Swinton is Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher. More casting will take place.

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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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Kevin Kline will star in his very first all French-speaking role, starring with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro’s drama “Joueuse (Queen to Play).”

He spoke some French in “French Kiss” with Meg Ryan. The story focuses on Bonnaire who plays a hotel maid captivated by a romantic couple playing chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel where she works. A doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life.

First-time feature director Bottaro adapted the screenplay from Bertina Henrichs’ novel “The Chess Player.”Filming begins Tuesday on the isle of Corsica. Then, shooting proceeds to Paris.. Kevin Kline cast in French-speaking roleBy Gregg Goldstein March 27, 2008Kevin Kline (Getty Images photo)NEW YORK — In his first French-speaking role, Kevin Kline will star with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro’s drama “Joueuse (Queen to Play).”Bonnaire plays a hotel maid captivated by a romantic couple (Beals and Francis Renaud) playing chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel where she works. The doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life.Kline courted Meg Ryan as a Parisian in “French Kiss,” but this is his first role in a French production.

“He speaks good French, better than John Malkovich,” said Michel Feller, who is producing the film with Dominique Besnehard for Mon Voisin Prods. and Blue Print Film’s Amelie Latcha.

“Joueuse” is a France-Germany co-production with France 2 and Studio Canal, with the participation of Canal +, CNC, Eurimages, Cinecinema, Telemunchen-Concorde and the Collectivite Territoriale de Corse. Jean-Philippe Laroche is the executive producer.

First-time feature director Bottaro adapted the screenplay from Bertina Henrichs’ novel “The Chess Player.”Principal photography began Tuesday on the isle of Corsica. Shooting continues there through April 26, followed by Paris-area filming from April 29-May 14.Kline is repped by CAA, WMI and the Hofflund Co. Bonnaire is repped by Artmedia. Beals is repped by APA.

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The winner is Peter Choe!! Congratulations Peter!!! Simply post or email me on how to mail this DVD to you!!!

Enjoy the movie! Here are the details about the story:

“Nightmare Detective” concerns investigating a rash of mysterious suicides, a female detective finds a curious link between the deaths: each of the victims had dialed ‘O’ on their cell phones almost immediately before taking their own lives. As she discovers more about the bizarre deaths and their chilling connection, the young cop enlists the aid of a fellow detective who shares the killer’s ability to enter people’s dreams… but she soon realizes that she must face her own fears if she is to prevent further murders.

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Lists of 100 Italo films were announced as the cultural treasures. Unveiled in Rome on Thursday, but not without controversy, until producer Grazia Volpi, according to Variety, cried out, “Where are Lina Wertmueller and Liliana Cavani?”

Volpi has a point. These two Italo directors are awesome. I remember seeing one of Wertmueller films “La Fine del Mondo Nel Nostro Solito Letto in Una Notte Piena Di Pioggia” over 30 years ago. It was fabulous.  

Besides the obvious directors such as Federico Fellini’s “La dolce vita,” Roberto Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City,” Vittorio De Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief” and Gillo Pontecorvo’s “The Battle of Algiers,” the list includes less-conventional entries such as Marco Ferreri’s “The Ape Woman” about a woman affected with hypertrichosis.

As far as number of films, Fellini leads the list with seven, followed by Luchino Visconti with six, and De Sica, Francesco Rosi and Mario Monicelli with five works each. The list also includes four by Rossellini and three by Michelangelo Antonioni, reported by Variety. Venice Days aims to make these works more readily available to the country’s younger generations. Tough rights issues however still stand in the way.  

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Winner of two 2007 Thailand National Film Awards, 13: GAME OF DEATH, arrives on DVD March 18.  

I should have a giveaway soon, so come back and sign up for the DVD giveaway. 

When a desperate man loses his job and finds himself in serious debt, he receives a mysterious phone call with a tempting offer.  He must complete 13 increasingly gruesome tasks as he is lured into a violent game of life and death.   

An intense, dangerous and grotesque game, 13: GAME OF DEATH is adapted from the Thai manga graphic novel My Mania by director Chukiat Sakweerakul (Pisaj) and stars Thai-American pop singer and actor Krissada Terrence (Bangkok Loco, The Adventure of Iron Pussy).  Hollywood Reporter says, “An unyieldingly cynical exploration of the human heart of darkness with an oedipal climax that makes it a field day for Freudians.” 13: GAME OF DEATH examines how far one would go for wealth.

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ROMAN DE GARE, the highly anticipated new film starring Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant as an unlikely pair caught up in a game with high stakes – and deadly consequences.

In the still of the night, three lives are about to cross…a woman abandoned, a stranger awaiting his chance and, a best-selling author who imagines the thriller of the year. Deceptively layered and intriguingly misleading, this highly anticipated new film from Oscar-winning director Claude Lelouch (A MAN AND A WOMAN) stars Dominique Pinon and Fanny Ardant as an unlikely pair caught up in a game with high stakes – and deadly consequences. ROMAN DE GARE opens in theaters on April 25th!

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Two European cinema greats will be honored at the French Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences upcoming 33rd Cesar awards ceremony.

Jeanne Moreau — a favorite actress of Louis Malle (“The Lovers”), Francois Truffaut (“Jules and Jim”) and Luis Bunuel (“Diary of a Chambermaid”) yet she still delivers great performances as in Francois Ozon’s 2005 “Time to Leave.” The award acknowledges her 60 years of contributing to filmmaking.

Roberto Benigni, the Italian director-actor-screenwriter (“Life Is Beautiful,” “The Tiger in the Snow”), producer and larger-than-life personality, will pick up an honorary foreign Cesar for career achievement. The Cesar celebration takes place Feb. 22 at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.

Nominees for films are Julian Schnabel’s “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” Olivier Dahan’s “La Vie en rose,” “Persepolis,” from Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, and “The Secret of the Grain,” from Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche.

Go to Cesar for complete details.

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Take a look at this new release coming February 26^th. It’s filled with awesome talent — both behind the camera and in front of the camera.

Hong Kong’s 2006 Academy Award entry for Best Foreign Language Film, “Legend of the Black Scorpion” stage is set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period of 10^th Century China, featuring elaborate period costumes and sets. Starring stunning Golden Globe nominee Zhang Ziyi (“Memoirs Of A Geisha,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) and directed by Feng Xiaogang (“A Sign,”” A World Without Thieves”), “Legend of the Black Scorpion” features intricate fight scenes from Jingwu Ma (“Seven Swords”) and Yuen Woo-Ping (fight choreographer, “Matrix” and “Kill Bill” films).  Dealing with themes of revenge and fate, the beautiful yet morose musical score of “Legend of the Black Scorpion” by Oscar winner Tan Dun (Best Music, Original Score, 2000, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) enhances the tone of the film by combining Western classical with Chinese classical music 

The story: Scheming royals and other officials seek to conquer empires and consolidate power to form a single omnipotent dynasty.  Against this backdrop, a legendary empress (Zhang) with fighting skills unparalleled by any man, harbors forbidden desires for her stepson. 

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