Female Jury President

Isabelle Huppert is this year's film festival jury president. This marks only the fourth female to be appointed jury president out of the 62 years of the festival. Huppert has won two best actress awards from Cannes in the past (most recently for The Piano in 2001). I say, Go girl! But she is French, so peut-etre...Allez-vous fille! (My French is pretty rusty.)

Heath Ledger's Final Film

There is buzz that Heath Ledger's last film will premiere at the festival.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was midway through filming when Ledger passed away. Johnny Dep, Colin Farrell and Jude Law then stepped in to finish his role.

There is no distributor for the film yet, giving more reason for it to premiere at the festival. We'll know for sure April 23rd when the official films are announced!

Click here for a great article on prospective entrants.

Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt

Recent Cannes Announcement!

Quentin Tarantino will be debuting his film starring Brad Pitt titled Inglourious Basterds at the festival.

Tarantino already won a Palm D'Or award in 1994 for none other than Pulp Fiction. Perhaps another award has his name on it? We'll know soon enough.

I will be surprised if he doesn't win an award this year. Apparently he has been working on this script for almost a decade.

Brad Pitt plays a southern lieutenant redneck who forms a squad to kill the German nazis. The film is said to contain gruesome violence (but you should expect that if you know Tarantino at all.)

The official line-up for the Cannes Film Festival will be revealed on April 23...so be sure to check back for the official line-up. There is lots of talk that this is going to be an exciting year for the festival!

I found a useful website that lists the Cannes Film Festival Winners beginning all the way back in 1946.

Fun fact:
Francis Ford Coppola was awarded the Palme d'Or in 1974 for his film The Conversation.

To see other winners, click on the specific year:
2007
2001
1997
1991 (The Coen brothers won this year.)

Only 8 More Weeks

Going to the Cannes Film Festival?
Whether you are attending the festival itself, or just want to be in Cannes during all the excitement, here are some great links for finding hotel accomodations:

http://www.cannes-accommodation.com/en-US/Locations.aspx
http://www.azur-online.com/content/france/cannes/congresses/cannes-film-festival.php

In other Cannes news, "Up", a new animation from Disney Pixar will be the opening ceremony film. It is the first movie to premiere at the festival in 3-D. What a great way to start things off!

"Up" will not be released in the United States until May 29th. I hope I get to see the premiere when I'm there!

Cannes Films Recently Released

24 City was released in France on Wednesday (March 18). It was chosen in the official selection at last year's festival. The film borderlines the genres of documentary and fiction.

Another film from last year's festival was also released yesterday. The Chaser follows the character of a former cop turned pimp.

Also, The Class was released last month. It was the first French film to earn a Palm D'Or in over 20 years. Laurent Cantent, director, filmed The Class in HD, which he gives credit to for creating a real feeling.

Along with the Cannes Golden Palm Award, Cantent also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film...Cannes awards and Oscars seem to go hand in hand (see previous posts).

Clint Eastwood Awarded Palme d'Or

Yesterday Clint Eastwood was awarded the lifetime achievement award, the Palm d'Or, by Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob. Only the second time for the award to be given, it is quite an honor. The first award went to Ingmar Bergman in 1997.

"France is the first country to approach and appreciate cinema as an art form," said Eastwood.

In case you aren't quite sure of all that Eastwood has worked on, here are a few of his films you have probably, at the very least, heard of:

Eastwood directed all the previous films, but that barely scratches the surface. For the complete list go to imdb.com.

When I was a little girl I remember watching Clint Eastwood with my dad in the plethora of Westerns he starred in. My how he has evolved!