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Director Steven Soderbergh to give cinema lesson. Producer Gale Anne Hurd to be feted by festival.

The Deauville American Festival has announced the line-up of its 39th edition running August 30 to September 8.

Jim Mickle’s cannibal picture We Are What We Are, Matt Creed’s debut feature Lily,about a young woman re-evaluating her life following cancer, and Destin Cretton’s children’s home drama Short Term 12 are among the 12 titles screening in competition.

Roughly half the competing pictures are looking for French distribution including Drake Doremus’ family drama Breath In, represented by QED Film Sales, and Lily, which is handled by producers Up the River Films and Verisimiltude.

As in previous years, the festival hosted on the northern coast of France is laying on a dedicated screening space – the Deauville American Film Corner – for film professionals.

Steven Soderbergh’s critically acclaimed Liberace bio-pic Behind The Candelabra, which yesterday picked up 15 Emmy nominations, will open the festival on August 30.

“A highly-anticipated surprise film” will close the festival, the organisers said.

Soderbergh masterclass

Other titles in the festival’s Les Premières section, previewing mainstream US pictures due for release in France over the autumn, include Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, Ron Howard’s Formula 1 racing drama Rush and David Gordon Green’s Southern drama Joe.

Soderbergh will give a cinema lesson on August 30, following in the footsteps of Francis Coppola and William Friedkin who have also talked about their work at recent editions of Deauville.

Other master-classes include an analysis of the Beasts of the Southern Wild, which won best film at Deauville last year, by script and development expert Christopher Vogler.

Industry

On the industry side, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and its French counterpart the APC will co-host a round-table entitled “Innovation Vs. Creativity”, examining how the explosion in new media and multiplication of different distribution platforms is impacting film production.

Deauville will also pay homage to producer Gale Anne Hurd, feting her many credits ranging from recent hit show The Walking Dead to earlier productions The Abyss and Terminator. The producer will sit in on the industry round-table.

Golden Globe-winning screenwriter Naomi Foner’s directorial debut, the coming-of-age drama Very Good Girls, which was executive produced by Hurd, will screen in the Les Premières section as part of the tribute.

There will also be homages to the late Danny Kaye as well as Cate Blanchett, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta.

Television

Elsewhere in the festival, Deauville Saison 4 will show some of the hottest US television shows due to hit French screens later this year as well as host a series of panels with US television professionals. Now in its fourth year, the TV-focused sidebar is an increasingly important part of the festival.

Shows screening this year the Psycho-inspired Bates Motel, developed by Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin and Anthony Cipriano for Universal Television, and Kevin Bacon-starrer The Following.