A clearer picture is emerging of what films will be ready for this year's Cannes Film Festival in May and the lineup looks like it will be filled with its usual blend of veteran auteur films, new discoveries and US studio fare.
Official selection berths already seem set for Ari Folman's animated documentary Waltz With Bashir from Israel, Wong Kar-wai's revisioning of his 1994 martial arts classic Ashes Of Time - Redux and Courtney Hunt's Sundance grand jury prizewinner Frozen River.
Also tipped from Sundance are Barry Levinson's What Just Happened' featuring Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis and Cannes jury president Sean Penn as himself and Marina Zenovich's acclaimed documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired which would mark the international premiere of the film on Polanski's home turf of France.
Meanwhile Cannes favourites Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are likely to be back in competition with The Silence Of Lorna, Wim Wenders has his latest The Palermo Shooting starring German rock star Campino, Agnes Jaoui will be ready with Let It Rain with Jamel Dabbouze as will Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan with Daydreams.
A strong Latin presence is assured if the festival selects Walter Salles' Linha De Passe, Pablo Trapero's Lion's Den, Carlos Cuaron's Rudo Y Cursi or the latest English language offering from Brazil's Fernando Meireilles - Blindness with Julianne Moore and Gael Garcia Bernal.
And Guillermo Ariaga's directorial debut The Burning Plain, also in English, is reported to be Croisette-bound. And Steven Soderbergh is likely to have at least one of his Spanish-language Che Guevara films in the lineup.
Cannes veteran Tran Anh Hung should find a slot with his English-language debut I Come With The Rain starring Josh Hartnett; other Asian directors on course for Cannes are Jia Zhang-Ke with 24 City, Kim Jee-woon with The Good, The Bad And The Weird and Kim Ki-duk with his latest Dream.
Japan looks strong with new titles being readied from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Aruitemo Aruitemo) and Ryoosuke Hashuguchi (Gururi No Koto)
Europe of course has plenty to offer selectors. British director Michael Winterbottom is a shoo-in with his Italy-shot ghost story Genova, Barbet Schroeder could make the cut with his French thriller Inju, Jaco Van Dormael might return to competition with his ambitious Mr Nobody, Jerzy Skolimowski is back with St George Shoots The Dragon, Laurent Cantet could make his Cannes debut with Entre Les Murs and perennial favourite Agnes Varda could have documentary Les Plages d'Agnes there.
Rising directors could also make the cut like Fabrice du Welz with Vinyan, Duane Hopkins with Better Things and Saul Dibb with The Duchess.
Several US movies will be likely contenders including Charlie Kaufman's Synechdoche, New York, Kenneth Lonergan's long-awaited Margaret and Ed Harris' western Appaloosa. And high-profile studio movies that could be au Croisette include the Wachowski Brothers' Speed Racer and perhaps the latest Indiana Jones instalment. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull opens in the US on May 23, just two days before the festival finishes.
Official selection berths already seem set for Ari Folman's animated documentary Waltz With Bashir from Israel, Wong Kar-wai's revisioning of his 1994 martial arts classic Ashes Of Time - Redux and Courtney Hunt's Sundance grand jury prizewinner Frozen River.
Also tipped from Sundance are Barry Levinson's What Just Happened' featuring Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis and Cannes jury president Sean Penn as himself and Marina Zenovich's acclaimed documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired which would mark the international premiere of the film on Polanski's home turf of France.
Meanwhile Cannes favourites Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are likely to be back in competition with The Silence Of Lorna, Wim Wenders has his latest The Palermo Shooting starring German rock star Campino, Agnes Jaoui will be ready with Let It Rain with Jamel Dabbouze as will Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan with Daydreams.
A strong Latin presence is assured if the festival selects Walter Salles' Linha De Passe, Pablo Trapero's Lion's Den, Carlos Cuaron's Rudo Y Cursi or the latest English language offering from Brazil's Fernando Meireilles - Blindness with Julianne Moore and Gael Garcia Bernal.
And Guillermo Ariaga's directorial debut The Burning Plain, also in English, is reported to be Croisette-bound. And Steven Soderbergh is likely to have at least one of his Spanish-language Che Guevara films in the lineup.
Cannes veteran Tran Anh Hung should find a slot with his English-language debut I Come With The Rain starring Josh Hartnett; other Asian directors on course for Cannes are Jia Zhang-Ke with 24 City, Kim Jee-woon with The Good, The Bad And The Weird and Kim Ki-duk with his latest Dream.
Japan looks strong with new titles being readied from Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Tokyo Sonata), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Aruitemo Aruitemo) and Ryoosuke Hashuguchi (Gururi No Koto)
Europe of course has plenty to offer selectors. British director Michael Winterbottom is a shoo-in with his Italy-shot ghost story Genova, Barbet Schroeder could make the cut with his French thriller Inju, Jaco Van Dormael might return to competition with his ambitious Mr Nobody, Jerzy Skolimowski is back with St George Shoots The Dragon, Laurent Cantet could make his Cannes debut with Entre Les Murs and perennial favourite Agnes Varda could have documentary Les Plages d'Agnes there.
Rising directors could also make the cut like Fabrice du Welz with Vinyan, Duane Hopkins with Better Things and Saul Dibb with The Duchess.
Several US movies will be likely contenders including Charlie Kaufman's Synechdoche, New York, Kenneth Lonergan's long-awaited Margaret and Ed Harris' western Appaloosa. And high-profile studio movies that could be au Croisette include the Wachowski Brothers' Speed Racer and perhaps the latest Indiana Jones instalment. Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull opens in the US on May 23, just two days before the festival finishes.
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