Cannes 2013: In Competition

Behind The Candelabra (US)

Dir Steven Soderbergh

The prospect of Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in a clinch should spur on most people to catch what could be Soderbergh’s last film. Douglas stars as the late pianist Liberace, while Damon plays his lover, Scott Thorson. The film was backed by HBO, which will broadcast in the US.

Contact Chales Schreger charles.schreger@hbo.com

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (Fr)

Dir Abdellatif Kechiche

Kechiche returns to the themes of youth, desire and love he explored in 2003’s Games Of Love And Chance. Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La Vie D’Adele) explores the passionate, chaotic love story between a 15-year-old girl named Adele and a sensual blue-haired girl who initially visits her in dreams. The French-language drama stars Léa Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos. Kechiche’s 2007 festival favourite The Secret Of The Grain (aka Couscous) sold well, including to IFC for the US.

Contact Wild Bunch www.wildbunch.biz

Borgman (Neth-Bel-Den)

Dir Alex Van Warmerdam

The first Dutch feature to receive a world premiere in Competition at Cannes for 38 years, Borgman is a dark fable about what happens to a typical but arrogant middle-class family when the Devil, embodied in the form of Camiel Borgman (Jan Bijvoet), invades their comfortable suburban street. Van Warmerdam’s credits include EFA winner The Northerners and Venice award winners The Dress (De Jurk) and The Last Days Of Emma Blank. Fortissimo Films holds all rights outside Benelux and Scandinavia.

Contact Fortissimo Films nicole@fortissimo-uk.com

A Castle In Italy (Fr)

Dir Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi

Bruni-Tedeschi returns to the Croisette with her latest feature A Castle In Italy (Un Chateau En Italie), in which she also stars. The comedy drama tells the story of a family falling apart, the end of an era and a budding romance.

Bruni-Tedeschi previously won the Un Certain Regard special jury prize at Cannes in 2007 for her film Actrices. ARP Sélection will release A Castle In Italy in France.

Contact Films Distribution fry@filmsdistribution.com

The Great Beauty (It)

Dir Paolo Sorrentino

Sorrentino has screened in Competition at Cannes several times — including in 2008 with Il Divo, which won the Jury Prize. The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) is a drama about a successful journalist with a cast that includes Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone and Sabrina Ferilli. It is produced by Indigo Film and Babe Films.

Contact Pathé International www.patheinternational.com

Grisgris (Fr-Chad)

Dir Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

Chadian film-maker Haroun returns to Cannes, where he won the jury prize for A Screaming Man in 2010 and sat on the main Competition jury in 2011. His latest film centres on 25-year-old Grisgris, who dreams of being a dancer despite his paralysed leg. But when his uncle falls critically ill, Grisgris joins a gang of petrol smugglers to help save him.

Contact Les Films du Losange www.filmsdulosange.fr

Heli (Mex)

Dir Amat Escalante

After screening Sangre and The Bastards in Un Certain Regard in 2005 and 2008 respectively, Mexican director Escalante is now in Competition with his third feature. Heli centres on Estela, a 12-year-old girl who falls in love with a young police cadet who wants to run away with her. But in pursuit of their dream, her family will experience the violence devastating their region.

Contact NDM fm@mantarraya.com

The Immigrant (US)

Dir James Gray

The follow-up to 2008’s Two Lovers, The Immigrant is Gray’s fourth film to premiere in Cannes and is one of several heavy-hitters in US distributor Harvey Weinstein’s awards season war chest. Regular leading man Joaquin Phoenix stars opposite Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner in this Ellis Island-set period mystery. Gray also wrote the screenplay for Guillaume Canet’s Blood Ties, which screens out of competition.

Contact Wild Bunch www.wildbunch.biz

Inside Llewyn Davis (US)

Dir Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

The Coen brothers last graced Cannes in 2007 with No Country For Old Men and return with their eighth film in Competition. Inside Llewyn Davis stars Oscar Isaac (The Bourne Legacy) as a 1960s singer-songwriter in New York. The cast also features Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake. The Coens have won best director prizes in Cannes on three occasions, for Barton Fink, Fargo and The Man Who Wasn’t There. CBS Films releases Inside Llewyn Davis in the US.

Contact StudioCanal www.studiocanal.com

Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy Of A Plains Indian) (Fr)

Dir Arnaud Desplechin

Cannes regular Desplechin returns with his first film since 2008’s A Christmas Tale. It marks the French director’s fifth entry in Competition and his second English-language production. Benicio Del Toro stars as the titular Jimmy Picard, who returns from the Second World War with an illness erroneously diagnosed as schizophrenia. He visits French analyst Georges Devereux, played by Desplechin regular Mathieu Amalric, for a second opinion and the two explore Jimmy’s memories. The film is based on a true story.

Contact Wild Bunch www.wildbunch.biz

Like Father, Like Son (Jap)

Dir Hirokazu Kore-eda

Japanese writer-director Kore-eda gets his third Cannes Competition berth — after dramas Distance and Nobody Knows — with Like Father, Like Son (Soshite Chichi Ni Naru), the story of a family thrown into turmoil after a phone call from the hospital where their son was born. Masaharu Fukuyama, Machiko Ono, Yoko Maki and Lily Franky round out the cast.

Contact Wild Bunch www.wildbunch.biz

Michael Kohlhaas (Fr-Ger)

Dir Arnaud des Pallieres

Mads Mikkelsen, who won the best actor award at Cannes last year for The Hunt, heads the cast of this period revenge drama. It centres on the titular Michael Kohlhaas, a horse dealer in 16th century France who leads a happy family life until a lord treats him unjustly, leading Kohlhaas to raise an army and ransack towns to restore his rights. It is the fourth feature from writer-director des Pallieres and his first in Competition at Cannes.

Contact Les Films du Losange www.filmsdulosange.fr

Nebraska (US)

Dir Alexander Payne

The Descendants director Payne is back with another tale of family reconciliation. This time he trains his sights on the story of a hard-drinking father who drives with his estranged son from Montana to Nebraska to claim a sweepstakes prize. Bruce Dern stars. Paramount Pictures is the US distributor.

Contact FilmNation Entertainment info@wearefilmnation.com

Only God Forgives (Fr)

Dir Nicolas Winding Refn

The winner of the best director prize at Cannes in 2011 with Drive, Danish director Refn reteams with Ryan Gosling for the white-hot Only God Forgives. Set in Bangkok, the crime thriller tells the story of a man who sets out to avenge the death of his brother. Kristin Scott Thomas also stars in the film, which is produced by Refn’s Space Rocket Nation and backed by Wild Bunch and Gaumont. Radius-TWC has US rights.

Contact
Wild Bunch www.wildbunch.biz
Gaumont www.gaumont.fr

Only Lovers Left Alive (UK-Ger-US)

Dir Jim Jarmusch

Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston star as lovers over the centuries in Jarmusch’s rock-and-roll vampire love story, which also features Anton Yelchin, John Hurt and Mia Wasikowska. Jarmusch is a past Cannes honoree — Stranger Than Paradise won the Camera d’Or in 1984 and he won the Grand Prix in 2005 with Broken Flowers. The film is produced by Jeremy Thomas’s Recorded Picture Company and Reinhard Brundig’s Pandora Film Produktion.

Contact HanWay www.hanwayfilms.com

The Past (Fr-It)

Dir Asghar Farhadi

Iranian film-maker Farhadi scored major success with A Separation, which won best foreign-language film awards at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes in 2012. This follow-up stars Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) as Ahmad, who returns to Paris from Tehran to finalise a divorce from his French wife Marie, played by Bérénice Bejo (The Artist). But secrets from the past soon emerge.

Contact Memento Films Int’l sales@memento-films.com

Shield Of Straw (Jap)

Dir Takashi Miike

The ever-prolific Miike returns to Competition, after 2011 entry Hara-Kiri: Death Of A Samurai, with Shield Of Straw (Wara No Tate). The thriller charts the dangerous mission undertaken by four policemen sent to rescue a suspect whose life is in danger after a billionaire places a bounty on his head, believing the man to be the killer of his granddaughter. The cast includes Ring star Nanako Matsushima, Ichi’s Takao Osawa and Battle Royale’s Tatsuya Fujiwara.

Contact Celluloid Dreams/uConnect uconnect@umedia.eu

A Touch Of Sin (China)

Dir Jia Zhangke

Cannes habitué Jia, director of previous Competition entries Unknown Pleasures and 24 City, returns to the Croisette with A Touch Of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding), the first Chinese film to compete for the Palme d’Or in three years. The film follows four stories across different geographical and social milieus in modern-day China, ranging from a bustling southern metropolis to rural townships. Jiang Wu, Wang Baoqiang and Zhao Tao star.

Contact MK2 intlsales@mk2.com

Venus In Fur (Fr-Pol)

Dir: Roman Polanski

Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric star in Polanski’s French adaptation of David Ives’ Broadway hit Venus In Fur, about a director who becomes enslaved by desire after reluctantly agreeing to audition one last actress for the lead role in his play. Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde produced the erotic comedy, which shot in Paris. Lionsgate is handling international rights, with Resolution handling North America. Polanski won the 2002 Palme d’Or for The Pianist.

Contact Lionsgate internationalsales@lionsgate.com

Young And Beautiful (Fr)

Dir Francois Ozon

Potiche and In The House writer-director Ozon was last in the Cannes Competition with 2003 thriller Swimming Pool. He returns with Young And Beautiful (Jeune Et Jolie), a coming-of-age portrait of a 17-year-old girl over four seasons and four songs, from her sexual awakening to her loss of virginity, and from her exploration of love to her search for identity. French model Marine Vacth stars alongside Charlotte Rampling and Frédéric Pierrot. Paris-based Mandarin Films produces.

Contact Wild Bunch www.wildbunch.biz