Wild Bunch heads to Cannes with 9 official selection films

As Wild Bunch prepares to descend upon Cannes with its traditionally packed and diverse slate – including 9 films spread across the various official selections – it has also confirmed the addition of The Lives Of Others’ star Ulrich Tukur to Jerome Salle’s The Burma Conspiracy, a new Largo Winch adventure again starring Tomer Sisley. Wild Bunch will have the first images from the film available in Cannes.

Meanwhile, Wild Bunch’s competition films include Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods And Men which is based on a true story about a group of monks living in the Maghreb whose faith leads them to stand their ground when a bunch of terrorists turns up on the doorstep. Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin and Sabrina Ouazani star in the film which Mars will release in September in France.

Nikita Mikhalkov’s follow-up to Burnt By The Sun, The Exodus - Burnt By The Sun 2, is an epic tragedy set against the backdrop of war as a father and daughter search for one another. Wild Bunch is also handling the third part in the series, The Citadel, for which it will have a promo reel available.

In an out of competition special screening, Wild Bunch will present Draquila, a film from Viva Zapatero! director Sabina Guzzanti which Bim will release in Italy. The documentary looks at how Silvio Berlusconi has managed to change public opinion in Italy and why Italians still vote for him.

 Also screening out of competition is Greg Araki’s Kaboom. Starring Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Kelly Lynch and Roxane Mesquida, among others, the midnight screener is a “hyper-stylized Twin Peaks for the Coachella generation.” The sexy horror-comedy-thriller follows a college freshman who stumbles upon a monstrous conspiracy.

 In Un Certain Regard, Wild Bunch is handling Jean-Luc Godard’s “symphony in three movements,” Film Socialisme, as well as Lodge Kerrigan’s Rebecca H. with Geraldine Pailhas and Pascal Greggory - a film Wild Bunch’s Vincent Maraval notes includes a fascinating study on the passion of an actress that almost brings the film into the documentary realm. Finally in Critics Week is Sound Of Noise a cult film in which a group of “sonic terrorists” overtake a city in order to enact a full-scale musical assault in the name of anarchy and freedom.

In the Fortnight, Wild Bunch is handling We Are What We Are, a film from Jorge Michel Grau about a family of modern-day cannibals struggling to survive after the patriarch – and sustenance gatherer – dies unexpectedly. Maraval says the movie, which is generating quite a bit of fanboy buzz on the Internet, is a “return to what Wes Craven and John Carpenter used to do.” The film also explores the state of today’s society in Mexico and despite its gory subject matter is said to be quite profound.

The Two Escobars has just been announced as a Cinema de la Plage selection. Shown in Tribeca last month, the film is from directors Jeff and Michael Zimbalist and recounts the story of the Escobar brothers Adres and Pablo and the rise of the country’s national soccer team until Andres Escobar’s assassination at the time of the 1994 World Cup. The film investigates the relationship between sport and crime and uncovers surprising connections between the brothers’ murders.

The officially selected titles join such new projects on Wild Bunch’s slate as Cool Water from Emir Kusturica, the next Dardennes brothers film and Lou Ye’s Love And Bruises, among others.

Further, Wild Bunch will show the first images of Francois Ozon’s hotly-anticipated Potiche and promo reels of Bertrand Blier’s The Clink Of Ice, Iciar Bollain’s Even The Rain, Ken Loach’s Route Irish and Wang Bing’s The Ditch.