Deauville reveals line up for 35th edition

It has also announced that Jean-Piere Jeunet will be president of the competition jury, which so far includes nine US indie titles.

European and French premieres include Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams; Sandra Bullock vehicle The Proposal; Sundance favourite (500) Days Of Summerwith Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel; Raymond de Felitta’s City Island with Andy Garcia, who will be the subject of a tribute during the festival, and Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s Gamer with Gerard Butler. Julia Migenes’ Concert will be the opening night film.

The competition films include Sundance breakouts Humpday by Lynn Shelton and Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire from Lee Daniels.

Other titles are:

• Sophie Barthes’ Cold Souls
• Daniel Devila’s Harrison Montgomery
• Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Sin Nombre
• Dagur Kari’s The Good Heart
• Jonathan Liebesman’s The Killing Room
• Oren Moverman’s The Messenger
• Bob Goldthwait’s World’s Greatest Dad

Joining Jeunet on the jury are actor Dany Boon – who stars in Jeunet’s upcoming Micmacs – actresses Hiam Abbas, Emilie Dequenne, Sandrine Kiberlain, Geraldine Pailhas, screenwriter Jean-Loup Dabadie and director Patrice Leconte.

A parallel competition section Uncle Sam’s Docs this year has seven titles including Dana Perry’s Boy Interrupted and Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc.

The Michel d’Ornano prize for a first French film will be handed to Lea Fehner’s Qu’un Seul Tient Et Les Autres Suivront. The director and producers will each receive $4,256 (€3,000) while the distributor, Rezo Films, will be given $14,186 (€10,000) to help with the film’s release.

Meanwhile, tributes will be paid to director/producer Robert Aldrich; Airplane! impresarios David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker; actress Robin Wright Penn and Garcia. Perennial Deauville favorite Harrison Ford will be the festival’s special guest.

The Deauville festival is a key part of Europe’s return-from-holidays period as films from the US studios use it as a launch pad onto the continent for their big autumn titles. It also shined a spotlight on independent films that may not otherwise receive press coverage.

This year’s edition runs September 4 - 13.

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