The Daily 2004

With the music of the No Smoking Orchestra playing in the background, the team of Life is a Miracle walked up the red carpet for the official screening. With a cigar in his mouth and an actress on each arm - Vesna Trivalic and Natasa Solak - Emir Kusturica was once again presenting a film in competition in the Palais des...

This year at Cannes directors are no longer the only ones to be given the chance to discuss their work. The 57th Festival sees the annual Leçons de Cinéma lecture series extended to actors, with the first lesson delivered by Max von Sydow. Born in Lund, Sweden, Max von Sydow studied at the Stockholm Drama...

The competition feature Zivot Je Cudo (Life is a Miracle) marks the return of Emir Kusturica in Cannes, one of the rare directors - along with Francis Ford Coppola, Bille August and Shohei Imamura - to have won two Palme d'Or: the first came in 1985 for When Father Was Away on Business and again 10 years later for Underground....

The press conferences for Friday May 14 kicked off with the team of Zivot Je Cudo (Life is a Miracle), in the presence of director Emir Kusturica, actors Slavko Stimac, Vesna Trivalic, Natasa Solac, Vuk Kostic, composer Dejan Sparavalo, cinematographer Michel Amathieu and producer Alain Sarde. Emir Kusturica on the...

Initially selected to screen out of competition, Jonathan Nossiter's Mondovino is now in compeition and in the running for the Palme d'Or. It's the American director's second time in Cannes; the first came in 1997 when his black comedy Sunday screened in the Un Certain Regard section. Filmed over three years with a handheld...

For the presentation of Jonathan Nossiter's documentary Mondovino, now screening in competition, the director was joined by Hubert de Montille (one of the wine producers in his film) for today's press conference. A few highlights: Jonathan Nossiter on the origins of the project: "I was on a trip to Burgundy with my...

Ten years after Délits Flagrants (Caught in the Act ), Raymond Depardon continues his investigation of the French judiciary system with this latest documentary, 10e Chambre, instants d'audience (10th District Courts: Moments of Trials). Twelve cases, 12 stories ranging from simple drunk-driving summons to arrests during...

Six years after his L'Ecole de la Chair (The School of Flesh) was screened in competition, Benoît Jacquot is back with · tout de suite (Right Now ). In the film - showing in the Un Certain Regard section - the director follows the flight of two young lovers. She is 19, searching for herself,...

This year, the short film industry has its own space in the Film Market aptly called the Short Film Corner. Film professionals will be able to get together to present, sell and buy films from the different film territories in one single space. In addition, each day at 5pm, a happy hour will welcome buyers, producers,...

After completing three short films, Afghan director Atiq Rahimi has now directed his first feature, Khâkestar-o-khâk (Earth and Ashes), adapted from his own novel. Showing in the Un Certain Regard section, this "fable on the devastating loss, redemption and perseverance of the human spirit in the face of the...

Today's Cannes Classics selection honours French cinema. The section dedicated to the masterpieces and rarities of world cinema history is showcasing Daniel Duval's Le Voyage d'Amélie and Robert Bresson's Pickpocket. Both will be shown in the Salle Buñuel, the first at 5pm, the second at 9.30pm. Le Voyage...

Chinese director Yang Chao's first feature Lu Cheng (Passages) is screening in Un Certain Regard and is also up for the Caméra d'Or. In 2001, the young director won the Cinéfondation du Festival prize for his short, Run Away. Lu Cheng tells the story of the Si Xu and his girlfriend, provincial students who...

At 9pm this evening, the Cinéma de la Plage (Cinema on the Beach) is giving festivalgoers the chance to see Ralph Thomas' Deadlier Than the Male, a 1966 spy thriller about a British secret agent grappling with a dangerous criminal and his deadly female assassins. The open-air projection will be preceded by DJ Fred...

A Japanese drama had the honour of opening this year's selection of films in competition. Nobody Knows from director Kore-eda Hirokazu is inspired by the true story of a young mother forced to abandon her four children born from different fathers. Also in competition was Neapolitan director Paolo Sorrentino with Le...