The Daily 2009

Oleg Yankovsky took on the role of the Metropolitan Philip, the only adversary of Ivan the Terrible, in Tsar by Pavel Lungin, an historical panorama presented in Un Certain Regard. Also known for his roles in films by Andreï Tarkovski, the Russian actor Oleg Yankovsky died of cancer this Wednesday in Moscow at the age of 65. "This...

Flanked by actors Sabine Azéma, Anne Consigny, Emmanuelle Devos, André Dussollier, and Michel Vuillermoz and producers Julie Salvador and Jean-Louis Livi, French director Alain Resnais replied to questions from the international press about his new feature Wild Grass, presented in Competition. Highlights follow. Alain Resnais on...

At today's press conference for Inglourious Basterds, director Quentin Tarantino appeared with cast members Mélanie Laurent, Diane Kruger, Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Mike Myers, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Brühl, and Eli Roth, along with the producers, Lawrence Bender and the Weinstein brothers. Quentin Tarantino on Christoph...

Spotted or expected in Cannes today: Anne Alvaro, Ursula Andres, Natacha Amal, Ariane Ascaride, Francois Berléand, Patrick Braoudé, Eric Cantona, Claudia Cardinale, Vincent Cassel, François Cluzet, Grégoire Colin, Anne Consigny, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Joaquim De Almeida, Emma De Caunes, Léa...

Quentin Tarantino, President of the Jury in 2004 and Palme d’Or winner in 1994 with Pulp Fiction, has returned to the Croisette to show his latest work in Competition: Inglourious Basterds. Tarantino worked feverishly to finish the film in time for this 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Known for his tributes to film noir (Reservoir...

It has been 29 long years since director Alain Resnais presented one of his films in Competition. However, with today's screening of Wild Grass, his latest feature, served by a prestigious cast: André Dussollier, Sabine Azéma, Mathieu Amalric, and Emmanuelle Devos, Resnais, laureate of the Grand Prix Spécial du...

At 8:30pm, The Cinéma de la Plage outdoor theatre invites festivalgoers to a concert by Jean-Michel Bernard, Michel Gondry's official composer. Bernard has written the original scores for Human Nature, The Science of Sleep, and Be Kind, Rewind. In addition to "Message to Ray," he will personally honor Maurice...

Selected to participate in the Cinéfondation program in 2003 and 2004 with short films Free Loaders and The Poet’s Home, Haim Tabakman is presenting his first feature film in Un Certain Regard, Eyes Wide Open, which is also in the running for the Caméra d’Or award. The Israeli director delved into the religious world and touched...

Director Sam Raimi is leaving behind Spiderman and reviving his first love with a horror film entitled Drag Me to Hell, presented Out of Competition. His fans have been waiting over 28 years, since the last Evil Dead and the character Ash, for Raimi to come back to the horror genre. This time it is a young girl, Christine, an ambitious...

The Cinefondation program begins screening the 17 films selected from among the 1,400 entries in the Buñuel theater today. Three films will receive prizes on Friday, May 22 at 4 :30pm when the International Jury presided by British director John Boorman and composed of French director Bertrand Bonello, Chinese actress Zhang...

A graduate of Rio de Janeiro's UFF Film School, Eduardo Valente attracted notice with his first short Four Days, awarded a Cinéfondation First Prize in 2002. Valente returned to Cannes Festival in 2006 with another short, entitled The Monster. 2009 marks his transition to feature-length, with Eye of the Storm, a thriller contending...

For the first time in his career, young Thai filmmaker Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, selected by Directors Fortnight on two occasions, in 2002 for Monrak Transistor and in 2007 for Ploy, is presenting one of his films at Un Certain Regard. Nymph is a supernatural love story which takes us to a place in the jungle where, once upon a time, a...

Director Ounie Lecomte is presenting her debut film A Brand New Life Out of Competition, and it is eligible for the Caméra d’Or. Born in Seoul in 1966, Ounie Lecomte left Korea at the age of 9 and moved to France. Following her studies in fashion design, she worked on a number of films: as an actress with Olivier Assayas...

Cannes Classics is a section created in 2004 to honor great filmmakers and films of the past. It shows restored or recovered prints of rare films in connection with their rerelease in theaters or on DVD. Today's first feature, a dramatization of real events from Korean history, is Prince Yeonsan (Korea, 1961) by Shin Sang-ok. The...