Though it be one of the lower-profile film competitions going on during those two hectic May weeks in Cannes every year, Director’s Fortnight has been a consistently reliable venue for more unknown cinema, even though last year offered some “bigger” small films like Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro and the long-gestating Jim Carrey project I Love You, Philip Morris.
This year, the competition has intentionally gone back underground, so to speak.
Frédéric Boyer, the artistic director of the festival, said: “Films by well-known directors don’t interest us as much. The Quinzaine’s purpose is to discover new talent. I’m more interested in filmmakers that have never been seen before.” [The Playlist]
Here’s the rundown, via the competition’s Web site:
>>> LONG METRAGES / FEATURE FILMS
A alegria (The Joy) de Marina Méliande et Felipe Braganca (Brésil)
All Good Children * d’Alicia Duffy (Ireland – Belgium – France)
Alting bliver godt igen (Everything Will Be Fine) de Christoffer Boe (Danemark-Suède-France)
Año bisiesto * de Michael Rowe (Mexique)
Benda Bilili ! * de Renaud Barret et Florent de la Tullaye (France) (documentaire)
La Casa muda * (The Silent House) de Gustavo Hernandez (Uruguay)
Cleveland Vs. Wall Street de Jean-Stéphane Bron (Suisse – France) (documentaire)
Des Filles en noir de Jean-Paul Civeyrac (France)
Ha’Meshotet * (The Wanderer / Le Vagabond) d’Avishai Sivan (Israël)
Illégal d’Olivier Masset-Depasse (Belgique-Luxembourg-France)
The Light Thief d’Aktan Arym Kubat (Kirghizistan)
Little Baby Jesus of Flandr * (Petit bébé Jésus de Flandr / En waar de sterre bleef stille staan) de Gust Van den Berghe (Belgique)
La Mirada invisible (The Invivible Eye) de Diego Lerman (Argentine-France-Espagne)
Picco * de Philip Koch (Allemagne)
Pieds nus sur les limaces (Lily Sometimes) de Fabienne Berthaud (France)
Le Quattro volte de Michelangelo Frammartino (Italie-Allemagne-Suisse)
Shit Year de Cam Archer (Etats-Unis)
Somos lo que hay * (We Are What We Are) de Jorge Michel Grau (Mexique)
Tiger Factory de Woo Ming jin (Malaisie)
Todos vós sodes capitáns * (Vous êtes tous des capitaines) d’Oliver Laxe (Espagne)
Two Gates Of Sleep * d’Alistair Banks Griffin (Etats-Unis)
Un Poison violent * de Katell Quillevéré (France)
>>> SEANCES SPECIALES / SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Stones In Exile de Stephen Kijak (Royaume-Uni) (documentaire)
Boxing Gym de Frederik Wiseman (Etats-Unis) (documentaire)
>>> COURTS METRAGES / SHORT FILMS
Cautare (Quest) de Ionut Piturescu (Roumanie)
Ett tyst barn (A Silent Child) de Jesper Klevenas (Suède)
Licht de Andre Schreuders (Pays-Bas)
Mary Last Seen de Sean Durkin (Etats-Unis)
Petit tailleur de Louis Garrel (France)
Shadows of Silence de Pradeepan Raveendran (France)
Shikasha d’Hirabayashi Isamu (Japon)
Tre ore (Trois heures) de Annarita Zambrano (Italie)
ZedCrew de Noah Pink (Zambie – Canada)
As promised, most all of these films and filmmakers are unknown to the general public, and it’s nice to see them given a credible platform to present their work.
In other Fortnight news, French New Wave filmmaker Agnes Varda will be presented the Carosse d’Or award for lifetime achievement. It’s about time someone gave her an award for being the pioneer she is.
Did you know of Director’s Fortnight before reading this post? Are you interested in it? In Agnes Varda?