MUMBAI: 33 of the world's renowned directors from 25 countries will be making short films about what it is like to go to the movies in the 60th year of the Cannes Film Festival. The organizers have commissioned these directors to produces the shorts.
Festival director Gilles Jacob pointed out that directors have been allotted three minutes each and given a theme: Moviegoing. The shorts, will then be bundled into one film, and screened on 20 May at the premier global film festival held in the French Riviera. .
Jacob revealed that among those who have been invited and commissioned for the shots include: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel, 21 Grammes), the Coen Brothers (Fargo), Roman Polanski (The Pianist), David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves) and Wong Kar-wai (In the Mood for Love).
The Cannes film fest website says that: "In this particular case, it was a matter of reuniting a group of creators - all universally famous - who represent both their countries and a proud conception of cinema, for a stroll around a unique theme, springboard for their inspiration."
The website says that none of the other filmmaker is aware of what the other is doing or the plot of their shorts. It adds that Wenders has so far filmed in the Congo, Tsai Ming Liang in Kuala Lumpur and Cronenberg in the... toilets!
The website reveals they have all accepted "to discover them at the same time as the festival-goers themselves, on May 20th, as well as the general public, as it will be replayed the very same evening on television on Canal Plus.
The list of directors who have been invited is as follow:
Theo Angelopoulos, Olivier Assayas, Bille August, Jane Campion, Youssef Chahine, Chen Kaige, Michael Cimino, Ethan & Joel Coen, David Cronenberg, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Manoel De Oliveira, Raymond Depardon, Atom Egoyan, Amos Gitai, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, Aki Kaurismaki, Abbas Kiarostami, Takeshi Kitano, Andrei Konchalovsky, Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti, Roman Polanski, Raoul Ruiz, Walter Salles, Elia Suleiman, Tsai Ming Liang, Gus Van Sant, Lars Von Trier, Wim Wenders, Wong Kar Wai and Zhang Yimou.
Earlier in January, the Festival had announced that Stephen Frears director of the UK blockbuster The Queen would preside over the Cannes Film jury. Frears has also been behind movies such as My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick up Your Ears, Dangerous Liaisons, Accidental Hero, The Grifters, The Snapper, High Fidelity, and Dirty Pretty Things.
Additionally, the festival office had announced that super model and actress (Helen of Troy) Diane Kruger would be be the Master of Ceremonies for the 60th Festival de Cannes. On 16 May she would be welcoming jury president Stephen Frears onto the stage of the Palais des Festivals. She will also host the closing ceremony, on Sunday 27 May, during which the Awards will be announced.
She succeeds in this role to Monica Bellucci, Laura Morante, Cécile de France and Vincent Cassel.
