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Q&A Quentin Tarantino on the joys of working quickly. SEE PAGE 8

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Tiger balm $150 mil fund for Chinese productions By Patrick Frater

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f you follow the money a lot more of it in these tricky times is targeted for Asian movies. To wit, a $150 million private equity fund targeting Chinese movies was unveiled here Monday — a move that underlines the contrasting financing fortunes of European and Asian filmmakers. The Tiger Portfolio Film Fund is backed by Tiger8 Media and Wuxi Jinyuan Industry and Development Co., a Chinese

Getting her kicks Actress Lucy-Jo Hudson is all smiles Monday night on the red carpet for Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric.”

‘Looking for Eric’ By Ray Bennett

he term “crowd-pleaser” is not often REVIEW attached to the work of Ken Loach, the British Palme d’Or-winning director of films of social realism, but his latest Festival de Cannes Competition entry, “Looking for Eric,” is exactly that. At the press screening, there was laughter throughout, frequent clapping and sustained applause at the end. Loach regular Paul Laverty’s script is filled with great gags and the director does his typically polished job of bringing out the best in his actors. They include former soccer player Eric Cantona, the Frenchman who was unheralded at home but called King Eric at Manchester United, the world’s biggest football club. continued on page 17

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investment group, and is allied with Switzerland-U.K.-Los Angeles sales agent Omega Entertainment. The fund’s promoters said the venture expects to attract major Chinese, American and international projects and will open offices in China and Los Angeles. The fund boasts all the bells and whistles: equity, mezzanine and debt financing, which is being provided by Chinese, European and Middle Eastern investors. continued on page 20

“Antichrist”

By Scott Roxborough

eclaring himself “the world’s greatest director,” Lars von Trier defended his enfant terrible title with aplomb at a Monday news conference for his Competition shocker “Antichrist.” The event started with a continued on page 20

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CRITICS NOTEBOOK

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CinemaNX shifts into gear Plans 3-D project following annual Tourists Trophy race By Stuart Kemp

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inemaNX, the Isle of Man’s governmentbacked production and finance body, is looking to capture the thrills and spills of the island’s famous Tourists Trophy motorcycle road race. The agency, which has a

splice together 20 minutes. “We’ll see what sort of 3-D footage we can get and then look to develop it into a featurelength documentary that we’ll finance,” he said. Christian said the idea stems from having seen hundreds of script ideas come across his desk in the past few years that continued on page 24

rolling fund of about £50 million ($76 million), will capture 3-D footage with cameras mounted on bikes and at strategic points along the road course during next month’s race. CinemaNX chairman Steve Christian said his agency will spend about £40,000 ($60,000), aiming to see what footage can be corralled to

Cannes Daily Edition EDITORIAL OFFICE: Hotel Montaigne, 4 rue Montaigne phone: 323-900-0490 TERRACE: Hotel Palais Stephanie, Boulevard de la Croisette phone: +33 492 997 522 Eric Mika Publisher

Elizabeth Guider Editor

Workshop has tools for MDA sales

David Morgan Deputy Editor Deeann J. Hoff Director — Art EDITORIAL Gregg Kilday (Film Editor), Chad Williams (International News Editor), Patrick Hipes (Copy Chief)

By Patrick Frater

REPORTERS Stuart Kemp (UK Bureau Chief), Scott Roxborough (Germany Bureau Chief), Steven Zeitchik (Senior Film Reporter ), Patrick Frater (Contributing Editor, Asia), Rebecca Leffler (France correspondent)

Singapore’s Media Development Authority has appointed Hong Kong-based Distribution Workshop to handle global sales of movies backed by its newly launched International Film Fund. The fund, unveiled a week continued on page 24

REVIEWS Kirk Honeycutt (Chief Film Critic), Ray Bennett (UK Critic), Deborah Young, Peter Brunette, Duane Byrge, Maggie Lee, Natasha Senjanovic (Film Critics) ART Emily Johnson (Senior Designer)

By Stuart Kemp

Many hands make light work. The planned big-screen adaptation of Owen Sheers’ World War II novel “Resistance,” from Brit indie producer Richard Holmes, has attracted backing from Germany and Wales. Holmes (“Eden Lake”) is taking up arms with Al Munteanu’s Square One in Germany and Film Agency Wales to develop an adaptation from writercontinued on page 24 Los Angeles 323.525.2000

Christmas came early to Cannes this year as Disney covered the front of the Carlton with a blizzard of artificial snow in a promotion for its upcoming 3-D film “A Christmas Carol.” Stars Jim Carrey, left, and Colin Firth were on hand for the Monday event.

Wenders does 3-D two-step Shooting is set to begin in September, with Wenders’ Neue Road Movies shingle producing in collaboration with Bausch’s dance theater in Wuppertal, Germany. “Only mainstream 3-D films have been available so continued on page 24

By Scott Roxborough

Palme d’Or winner and digital film enthusiast Wim Wenders’ next project is “Pina,” a collaboration with avant-garde choreographer Pina Bausch on what is being called the first 3-D dance feature.

THR.COM Karen Nicoletti (Senior News Editor) ADVERTISING Tommaso Campione (International Executive Director), Alison Smith (International Sales Director), Lauren Marani (Independent Film Account Manager), Ivy Lam (Hong Kong Sales), Damjana Finci (International Advertising Sales Executive) OPERATIONS + IT Kelly Jones, Production Director, Gregg Edwards (Senior Production Manager), Armen Sarkisian (Network Administrator)

Gerry Byrne Senior Vice President, The Entertainment Group

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‘Resistance’ gains strength

Winter wonderland

Attending Executives:

Ken DuBow President Worldwide Distribution tel +1 818 943 1595 [email protected]

JD Beaufils Vice President Worldwide Sales tel +1 323 557 0279 jdbeaufi[email protected]

Jeffrey Engelen Vice President Worldwide Sales tel +1 310 948 8092 [email protected]

proudly presents our Cannes 2009 Slate THE LAST DRAGON Action/Adventure Cast: Sam Neill, Vince Colosimo, Louis Corbett Director: Mario Andreacchio Writers: John Armstrong and Philip Dalkin Producers: Mario Andreacchio, William W. Wilson III, Pauline Chan, Ron Saunders, Allen Wan

HALO

Comedy Cast: Callum Keith Rennie, Martha MacIsaac, Ricky Mabe Director: George Mihalka Writer: Josh MacDonald Producers: Bev Bliss, Colin Neale

BROKEN HILL Romantic Drama Cast: Alexa Vega, Luke Arnold, Timothy Hutton Writer / Director: Dagen Merrill Producers: Julie Ryan, Chris Wyatt

Screening – May 19 – 09:30 Palais J

PASSCHENDAELE War Cast: Paul Gross, Caroline Dhavernas, Joe Dinicol, Meredith Bailey, Jim Mezon, Gil Bellows Writer / Director: Paul Gross Producers: Niv Fichman, Frank Siracusa, Francis Damberger, Paul Gross

Screening – May 18 – 20:30 Palais C

THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN Western Cast: Wes Studi, Winter Fox, J. Kenneth Campbell Director: Kevin Wilmott Writer: Tom Carmody Producers: Thomas Carmody, Rick Cowan, Matt Cullen, Greg Hurd, Scott Richardson, Kevin Wilmott

PRODIGY

PorchLight Entertainment 11050 Santa Monica Blvd, 3rd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90025 Tel: (310) 477-8400

Family Adventure Cast: Colin Ferguson, Keir Gilchrist Director: William Fruet Writer: Ray Hartung, Scott Shepherd Producer: Paul Rayman

FOR SALE BY OWNER

Thriller Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Skeet Ulrich, Rachel Nichols, Tom Skerritt Director: Robert J. Wilson Writer: Scott Cooper Producers: Robert J. Wilson, Scott Cooper

SLOW MOE Family/Action

Booth Number:

Riviera: Lerins R8 Booth Telephone:

+33 (0)4 92 99 33 01

www.porchlight.com

Porchlight Ent D7 051909.indd 1

BROKEN HILL Teen Romance

Cast: Scotty Leavenworth, Emily Phillips, Marc John Jeffries, Susan Walters, Sam Hennings Director: Tim Nelson Writers: David Massar and Forrest S. Baker, III Alexa Vega, Luke Arnold, Timothy Hutton Producer: Jeff T. Miller

Cast: Writer / Director: Dagen Merrill Producers: Julie Ryan,Action/Thriller Chris Wyatt FIREBALL Cast: Ian Somerhalder, Lexa Doig Director: K.T. Donaldson Writer: Kraig Wenman Producers: Harvey Kahn, Joe Broido

Screening THIS MORNING – May 19 – 09:30 Palais J

Credits Not Contractual

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3-D ‘Magic’

DIGEST

China, Korea team on $30 mil project By Patrick Frater

nvestors from China and Korea have teamed to produce “Legend of the Magic Bell,” the first stereoscopic 3-D film from the two countries. The $30 million picture is backed by John Woo and Terence Chang’s Lion Rock Entertainment, Kimjonghak Production and Tosoa Entertainment and produced by Chang. Kim Jonghak will direct the Mandarin-language picture from a screenplay by Guo Zheng (“Red

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“I intend to shoot the film in 3-D so that the audiences can feel the dangers and delights of the story as if they are really traveling alongside the characters on their epic journey,feeling their emotions and heartache.” — Kim Jonghak

Green Knight updates ‘Usher’ Indie banner Green Knight Ventures will produce a contemporary adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Claire Forlani, Dougray Scott and Rufus Sewell will star in the pic, which will be titled “The Ushers” and be shot in 3-D. Stephen Kay is attached to direct. Sewell Forlani Originally published Scott in 1839, “Usher” tells of the mysterious goings-on in the house of Roderick Usher, who has recently buried a sister whose presence still haunts the house.

Cliff”). It will shoot beginning early next year and is set for delivery in late 2011 or early 2012. Hong Kong’s Golden Network Asia is handling international sales. The story was inspired by Chinese classic Shan Hai Jing (“The Classic of Mountains and Seas”) and is set in a world where humans co-exist with demons. It follows a human warrior who falls in love with a beautiful demon bodyguard, setting off a cycle of love and death spanning 5,000 years. “I intend to shoot the film in 3-D so that the audiences can feel the dangers and delights of the story as if they are really traveling alongside the characters on their epic journey, feeling their emotions and heartache,” Kim said at a news conference in Cannes. Kim is known as one of Korea’s leading TV directors and was responsible for the hit “Legend.” ∂

Strand takes ‘Drool’ for N.A. Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Nancy Kissam’s romantic comedy, “Drool,” starring Laura Harring as a woman who accidentally kills her abusive husband and then begins a romance with a neighbor, played by Jill Marie Jones. The film is set for a fall release.

Freeway offers audit solution Financial services company Freeway Entertainment Group and Germanbased distribution auditor RevCheck have teamed to launch a joint venture offering worldwide revenue reconciliation services to the international film industry. The collaboration with Freeway parent TMF Group, a global management and accounting company with more than 86 offices worldwide, will allow producers to utilize local accounting firms when dealing with disputes on the other side of the globe.

D’Onofrio, Sorvino join ‘Irishman’

India biz has new ‘Face’ By Mira Advani

o facilitate foreign co- production in India, a new producers’ directory called “The Changing Face of Indian Cinema” is now available at the India Pavilion. Jointly prepared by the Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and ASSOCHAM, and written by Supreme court advocate Pavan Duggal, the comprehensive guide details regulations on co-productions and international property rights in India. “Entertainment industry in India even in a time of slowdown is growing at a faster rate than the average GDP of our country,” said Mrs. Sushma

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Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones, Paul Sorvino, Fionnula Flanagan, Laura Ramsey, Steve Schirripa, Linda Cardellini and Bob Gunton have been added to the cast of Jonathan Hensleigh’s “The Irishman.” Code D’Onofrio Sorvino Entertainment begins filming the project, starring Ray Sevenson, Christopher Walker and Val Kilmer, next week in Detroit, Mich.

Singh, Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcast. Singh added that the book’s concept evolved as a result of increased enquiries on filming in India at this year’s Berlin International Film Fetival. The number of foreign films shot in India has more than doubled in the past three years to more than 20 films shot in 2008, said V.B. Pyarelal, the Ministry’s Joint Secretary. For successful filmmaking in India his advise to co-producers tions is to find a good line producer. A directory of line producers in India is in the works and will be released next year. Pyarelal’s concern, however is to keep travel agents (posing as line producers) out of this guidebook. ∂

‘Dragon’ spreading wings Zodiak Entertainment closed several deals on the Swedish crime drama “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” also known as “Millennium,” including a U.K. sale to Momentum. Zodiak also closed for Argentina and Greece on the title, which is based on the best-selling novels by Stieg Larsson and said it expects Japan, Australia and much of South America to close by Wednesday. The Niels Arden Oplev-directed thriller is already the most successful Scandinavian movie in history.

IGIOS game for moon Nazis The producers of Finnish Nazis of the moon spoof “Iron Sky”. Finland’s Blind Spot have signed on with games makers IGIOS and LudoCraft to produce and market the game, which will be released in 2011 before the film’s theatrical premiere.

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Blood on their hands Gore quotient is giving even fest veterans pause

“Vengeance”

By Kirk Honeycutt

he 62nd Festival de Cannes is turning into a bloodbath. Moviegoers file solemnly out of the Palais, huddling in groups to seek the comfort of fellow viewers or heading for the nearest cafe for a stiff drink. They are enduring an onslaught of blood and gore from a lineup that has many questioning what point general director Thierry Fremaux and his programmers are trying to make. In such cases as a razor-blade Lou Ye’s “Spring Fever” goes in murder in Jacques Audiard’s for suicide and disfigurement by finely wrought French prison sharp objects. Even Bong Joondrama “A Prophet” and the bulho’s “Mother” in Un Certain let-ridden bodies in Johnnie Regard sees the title character To’s enjoyable Hong Kong beat an old man to death with a actioner “Vengeance,” the vioshovel and set him on fire. lence falls within the And those filmmakers expected parameCRITICS known for a love of vioters of genre filmNOTEBOOK lence — Quentin Taranmaking. Even the tino, Sam Raimi and blood-soaked Gaspar Noe — haven’t even ghoulishness of Park Chanscreened their pictures yet! wook’s Korean vampire movie The red carpet is earning its “Thirst” is more campy than color this year. disturbing. Not only has the graphic vioBut cinema is a realistic lence been unrelenting in the medium no matter how much Competition but in the cases of one manipulates the imagery. “Kinatay” and “Antichrist” it Luis Bunuel’s 1929 “An Andalucomes with strong misogynistic sian Dog” might be a masterovertones. And yet the jury this piece of surrealism, but that year is predominantly female. sliced eyeball is not for the What must those jury discusfaint-hearted even today. So no sions be like? matter how symbolic or socially conscious or deep-dish artistic, sadism by any other name is still sadism. Brillante Mendoza’s “Kinatay” indulges in rape, knife wounds and dismemberment. Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” savors genital mutilation by rusty scissors, a drill grinding through a leg, an ejaculation of blood and strangulation.

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“Fish Tank”

Individually, each violent film save one has it merits. For all the graphic gore in its final act — and disturbing imagery and mental malpractice leading up to it — von Trier’s film is brimming with ideas and literary references. This is vigorous, fearless filmmaking — it just doesn’t work. The writer-director never pulls all his symbols and conceits into a coherent whole. It is, at once, his most ambitious and least successful film. There is only one film whose selection for Competi-

tion is unconscionable, and that is Mendoza’s “Kinatay.” This marks the Filipino director’s second Competition entry in as many years, having brought “Serbis” to Cannes last year. The polarizing filmmaker works in a gritty, neo-realistic realm that explores the sordid underbelly of Manila, where life is cheap, sex a commodity and corruption endemic. In “Kinatay,” a prostitute behind on her drug payments is kidnapped by thugs at night and driven out of town to be beaten, raped, repeatedly stabbed, then slowly dismembered, a procedure that takes up most of the movie. The dilemma here is not that of ultra-violence — cheap horror films show worse — but of continued on page 19

“Antichrist” Los Angeles 323.525.2000

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o U.S.director epitomizes Cannes more than Quentin Tarantino.Since crashing the party 17 years ago with his stylish,blood-spattered “Reservoir Dogs,” the director has been a mainstay on the Croisette.He galvanized audiences in 1994 with his Palme d’Or winner “Pulp Fiction,” debuted “Kill Bill: Vol.2”and “Death Proof”here and also served as a juror in 2004.Tarantino returns this year with the In Competition entry “Inglourious Basterds,” a 160-minute action extravaganza set in Nazi Germany.The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik sat down with the director at the Carlton Hotel to get his thoughts on war movies,working quickly and the Harvey Weinstein factor. It’s funny to be here talking about this movie — it was only a year ago that you first announced you were writing the script. Did this feel like it moved really quickly, maybe even too quickly? Quentin Tarantino: When you’re a director in my situation, things become a little easier. You can take a lot more time to do a scene, and every director wants that. But there’s something to be said for not doing that, for knowing that you have three days to shoot a scene and you can’t roll over. When you do that, there’s going to be more energy on the screen. And I’m glad I got to do that. I look at “Death Proof” and realize I had too much time. Doing it this way also adds an element of stress, doesn’t it? Tarantino: At the end of the day, you’re Los Angeles 323.525.2000

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driving from the studio to your hotel, and you think it’s nice that you finished a scene on time. But you can’t relax because you have to do it again the next day, and the day after that, and that’s what your life is like for months. I’ll be honest — I enjoyed making this movie a little less because of that. From the trailer, it looks like you went pretty heavy on the action. Is that a fair characterization of the finished film? Tarantino: It’s a no-fucking-around kind of pacing. That doesn’t mean it’s a big action movie. It just means there’s a good, steady pacing. I don’t luxuriate in every scene. But it’s got the mix of dialogue with the action. It’s probably the closest thing I’ve ever done to “Pulp Fiction.” War movies, especially World War II movies, have been everywhere the last few years, and there are skeptics who hear about this film and say “Why do we need another one?” What do you say to them? Tarantino: In the last 20 years, we’ve seen a lot of movies that show war from the anti-war, misery perspective. And I don’t mean to say I’m pro-war, because I’m not. But in the ’40s and ’50s people made movies that were thrilling and exciting. War movies don’t always have to show things from the perspective of the victim. And it’s also not really about war. I treat World War II similar to how E.L. Doctorow treated “Ragtime.” I’m taking a historical time and putting in my own ideas and characters. And of course your film also is inspired by an Italian film from Enzo Castellari of 30 years ago that has the same title. Tarantino: But it’s not a remake. I like that film, don’t get me wrong, but I bought the rights because of the title. My movie doesn’t have anything else to do with that one. A lot has changed in the film business in the past few years, not least Harvey Weinstein. What was it like doing another collaboration with him even as he’s in a very different place than he was for most of your earlier films? Tarantino: I wanted to help him out — not help him out, but stand by him. He’s stood by me and now I’m

vital stats Festival entry: “Inglorious Basterds” (In Competition) Nationality: American Date of birth: March 27, 1963 Selected Filmmography: “Death Proof” (2007), “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” (2003), “Jackie Brown” (1997), “Pulp Fiction” (1994), “Reservoir dogs” (1992) Notable Awards: Palme d’Or, Academy Award for best original screenplay, BAFTA Award for best screenplay and Independent Spirit Award best director for “Pulp Fiction”

standing by him. I could have done this movie with anyone but I decided to do it with him. But he’s also got three movies people are talking about now — this and “Nine” and “Halloween 2.” That’s a good thing when people are scared and are staying away from dates because of your movies. This is the fifth time you’ve had a film playing in Cannes, and audiences embrace you here. What is it that makes you connect to the festival, and vice versa? Tarantino: What’s great about Cannes is that when you’re here, you’re in this world where international cinema is all that matters. And all the world media is here, and they’re all judging the film at the same time, and they’re waking up at 8:30 (a.m.) to see the new Johnnie To or the new movie of the guy who directed “The Host.” It’s a lot different than just this lazy thing where they’re in New York or L.A. and they’re going to go see this movie at noon. So you’ve done this big blow-out action for the past few films, with this arguably the biggest of all. Do you think you may scale it down next time, do something smaller or more intimate? Tarantino: I just don’t have a clue what I’m going to do next. After I finish a movie, it’s good to have a year of my life back, so I wait and see what rises up or if something new comes along. When I started writing this, it was the only mountain I could see. And I had to get over that mountain to see all the other mountains. ∂

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career,” von Trier has referred to the forbidding Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Clearly, or rather not so clearly, von Trier is working in a full-out symbolic vein here, as did Strindberg late in his career, but alas, the film medium inevitably carries with it, like an albatross, a heavy charge of realism. Hence, many of von Trier’s more outrageous, ultra-serious symbolic moments (such as a talking fox, its guts half ripped out, muttering “chaos reigns” in an “Exorcist” voice) will — and did, in the press screening — undoubtedly provoke unintended laughter. Or horror, as when genitals are scissored off, masturbation produces blood rather than semen and holes are drilled into legs. The film’s most successful thematic confrontation is that between frail reason (embodied in the pathetic, infantilizing attempt by the husband, a psychotherapist, to treat his deeply disturbed wife with cognitive therapy) and the uncontrollable forces of emotion and mystery that emerge victorious. Another powerful idea, that nature is cruel and vicious and completely antithetical to

‘Antichrist’ By Peter Brunette

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ith his latest offering, “Antichrist,” Danish bad-boy director Lars von Trier is in no danger of jeopardizing his reign as the most controversial major director working today. Visually gorgeous to a fault and teeming with grandiose if often fascinating ideas that overwhelm the modest story that serves as their vehicle, this may be the least artistically successful film von Trier has ever made. As such, commercial prospects appear slim, though many of the auteur’s most ardent fans will want to see the film anyway. And they should. “Antichrist” is relentlessly and solely focused on a married couple, played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. As we learn in a rather pretentious prologue shot in slow-motion and black and white, their toddler son has fallen to his death through an open window while Los Angeles 323.525.2000

they were making love. Bereft, they retreat to Eden, their ironically named cabin in the woods, to recuperate from their loss. At this point, von Trier switches to color and his signature chapter headings. The fact that the first three are “Pain,” “Grief” and “Despair” does not bode well. In discussing this self-styled “most important film of my

> IN COMPETITION BOTTOM LINE Danish director’s

overly fecund imagination overwhelms a slight but visually splendid story. SALES: Trustnordisk. PRODUCTION COMPANY: Zentropa Entertainments23. CAST: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg. DIRECTOR-SCREENWRITER: Lars von Trier. PRODUCER: Meta Louise Foldager. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Anthony Dod Mantle. PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Karl Juliusson. SOUND DESIGNER: Kristian Eidnes Andersen. COSTUME DESIGNER: Frauke Firl. EDITOR: Anders Refn. No rating, 104 minutes.

THR.com/cannes Tuesday, May 19, 2009

human welfare, seems to align von Trier with the German visionary director Werner Herzog. (“Nature is Satan’s church,” the wife utters apocalyptically at one point.) This focus on nature subsequently gets conflated with human nature and finally with female nature, where von Trier’s careerlong misogyny comes into fullest bloom. In any case, all the ideas of the film are so extravagantly and feverishly expressed that one fears that von Trier, always working on the edge, has finally become unhinged. The film works much better on a purely visual level, if only viewers were able to forget that these are real people being represented in these voluptuous images, abetted by an often superb sound design. From the opening titles, abstract expressionism reigns powerfully and conveys a great deal of intense, if finally unspecifiable, meaning. Unfortunately, at some point a story has to be told, no matter how minimalist, and with actual human beings, no matter how symbolically freighted. This is where the film falls apart. ∂

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> OUT OF COMPETITION BOTTOM LINE A thoughtprovoking parable on the role of religious intolerance in unstoppable cycles of social violence. SALES: Focus Features PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Mod Producciones, Himenoptero, Telecino Cinema, Canal + Espana. CAST: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac, Ashraf Barhom, Rupert Evans, Michel Lonsdale, Homayoun Ershadi, Sammy Samir. DIRECTORSCREENWRITER: Alejandro Amenabar. SCREENWRITER: Mateo Gil. PRODUCERS: Fernando Bovaira, Alvaro Augustin. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Xavi Gimenez. PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Guy Hendrix Dyas. MUSIC: Dario Marinelli. COSTUME DESIGNER: Gabriella Pescucci. EDITOR: Nacho Ruiz Capillas. No rating, 141 minutes.

‘Agora’ By Natasha Senjanovic

lthough no self-respecting epic can come in at less than two hours, Alejandro Amenabar will nevertheless need good word-of-mouth to attract audiences willing to sit through 144 minutes and a rather heavy-handed beginning in his latest film, “Agora.” Hopefully, he will get it. Amenabar gets most of the epic staples out of the way relatively early: flatly acted scenes of textbook exposition, overly earnest extras, main characters who wander unscathed through hordes of butchery and, of course, frequently swelling music. The story then turns into a timely parable on religious intolerance, inexorable fundamentalist violence and the powerlessness of reason and personal freedom in the face of both. The heart of the film is Hypatia (Rachel Weisz in an unfaltering performance), the fourth-century philosopher and teacher who lived in Alexandria during the Roman Empire. Married only to her

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Unable to remember the Lord’s Prayer, he quickly falls into a mantra to God to keep Hypatia away from Orestes. For his part, Orestes will renounce paganism and convert to Christianity during his rise in Roman politics. Amenabar and screenwriter Mateo Gil adeptly show that each character’s destiny is written from the onset. As is history when hatred and power lust are corruptly instrumentalized in the name of a single, incontestable truth. There also is no question as to what side the filmmakers are on. The Christians in “Agora” are more preoccupied with slaughtering than spirituality

unquenchable intellect and passion for mathematics and astronomy, she is loved by two men: her slave, Davus (Max Minghella), and her student, Orestes (Oscar Isaac). Politics in the film are weakest during the overtly political speeches and monologues, and best captured in the details. Like many, Davus seeks not spiritual salvation in the Christian uprising but freedom from slavery, despite the bloodshed. His first attempt at prayer is brilliant:

REVIEW IN BRIEF

‘Hidden’ > Market THE BOTTOM LINE: A well-made horror film that gets strangled by its complexity.

This is the kind of production that must have looked great on paper and excelled in

discussion. In practice, however, it’s way too complicated, especially for a horror film. Billed as the “scariest Norwegian movie ever,” which seems like a gag line to even we cineastes of Norwegian heritage, “Hidden” is both too predictable and too confusing to truly frighten. In this market offering, filmmaker Pal Oie has forged a smart compilation of generic horror elements, blending

and the only truly principled character is Hypatia, the atheist, who may have come close to proving that the Earth revolves around the sun 1,200 years before Nicolaus Copernicus. She is the only one who never sacrifices her unwavering “faith,” in reason and intellectual freedom, for personal gain. It is a pleasure to see Weisz’s scenes of scientific inquiry, which capture the passion of research and discovery without artifice or pretension. That the scientist is a woman makes it all the more engaging. The entire cast comes through very well after the shaky beginning, and while Minghella says little, he has good screen presence. However, the biggest surprises are the lesser-known supporting actors: Isaac, Sammy Samir as a bishop seemingly devoid of human emotion and Ashraf Barhom, whose Ammonious, a Christian Parabalani, is the epitome of a an undevout thug. ∂

the elemental scare fare: the deep dark woods, haunted mansion and doppelganger personality. While smart, the hodge-podge of parts gets a bit much since Oie never really puts us in the shoes of a protagonist. Thoughout, one is often riveted more by the breathtaking Norwegian woods and waterfalls, instead of crawling under our seats. Narratively, Kristoffer continued on page 16

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Page 11

| reviews

‘Les beaux gosses’ By Duane Byrge

he John Hughes-style teen comedy has been revived in France. A smart and raunchy glimpse into the turbulent world of 14-yearolds, “Les beaux gosses” could be a popular play at film festivals. It met with appreciative laughter at its Directors’ Fortnight screening. In this midschool romp, Vincent LaCoste stars as Herve, an astoundingly average French kid whose middling looks, mid-range intelligence and modest means don’t distinguish him at all. Lacking the teenage allure of the bad boys and the brute savoir faire of the alpha males, Herve has little luck with girls.

T

> DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT BOTTOM LINE A hilarious spin through contemporary French adolescence. PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Les Films des Tournelles, Pathe Studio 37 with the participation of Canal + CAST: Vincent Lacoste, Anthony Sonigo, Alice Termolieres, Noemie Lvovsky, Emmanuelle Devos, Irene Jacob, Valeria Golino. DIRECTOR: Riad Sattouf. SCREENWRITER: Riad Sattouf, Marc Syrigas. PRODUCER: Anne-Dominique Toussaint. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Dominique Colin. COSTUME DESIGNER: Melanie Gautier. EDITOR: Virginie Bruant. No rating, 90 minutes.

Los Angeles 323.525.2000

Herve, however, is not without luck when one of the more attractive girls in the class develops a predatory crush on him. This confounds Herve as much as it stimulates him. Regarded by his peers as a mismatch, it naturally sets off all sorts of reverberating rumors and hostile jealousy. With a kind but shrewd insight into adolescent behavior, filmmaker Riad Sartouf has ripped out a rowdy but sympathetic depiction of teenage woes. Herve, like his classmates, is charged up with hormones: Like most 14-yearold males, he’s hard-on and hard-up. Milking the kids’ highly charged sexual states with their clumsy social skills, filmmaker Sattouf has knocked out a farcical but realistic depiction of young teenagers. Like Hughes’ movies, “Les beaux gosses” is often funniest when mocking teenage authority figures. The teachers and parents are truly a peculiar lot in Herve’s world, particularly a depressive mother who regularly teases him about masturbation. Sartouff scathes teen behavior as well, including the thoughtless cruelty and dunderheaded conduct that characterizes that age group. Overall, “Les beaux gosses” is funny because it rings true, in any language. ∂

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| reviews

‘Tsar’ By Deborah Young

oth spectacular and pious, “Tsar” positions itself between Sergei Eisenstein’s “Ivan the Terrible” and Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublev,” though without their originality and inspiration. Still, this new Russian film is a rich-looking historical epic set in 16th-century Moscow, then little more than a fortified village, where the forces of good and evil square off in an epic struggle between the spiritual monk Filipp and his childhood friend Ivan. Director Pavel Lungin is on the same mystical-religious page as his 2006 “The Island,” though the current film should have more commercial muscle given its infamous subject and high production values, which give a gloss even to the grisly torture scenes. The opening titles quickly fill viewers in with basic background info: Ivan, tsar of all Russia, is reigning with terror, surrounded by his personal guards called the Tsars’ Dogs. Their symbol is a severed dog’s head tied to their saddles, and that’s one of the better things that can be said about them. The whole country is in a bloody war with Poland when the bishop Filipp (Oleg Yankovski) arrives in town. His path crosses Ivan’s (Pyotr Mamonov) on a narrow bridge, and the tsar takes it as a sign that Filipp is meant to become the new Metropolitan of Moscow, head of the Orthodox church. The noble-minded Filipp

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ipp warns the generals not to return to Moscow, but they are found out, and he is forced to watch while they are eaten by the tsar’s pet grizzly bear. The film is divided into chapters, and the final scenes plunge into mysticism and miracles, as Filipp loses favor with the tsar and is imprisoned. The ending is suitably spectacular. In the role immortalized for Eisenstein by Nikolai Cherkasov, Mamonov (who played the leading role in “The Island”) offers an almost realistic portrayal of the mad tsar obsessed with God, who breaks every commandment in the book and is haunted by the ghosts of his victims. Yankovski has the weighty authority to stare him down, though his fearlessness — like that of his loyal monks, who choose death to be close to him — is iconic, not human. Lungin’s confident direction

> UN CERTAIN REGARD BOTTOM LINE A spectacular Russian retelling of the Ivan the Terrible story. PRODUCTION COMPANY: ProfitCinema, SPL Film. SALES AGENT: Rezo Films, Paris CAST: Pyotr Mamonov, Oleg Yankovski, Anastasiya Dontsova, Yuri Kuzetsov. DIRECTOR: Pavel Lungin. SCREENWRITERS: Alexei Ivanov, Pavel Lungin. PRODUCERS: Pavel Lungin, Olga Vasilieva.DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Tom Stern. PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Sergei Ivanov. MUSIC: Yuri Krassazin. COSTUMES: Natalia Dzudenko, Yekaterina Dyminskaya. EDITOR: Albina Antipenko. No rating, 114 minutes.

reluctantly accepts investiture, but his hopes to soften the mad Tsar’s cruelty prove vain. When the Russian army loses an important city to the Poles, Ivan orders the generals impaled and their horses cut into pieces. Fil-

is capable of keeping audiences interested in hackneyed genre elements, like the little blond girl who becomes the symbol of purity, or Filipp’s nephew who dies under torture rather than betray him. There also is a mad jester and beautiful, sadistic Tsarina (Anastasiya Dontsova) to outdo the cruelty of the Tsar’s Dogs and his chief torturer (Yuri Kuzetsov). Tom Stern’s cinematography, majestic in the outdoor scenes of the Russian countryside, timidly imitates the extreme camera angles and disquieting, stylized architecture of Eisenstein’s two “Ivan the Terrible” classics released in 1944 and 1958. Sergei Ivanov’s striking production design, paired with the gorgeous costumes designed by Natalia Dzudenko and Yekaterina Dyminskaya and Yuri Krassazin’s epic score, give the film a stamp of great quality. ∂

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>>> festival

screenings Competition films in black; titles in bold

THR.com/cannes Tuesday, May 19, 2009 “Broken Embraces”

>TODAY 8:30 Broken Embraces, Spain, Competition, 129 mins, Grand Theatre Lumiere; Seeds of the Fall, Sweden, 18 mins, Bad Day to Go Fishing, Uruguay-Spain, 100 mins, Critics Week, Salle Bunuel 9:00 La Pivellina, Austria, Directors’ Fortnight, 100 mins, Palais Stephanie 11:00 Tales From the Golden Age, Romania, Un Certain Regard, 138 mins, Salle Debussy; Dogtooth, Greece, Un Certain Regard, 98 mins, Salle Bazin; Tulum, Croatia, 15 mins, Whisper With the Wind, Iraq, 77 mins, Critics Week, Espace Miramar 11:15 Amreeka, U.S.-CanadaKuwait, Directors’ Fortnight, 92 mins, Palais Stephanie 11:30 Polytechnique, Canada, Directors’ Fortnight, 76 mins, Cinema les Arcades Salle 1 11:45 Looking for Eric, U.K.-France-Belgium-Italy, Competition, 116 mins, Salle du Soixantieme 12:00 Vincere, Italy-France, Competition, 128 mins, Grand Theatre Lumiere 13:30 Irene, France, Un Certain Regard, 85 mins, Salle Bazin

14:15 Antichrist, DenmarkSweden-France-Italy, Competition, 104 mins, Salle du Soixantieme 14:30 Lecon de cinema, Belgium, Specials, 105 mins, Salle Bunuel 15:00 Broken Embraces, Spain, Competition, 129 mins, Grand Theatre Lumiere; Festival Morelia Short Films, Mexico, 151 mins, Critics Week, Espace Miramar 15:30 Independencia, Philippenes-France-Germany, Un Certain Regard, 77 mins, Salle Bazin 16:00 C’est gratuit pour les filles, France, 23 mins, Adieu Gary, France, 75 mins, Critics Week, Studio 13

92 mins, Palais Stephanie

16:30 Tales From the Golden Age, Romania, Un Certain Regard, 138 mins, Salle Debussy

19:30 Broken Embraces, Spain, Competition, 129 mins, Grand Theatre Lumiere; Les beaux gosses, France, Directors’ Fortnight, 90 mins, Studio 13

17:00 La Pivellina, Austria, Directors’ Fortnight, 100 mins, Palais Stephanie

19:45 H-G Clouzot’s Inferno, France, Cannes Classics, 94 mins, Salle du Soixantieme

17:30 Tulum, Croatia, 15 mins, Whisper With the Wind, Iraq, 77 mins, Critics Week, Espace Miramar

20:15 Manila, Philippenes, Specials, 90 mins, Salle Bunuel 20:30 Total Balalaika Show, Cinema de la Plage, 57 mins, Plage Mace

19:00 Amreeka, U.S.-CanadaKuwait, Directors’ Fortnight,

22:00 Tomorrow at Dawn, France Un Certain Regard, 100 mins, Salle Debussy; I Love You Phillip Morris, U.S., Directors’ Fortnight, 96 mins, Palais Stephanie; J’ai tue ma mere, Canada, Directors’ Fortnight, 100 mins, Studio 13 22:30 Vincere, Italy-France, Competition, 128 mins, Grand Theatre Lumiere; Eastern Plays, Bulgaria Directors’ Fortnight, 73 mins, Cinema les Arcades Salle 1; Tulum, Croatia, 15 mins, Whisper With the Wind, Iraq, 77 mins, Critics Week, Espace Miramar

M PR AR EM K E IE T RE

14:00 Tomorrow at Dawn, France, Un Certain Regard, 100 mins, Salle Debussy; I Love You Phillip Morris, U.S., Directors’ Fortnight, 96 mins,

Palais Stephanie; Seeds of the Fall, Sweden, 18 mins, Bad Day to Go Fishing, UruguaySpain, 100 mins, Critics Week, Theatre La Licorne

SCREENING: Wednesday the 20th of May at Palais K, 10:00 nonstopsales.com

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screenings

>TODAY 8:30 Bad Day to Go Fishing, Spain, 110 mins, Bavaria Film International, Bunuel; Broken Embraces, Spain, Competition, 129 mins, Focus Features International, Grand Theatre Lumiere 9:00 La Pivellina, Italy, 100 mins, Films Distribution, Palais Stephanie; Go Get Some Rosemary, U.S., 100 mins, Films Boutique, Arcades 3 9:15 A Good Husband, Japan, 128 mins, Toei, Palais B 9:30 Prima Primavera, Hungary, 90 mins, Eastwest Filmdistribution GmBH, Riviera 2; Safari, France, Pathe International, Arcades 1; Kaifeck Murder, Germany, 86 mins, Bavaria Film International, Riviera 4; Clive Barker’s Dread, U.K., 108 mins, Essential Entertainment, Star 4; The Postman Does Not Ring the Door Bell 3 Times, Iran, 90 mins, Documentary and Experimental Film Center, Palais D; Taking Chances, U.S., 100 mins, Lightning Entertainment, Gray 4; Royal Road of Cachaca, Brazil, 98 mins, Cinema Do Brasil, Palais F; Conflict Zone, Georgia, 82 mins, Intercinema, Gray 2; Broken Hill, Australia, 97 mins, Porchlight Entertainment, Palais J

M PR AR EM K E IE T RE

9:45 Looking for Eric, U.K., Competition, 117 mins, Wild Bunch, Star 1; Ajami, Germany, 120 mins, the Match Factory, Olympia 4

10:00 Wide Blue Yonder, U.K., 90 mins, Parkland Pictures, Gray 3; Antichrist, Denmark, Competition, 100 mins, TrustNordisk, Olympia 1; March, Austria, 84 mins, Austrian Film Commission, Palais C; City Island, U.S., 100 mins, Westend Films, Olympia 6; Battle for Terra-3D, U.S., 100 mins, IM Global, Palais K “Bory”; Fidel’s Last Dance, U.S., 94 mins, Elephant Eye Films, Gray 1; Number One, Morocco, 86 mins, Cinexport, Palais E; Samson & Delilah, Australia, 101 mins, Elle Driver, Olympia 5; Wallace Line, Germany, 84 mins, Wide Management Enterprise, Palais G; Paper Castles, Spain, 90 mins, Latido, Riviera 3; The Case of Unfaithful Klara, Italy, 89 mins, Intramovies, Olympia 3; The Other Bank, Georgia, 90 mins, Intercinema, Riviera 1; Sell Out!, Malaysia, 107 mins, Celestial Pictures, Palais I; Nauru, France, 90 mins, Films Distribution, Lerins 2; Dogtooth, Greece, 96 mins, MK2 S.A., Arcades 2; Plastic Planet, Austria, 90 mins, Doc & Film International, Lerins 1

Spell, U.K., 84 mins, Carey Films, Palais J; April Showers, U.S., 90 mins, Tricoast Worldwide, Palais B; At Any Second, Germany, 99 mins, Bavaria Film International, Riviera 4; Dirty Money, Switzerland, 107 mins, Wide Management Enterprise, Palais D; The French Kissers, France, 83 mins, Other Angle Pictures, Star 4; One For the Road, France, 106 mins, StudioCanal, Riviera 2; The Horseman, Australia, Media 8 Entertainment, Gray 4; The Ride Along, U.S., Short Film Corner, Palais E; Romanian Short Waves, Romania, Short Film Corner 2009, Palais F; Polytechnique, Canada, 76 mins, Wild Bunch, Arcades 1; The Deserter, Canada, 107 mins, TVA Films, Palais H

11:45 Looking for Eric, U.K., Competition, 117 mins, Wild Bunch, Salle Du 60eme 12:00 Black Water Transit, U.S., 95 mins, Capitol Films, Gray 1; Closed for Winter, Australia, 85 mins, Goalpost Film, Olympia 4; Zion and His Brother, Israel, 90 mins, MK2 S.A., Arcades 2; The Wedding Song, France, Pyramide International, Riviera 3; Precious, U.S., 104 mins, Elephant Eye Films, Olympia 5; Nativity, U.K., 98 mins, Protagonist Pictures, Gray 3; East West East: The Final Sprint, Italy, 100 mins, High Point Media Group, Palais G; Will Not Stop There, Croatia, 112 mins, Intramovies, Palais C; The Eagle Hunter’s Son, Sweden, 90 mins, Bavaria Film

11:00 Whisper With the Wind, Iraq, 77 mins, Dreamlab, Miramar; Tales From the Golden Age, Romania, 122 mins, Wild Bunch, Debussy; Dogtooth, Greece, 96 mins, MK2 S.A., Bazin 11:15 Amreeka, Canada, 96 mins, E1 Entertainment International, Palais Stephanie 11:30 Invisible Eyes, U.K., 107 mins, Hide Films, Gray 2; The

THR.com/cannes Tuesday, May 19, 2009

International, Riviera 1; Jaffa, Israel, 145 mins, Rezo, Star 1; Made in Hungaria, Hungary, 109 mins, Hungaricom, Lerins 1; Reykjavik Rotterdam, Iceland, 88 mins, Icelandic Film Centre, Palais I; Mizak, Iran, 97 mins, Farabi Cinema Foundation, Palais E; Vincere, Italy, Competition, 128 mins, Celluloid Dreams, Grand Theatre Lumiere; The Combination, Australia, 90 mins, Park Entertainment, Palais K “Bory”; American Violet, U.S., 103 mins, Cinema Management Group, Lerins 2; Faceboom, Italy, 115 mins, Adriana Chiesa Enterprises, Olympia 6; Daniel & Ana, Mexico, 90 mins, Fortissimo Films, Olympia 3

13:30 Colin, U.K., 97 mins, Left, Gray 4; Black Dynamite, U.S., 83 mins, T&C Pictures International, Gray 2; Newsmakers, Russia, 107 mins, Cinemavault, Star 4; Tricheuse, France, 95 mins, Colifilms Diffusion, Palais H; Albakiara, Italy, 93 mins, Wide Management Enterprise, Palais D; Super Star, Iran, 105 mins, Farabi Cinema Foundation, Palais B; Eastern Plays, Bulgaria, 83 mins, Memento Films International, Riviera 2; Rivals, Spain, 110 mins, RTVE, Palais J; Metastases, Croatia, 85 mins, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Palais F; Irene, France, 85 mins, Pyramide International, Bazin; Hidden, Norway, Nonstop Sales AB, Star 3 14:00 Moon, U.K., 97 mins, Independent, Olympia 4; I Love You Phillip Morris, U.S., 102 mins, Europacorp, Palais

LONG FLAT BALLS Starring Don Johnson For more information about Long Flat Balls 2 and other NonStop Sales films please visit us at the Scandinavian Terrace, 55, La Croisette

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The Hollywood Reporter | Tuesday, May 19, 2009

| reviews

‘Hidden’ continued from page 10

‘The Father of My Children’ > Un Certain Regard THE BOTTOM LINE: A modest drama about a suicide and its aftermath that never quite moves an audience as it should. By Kirk Honeycutt

n “The Father of My Children,” writer-director Mia HansenLove only partially succeeds in her attempt to dramatically assess the life of a man who commits suicide. She situates this act at the film’s midpoint so as to make the case that this death — or rather, the manner of this death — doesn’t tell the whole story about a life that was fully lived or the lives of his survivors. This is a special film even within its native France. Most international play dates outside of Europe will occur at festivals. A charismatic producer the filmmaker met while working on her first film, who later killed himself, inspires Hansen-Love’s

I

story. So naturally, she displays empathy toward this character, a warm and charming man who will nevertheless experiences a crushing sense of failure. Gregoire (a beguiling LouisDo de Lencquesaing) has backed many important films and filmmakers in his career as a producer, but he is now at wit’s end. He rushes from this meeting to that, a mobile phone in constant use, as he tries to keep too many risky projects afloat. Even so, he doesn’t totally neglect his Italian wife (Chiara Caselli) or three wonderful daughters. He is careful to spend what we Americans call “quality time” with each daughter and takes everyone on holiday to Italy even as his business is falling apart. The film undergoes an abrupt change in point of view when Gregoire shoots himself. Initially, the wife assumes center stage as she gamely tries to save her husband’s company and to com-

plete his projects. Then the story shifts to the eldest daughter (Alice de Lencquesaing), who is shocked to learn she has a half-brother she knew nothing about, then forms an attraction to a young filmmaker that suggests she is her father’s daughter. At fade-out, one has too many questions though. Why did Gregoire never play his so-called trump card of borrowing money from his wealthy family? What papers did he burn moments before reaching for a gun? Why was his son kept a secret? You realize how little you actually know any of these characters. In the end, an audience has far too much knowledge Full list of cast about Gregoire’s and credits movie projects and finances and far too little about what makes anyone here tick. ∂

Jones stars as Kai Koss, a brooding young man who has returned to his rural home on account of his mother’s death. Koss is aloof, enigmatic and downright scary to the locals: He disappeared nearly 20 years ago when, as a child, he witnessed a shocking, fiery car accident. That inferno and his truncated memory of the event which included another young boy, traumatized him. He took off and left. Since then, Koss has succeeded in the outer world, but his physical return to the site of his dementia, coupled with memories of his cruel, sadistic mother, thrusts him into a fervor and, worse, he fears he is being stalked by a killer. Although the narrative itself never completely jells,filmmaker Oie truly excels at cinematic grammar: the compositions, the rhythms and the tone are perfectly pitched for horror. His foreplay technique with the audience is savvy — false frights, offscreen dangers, weird minor characters — but the unfolding plot is so cryptic that we don’t know who to fear.Ultimately,the frights are numbing and expected,and the tension never really mounts. — Duane Byrge

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3:15 PM

Page 17

| review


 
  






 
 
  

to flee the unhappy realities of his life. His second wife split seven years earlier and his two continued from page 1 stepsons, Ryan (Gerard Kearns) and Jess (Stefan Gumbs), ride With Man U having just won roughshod over him at home. the English Premier League His mates at work, led by title once again and heading to portly Meatballs (John Henthe Champions League final in shaw), do their best to cheer Rome on May 27, the film’s him up, and there’s a hilarious football connection could not sequence in which they go one be more advantageous. If only at a time to try to make him the club’s millions of supportlaugh, but it doesn’t help. ers around the world go to see Retreating to his own room, it, and they will all want to, the which is full of Man U memomovie will be a hit. rabilia and pictures, including But “Looking for Eric” should a life-sized poster of Cantona, connect with moviegoers who to whom he confides his worenjoy clever comic writing with ries, Eric is startled to discover the genuine article has shown up to listen. More than that, the iconic star, who was known for quoting obscure sayings, has brought a bunch of his favorite aphorisms and proverbs to help Eric Football fan Eric, left, gets some life advice clean up his life and from his hero. find some happiness. This involves setting his kids straight and trying to a touch of fantasy plus fans of make amends with his first any sport that has legendary love, Lily (Stephanie Bishop), heroes. It looks set to be Loach’s whom he abandoned with their biggest mainstream hit. baby decades earlier. The footballer materializes There’s a moment in the in the home of a sad-sack picture when a shift from high postal worker also named Eric, comedy to grim reality, caused played with great energy and by Ryan’s involvement with a flair by Steve Evets, whose latlocal hoodlum, is a bit abrupt est panic attack leads to him and some may find the themes repeatedly driving the wrong incompatible, but it wouldn’t way round a roundabout until be a Loach film without some the inevitable crash. of that. With Lafferty’s help, He escapes unhurt and no he manages to achieve a balone else is harmed but Eric is ance. In the end, with Canchastened by his latest attempt tona’s wisdom and the help of his pals from the post office, > IN COMPETITION Eric finds the courage and wit to win the day in a hugely BOTTOM LINE Great jokes and entertaining final sequence. fine comic performances in a Very funny and a bit sentireal crowd-pleaser from Ken mental, it’s naturalistic comeLoach. SALES: Wild Bunch. dy of the highest order, with PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Cantos Evets and Henshaw standouts Bros. Prods., Sixteen Films, Why Not among a terrific cast. Cantona Prods., Wild Bunch. too shows great comic timing CAST: Steve Evets, Eric Cantona, John and is both imposing and selfHenshaw, Stephanie Bishop, Lucy-Jo effacing, playing off his repuHudson, Gerard Kearns, Stefan Gumbs. tation for being a proud and DIRECTOR: Ken Loach. SCREENtemperamental man. WRITER: Paul Laverty. PRODUCER: Not only Man U supporters Rebecca O’Brien. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Eric Cantona, Pascal will enjoy the splendid clips Caucheteux, Vincent Maraval. showing some of his classic DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Barry passes and goals, and his diaAckroyd. PRODUCTION DESIGNER: logue is a constant delight. Fergus Clegg. MUSIC: George Fenton. “Sometimes we forget you’re COSTUME DESIGNER: Sarah Ryan. just a man,” Eric tells him. EDITOR: Jonathan Morris. Comes the reply: “I am not a No rating, 116 minutes man. I am Cantona!” ∂

‘Eric’

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 10.45 - 11.45 Development partners are key to helping you realise your project at production stage and Scotland’s Sigma Films has worked in close collaboration with a number of partners to help get their projects off the ground. Hear how you can use creative partnerships to help tap into the best up and coming talent, develop award-winning projects with international appeal, attract co-development partners and finance, and secure investment for the future.

  






   

12.00 - 13.00

Short film production is booming but how do you get your work taken seriously, exposed to the right people and build a career from short film beginnings? International distributors, festival programmers and dedicated online short film platform operators explore traditional and newer opportunities available for filmmakers serious about reaching an audience.


 





13.30 - 14.30

What happens when Eric Cantona approaches you with his feature film idea? Rebecca O’Brien and Grégoire Sorlat, producers of the latest Ken Loach film Looking for Eric, talk to Dave Calhoun about how the film was financed, developed and finally brought to the big screen.

  

  

15.00 - 16.00

In the current economic climate, producers have to ‘think outside the box’ to finance features. This session is designed to give the filmmaker guidelines and examples of micro-budget film financing options from experts in the field and producers who have recently completed low budget films.

 
 

16.30 - 17.30

First impressions are everything. Executives from funding bodies discuss the importance of presentation and project packaging when seeking financing, revealing their top tips for a successful pitch and giving you the opportunity to pitch your projects to them.

 


  


  


 

11.00 - 12.00 
  14.00 - 15.00 Information available on:

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Page 18

party line

THR.com/cannes Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ratings Range: 0-5 martinis

‘Middle Men’ @ Chacha Beach Club hese aren’t the type of “Middle Men” you want to cut out. Ahead of Cannes, there T was much talk of the Chacha Beach being

4 martinis

this year’s hot destination. That had perhaps as much to do with it being one of the few fresh venue operators for this year's cash-strapped party circuit as much as anything else. But the venue is certainly proving to be a formidable place with ambience, dancing and drinks all flowing across the sizeable space. Good, well-organized and, yes, friendly door people and an absence of pushy security thugs all gave the party an air of cool nonchalance.

> Attendees: Cast members Giovanni Ribisi, Kevin Pollak and Laura Ramsey could be spotted alongside producer Jason Shuman and the film’s helmer, George Gallo.

Enjoying the opulent food at Morgan Creeks’ Moulin de Mougin brunch, from left, Technicolor’s Andrew Goldstein and Salem Partners’ Stephen Prough and James Mullamy.

Morgan Creek Brunch

>Cuisine: All the chat about cutbacks and scrimping on parties didn’t reach the ears of the organizers of this beachside soiree. Finger food delicacies spread across several white cloaked trestle tables — complete with a seared foie gras station — let attendees pick and choose their faves, while the well-situated bar provided a place to make short work of a thirst.

@ Moulin de Mougin

4 martinis Cannes tradition, the annual brunch at the comfortably inviting Moulin de Mougin is like a sunny morning restorative after several days bunkered in the Marche, rushing to the red carpet, or ping-ponging from afterparty to afterparty. James Robinson, as usual, played the genial host, as he welcomed guests to the Morgan Creek International event spread out across the restaruant’s shady patios where bankers, international distributors and assorted film folk happily gathered for an upscale nosh.

A

>Highlights/lowlights: It was a return to old Cannes party values, with the VIP area barely used as wannabes and party people mixed freely with the glitteratti at the party. But without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight of the evening had to be the decision by party organizers to re-open the bar after it temporarily shut down because the shindig was meant to end at 1 p.m. It was still rocking an hour and a half later. That meant the only lowlight was the brief gloom that descended for the 10 minutes between shutting down and re-opening.

> Attendees: The Robinson brothers, David and Brian, circulated while bankers like Salem Partners’ Jim Mullany and Aramid’s Premila Hoon mingled with such distributors as GAGA America CEO Kiyoshi Watanabe, Gulf Film’s Salim Ramia, Nordisk Film CEO Allan Hansen and Svensk Filmindustri’s Rasmus Ramstad. Morgan Creek’s new co-chairman/COO Rick Nicita chatted with Jim Sheridan, who’s directing the company’s upcoming thiller “Dream House,” as well as producers Paula Wagner and Irwin Winkler. Pinema’s Parmir Demirtas brought along Abdurrahman Celik, director general of Turkey’s Minstry of Culture and Tourism, and Engin Yigitgil, president of the board of trustees of the Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audivisual Culture. Having slept in, Antoine Fuqua, who’ll direct the crime film “Scarpa,” arrived just in the nick of time to savor the fare.

— Stuart Kemp

Anvil Party 3 guitars t was dark, hot and sweaty. And that was just the venue. Cult Canuck rock Iband Anvil served up an irony-free dose of hair metal at Sunday night’s pub bash to celebrate the Works’ market debut of Sundance smash doc “Anvil! The Story of Anvil.” The antithesis of Cannes’ snobby, champagne-fluted beach fetes, the private concert featured enough head banging, devil-horn waving and mile-a-minute guitar solos to put a smile on even the most cynical market slave. So drop those canapés, dude, and turn it up to 11.

> Attendees: Tilda Swinton outed herself as an Anvil fan, posing with band members Robb Reiner, Glenn Five and Steve “Lips” Kudlow.

>Highlights/lowlights: A relaxed, laidback setting — a relief after the crowded Croisette — made for a break from the nonstop jostle of the festival./The only downside was that the morning idyll only lasts a few hours — and then it’s back to town to plunge once again into the grind.

>Cuisine: Come on! Are you here to eat or are you here to rock? >Highlights/lowlights: The endless Anvil encores including a tribute to Godzilla nemesis Mothra that would have made Spinal Tap proud. Like a misspent youth, the party was over far too quickly.

— Gregg Kilday

— Scott Roxborough

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MORGAN CREEK AND MIDDLE MEN PHOTO: MICHAEL BUCKNER/GETTY IMAGES

@ Morrison’s Pub

>Cuisine: Breakfast doesn’t get much better: Juices from orange to celery, bacon, sausage, assorted salmons and cheeses, made-to-order omelettes, fruit tarts for desert. And lots of bracingly dark coffee to wash it down.

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Producer Jason Shuman and composer Brian Tyler

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Notebook continued from page 6 the undoubted pleasure the director takes in rubbing your face in this attack. Mendoza’s social protest against police corruption is simply a cover for a pornographic indulgence in misogynistic violence. The strongest Competition works so far are Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank” and Audiard’s “Prophet.” In her second trip to Cannes following the considerable “Red Road” in 2006, the British director achieves a terrific central performance from newcomer Katie Jarvis as a disaffected 15-year-old and a naturalistic style that ideally suits her look at a tough urban environment. The film suffers, though, from predictability. Audiard’s film is a lengthy yet fascinating portrayal of a sixyear prison sentence that turns into an education in crime for an Arab youth, an education that sees him emerge from a French prison a crime boss. The film is a straightforward genre piece, brilliantly made in all aspects — from the terrific acting (especially by newcomer Tahar CANNES VIDEO

Mystery of violence Kirk Honeycutt and senior film reporter Steven Zeitchik discuss the violent thread running through much of this year’s lineup.

Von Trier on hot seat? THR’s Steven Zeitchik talks about the backlash and what it means for buyers.

A minute with “Antichrist” Peter Brunette gives his quick thoughts right after last night’s press screening.

> For video festival reviews and news on Festival de Cannes, go to THR.com/cannes

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| news Rahim) to the sense of claustrophobia induced by the shooting and editing. What’s been lacking in the Competition to this point is innovation. Jane Campion’s “Bright Star” works fine as a Merchant Ivory production, a wellupholstered period piece brimming with poetic recitations. But this is the woman who gave us “The Piano,” a much more challenging period piece with its haunting themes of sexual desire and restraint. Ang Lee too presented an entertaining film in “Taking Woodstock.” But the man who made “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Brokeback Mountain” and “Lust, Caution” clearly took a holiday with this one. The characters are stereotypical and the investigation of the late 1960s counterculture too superficial to stay in the mind much longer than it takes to descend the red carpet. Park’s “Thirst” provoked mixed reactions, but the view from here is that camp overwhelmed whatever serious themes he hoped to develop concerning the eroticism of violence. And its lengthy running time certainly drained whatever enthusiasm one has for vampires. Lou’s “Spring Fever” looked to shock, but gay sex scenes aren’t the way to go anymore. For that matter, the ones here are far too tame compared with other Asian homo-erotica. And the ease with which male characters slide back and forth across the gay/straight divide is close to risible given that the Chinese director does nothing to lay the psychological groundwork for these ambiguous attractions. As sometimes happens, Un Certain Regard has some of the innovation the main Competition lacks. Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s “Nobody Knows About Persian Cats” explores the underground music scene in Tehran within the framework of an often comical but ultimately tragic story about two musicians, and Corneliu Porumboiu’s “Police, Adjective” from Romania is a comic meditation, somewhat reminiscent of, yes, Samuel Beckett. It might be the most surprising film so far at the festival. ∂

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Hot Seat

Lars von Trier, center, with his stars, Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg

continued from page 1 shouting match between Daily Mail columnist Baz Bamigboye and other members of the press corps, with Bamigboye demanding von Trier “explain and justify” the explicit sexual gore in his film and another journalist in the audience yelling: “He’s an artist, you’re not. He doesn’t have to explain anything!” Von Trier didn’t. On questions both abusive and toadying, the Dane maintained his autistic savant persona, deliberately avoiding any explanation of “Antichrist” and alternatively mocking or dismissing his interrogators. “I don’t have to explain anything. You are all my guests here, not the other way round,” he said. “Anyway, I don’t think about the audience when I make a film. I don’t care. I make films for myself.” Von Trier did defend his use of nausea-inducing imagery — including a bloody masturbation scene and a leg-drilling sequence that could have been cribbed from the “Saw” franchise — as artistic “honesty,” saying that to leave out the shockers would have been “like lying.” He also insisted he wasn’t

China continued from page 1 “We are pleased to have found our Chinese partner in Wuxi, who is backed by full government support. It is the first time Chinese and other investors have joined forces on a motion picture fund of this magnitude,” Omega’s Markus Barmettler said. TPF, Omega and Warner Brothers are in final negotiations on the fund’s first picture. “We are working closely with T8 and Wuxi studios and expect to participate in TPF’s and Omega’s significant flow of upcoming productions in addition to taking some of our own,” Warners’ domestic distribution president Dan Fellman said. “There is a real void in the marketplace and the studios are anxious to do business with strong suppliers. The Chinese film industry is experiencing Los Angeles 323.525.2000

playing a joke on the audience but meant everything — from the film’s talking fox to a closing dedication to Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, which drew howls of laughter at the previous night’s press screening — to be taken seriously. As always, von Trier tried to have it both ways, joking that it was “a bit of a pity” one can’t actually kill people on screen

“I don’t have to explain anything. You are all my guests here,not the other way round. Anyway,I don’t think about the audience when I make a film.I don’t care.I make films for myself.” —Lars von Trier

tremendous growth, with 375 new screens each year and China’s middle class frequenting theaters more now than ever. We see significant potential in bridging this emergent market with Hollywood,” said Justin Ackerman, who, alongside Barmettler and Sophie Xu, is a co-managing director and fund promoter of TPF. Omega will handle international sales on the fund’s first slate, which will be announced

“There is a real void in the marketplace and the studios are anxious to do business with strong suppliers.The Chinese film industry is experiencing tremendous growth,with 375 new screens each year and China’s middle class frequenting theaters more now than ever.” —TPF’s Justin Ackerman

and putting the blame for the most extreme scenes on lead actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.

“Charlotte took it too far. I tried to, but I just couldn’t stop her,” he quipped. ∂

before November’s American Film Market;Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong is providing contract factoring and a debt facility for the fund. The new cash for Chinese film comes at a time when both private equity cash and public funding in Europe and the U.S. are shrinking. Governments across Europe and the European Union itself are beginning to slash soft money pools and further tighten film financing through tax schemes. The EU’s Media International, an overseas companion to the long-running MEDIA Programme, is, for example, being slimmed down. Paul Trijbits, producer of Cannes Competition title “Fish Tank” and a former New Cinema Fund chief at the U.K. Film Council, predicts that public funding in Europe will shrink by 30% over the next two or three years.The U.K. government is diverting vast sums of lottery coin to the Lon-

don Olympics 2012. Most Asian economies have not been exempted from the global rout — though their governments, banks and consumers are significantly less indebted than those in the West — but the region’s film industry is being offered an ever-wider array of financing options by private and government sources. Last week, Singapore unveiled a support scheme specifically open to international films while the Hong Kong industry is now delivering the first movies backed by the Film Development Fund, the first-ever public money from the territory’s normally laissezfaire government. Private sector funds operating from Asia now include the IDG China Media Fund, Global Entertainment Group, Irresistible Films and India’s Vistaar Religare Film Fund. Steve Zeitchik and Stuart Kemp contributed to this report.

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REVIEW IN BRIEF

‘Invisible Eyes’ > Market BOTTOM LINE: Good-looking mystery yarn that goes for more than thrills.

livier Cohen’s intelligent mystery “Invisible Eyes” has all the conventions of a thriller about a woman alone in a house but confounds expectations by moving pleasingly into “Twilight Zone” territory. The offbeat story, which stars German catwalk veteran Pia Mechler as an over-thehill supermodel who starts to believe the walls have eyes, also has echoes of the themes explored by Charlie Kaufman in “Adaptation,” with a puzzle about who’s really writing the script. Marketed smartly, the handsomely made film could go beyond its obvious youth audience to draw in fans of classic film and television mysteries. It also features a late Peter Cushing-like appearance by the fine English stage actor Michael Mears as a key instrument in the plot. The setup is simple. Gaby (Mechler) arrives at a large, remote English country home to spend time watching DVDs and reading scripts in order to move on from being a top model. Her manager/lover Dan (Simon Merrells) enthuses about her future but his manner suggests his words are artificial as he departs to the city. Gaby soon claims to sense another's presence in the empty house and begins to fantasize about her first lover,a young man who died in a motorcycle accident.Visibly unsettled,she starts hearing odd noises and receiving weird notes.Answering her pleas for help,Dan suspects she's losing her mind,not least because the notes are in her handwriting. The French director establishes an unsettling tone that tickles the imagination in the mood of that wonderful word eldritch, but along with the requisite shocks, he delivers a smart and intriguing payoff.

O

— Ray Bennett

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‘The Army of Crime’ By Peter Brunette

> OUT OF COMPETITION ust when you might begin to think that there is absolutely, positively nothing more to be said about the Holocaust, along comes the formidable Marseille filmmaker Robert Guédiguian with “The Army of Crime” to wring one more excellent variation out of that overly familiar, if always powerful, theme. His subject is the real-life “army” of foreigners (nonFrench Jews, communists, veterans of the Republican forces fighting against Franco in Spain, anti-fascist Italians, and so on) who mounted an ongoing, organized, and effective resistance against the Nazi occupation in Paris. Though it drags here and there and is a bit flat in places, the film is solidly made and for the most part quite involving. It should do well in theatrical release in territories around the world, and even better in ancillary venues, especially television and DVD, given the huge, never-satiated worldwide audience for films about World War II. Festival programmers should also give a close look to this film, which performs admirable educational duty by dramatizing for the first time a largely untold story. The only well-known actor in the cast is Virginie Ledoyen, who plays the devoted wife of the informal leader of the group, the Armenian poet and worker Missak Manouchian (brought to convincing life by Simon Abkari-

J

BOTTOM LINE Solid Holocaust story based on real events finds something new to say on an overly familiar theme. SALES: Studio Canal PRODUCTION COMPANIES: Agat Films, Studiocanal, France 3 Cinéma CAST: Virginie Ledoyen,Simon Abkarian, Robinson Stévenin,Grégoire LeprinceRinguet,Lola Naymark,Yann Tregouët, Ariane Ascaride,Jean-Pierre arroussin.DIRECTOR: Robert Guédiguian. Screenwriter: Robert Guédiguian,Serge Le Péron,Gilles Taurand. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Pierre Milon.PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Michel Vandestien. MUSIC: Alexandre Desplat.COSTUME DESIGNER: Juliette Chanaud .EDITOR: Bernard Sasia.No rating,139 minutes.

an). The standout performance, however, is that of Robinson Stévenin, who plays, with startling intensity, Marcel Rayman, a Polish Jew who loves killing German officers up close, after bumming a light for his cigarette. There is very little in the way of Hollywood-style dramatic build-up here, and the film’s power comes largely from the underplayed, super-fast bombings and assassinations that regularly punctuate the narrative. Since these are also real people, there is a large, convincing space left to pesky domestic concerns that of course always occupy a large part of everyone's time, even when there’s a war going on. Guédiguian has taken great pains to make each character

highly individualized and completely convincing. What's also missing here — and happily so — is the star power and oversized scale of most Holocaust films (the most recent example being Tom Cruise in “Valkyrie”). Obviously working on a very limited budget, Guédiguian keeps his camera focused on interiors, street corners, and nondescript alleyways, to the extent that one barely realizes that one is in Paris. But this too paradoxically adds to the novelty and believability of the film. Nor does Guédiguian spare his countrymen, constantly pointing out how eager the French authorities were to please their Nazi masters, beyond the Germans’ most ardent wishes, with a steady supply of French Jews gathered at Drancy and the infamous Vel d’Hiv, dropping off points for Auschwitz. By the end of the film, the Nazis and their French collaborators manage, through torture and betrayals, to round up these heroic partisans. They then embark on a public relations effort to question the bonafides of these so-called “liberators” that made up what the Nazis themselves christened the “Army of Crime” in an effort to cast doubt upon their heroism. Twenty-two men and one woman were executed in February 1944, and just a few short months later, Paris was liberated for good. ∂

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1. Studio Beyond CEO Jasmin Prosser dresses the part as host of the Studio Beyond party at the Majestic Hotel Terrace, where 2. eclectic string quartet Studio Alektik performed 3. Amanda Eliasch and John Reiss at the Palais Stephanie for the British Film Institute Cannes Cocktail Reception 4. Michel Simone, London Film Festival artistic director Sandra Hebron, BFI director Amanda Nevill and helmer Don Boyd at the BFI reception 5. Julian Lennon and 6. Colin Firth make appearances at the Quintessentially Dinner Party at Beach 314 7. “Bright Star” bigwigs Ben Whishaw and Jane Campion arrive for the Out of Competition screening of “Agora” 8. “Agora” star Rachel Weisz at the premiere. 9. Jim Carrey and a snowstorm team to pitch Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” at the Carlton 10. Kristin Scott Thomas, 11. Johnnie To and Johnny Hallyday hit the red carpet for the Competition screening of “Vengeance” 12. Laetitia Hallyday and 13. Said Taghmaoui also attended the Palais premiere, along with 14. Michelle Yeoh 15. models Doutzen Kroes and Afef Jnifen and Evangeline Lilly

MAKING THE SCENE

< Greg Chait and Laura Ramsey attend a party for the Cannes market title “Middle Men” at the Cha Cha Beach Club.

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< The poker faces of world champion Jamie Gold, party host Helena Houdova and Emile Hirsch are all smiles at the Wilhelm & Karl Maybach Foundation Gaming Night at the Hotel Du Cap.

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‘Vengeance’ is theirs

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panied their Competition title “Vengeance” to the Palais’ red carpet Monday evening, giving fans and photographers an up-close look at the odd but successful friendship between the Hong Kong director and the iconic French singer. Earlier, 19th century horse-drawn carriages dropped off Jim Carrey, Colin Firth and director Robert Zemeckis at the Carlton Hotel, where a blizzard of artificial snow helped them hype Disney’s upcoming 3-D film “A Christmas Carol.” Inside, Disney set up a 3-D auditorium “in just three days,” studio chairman Dick Cook said, and Zemeckis showed off two sequences from the movie shot using performance-capture. “It was so much fun twisting and crippling my body into the character,” Carrey said of his turn as Scrooge.

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< Dubai International Film Festival chairman Abdulhamid Juma and The Hollywood Reporter publisher Eric Mika during the DIFF luncheon.

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< The European Film Promotion’s 2009 Producers on the Move gathering.

For slideshows of Cannes daily events, go to THR.com/cannes

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Fortissimo has France, Hong Kong in ‘Tears’ By Patrick Frater

rench art house distributor Ocean Films and mainstream Hong Kong releasing company Intercontinental Film Distribution have snapped up “Prince of Tears,” a new film by Chinese writer-director-producer Yonfan. The film is produced by Hong Kong’s Far Sun Film and Taiwan’s Peony 5 Film and is the latest addition to the sales slate of Fortissimo Films. Fortissimo has rights outside China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. Set in 1950s Taiwan against the backdrop of the island’s anti-Communist hysteria, the story examines the friendship, high-minded ideals and dignity of a quartet of characters as the political chaos and criss-cross passions take over. “Yonfan’s sense of style, artistry and storytelling is unique amongst directors in Asia, and with this film he breaks new ground,” Fortissimo co-chairman Michael Werner said. “He explores a period of history that has never been covered in film before in a way, which is compelling, soulful and passionate.” “Prince” stars Fan Chih Wei, Cheng Hsiao Tse, Terri Kwan, Joe Chang and debutante Zhu Xuan. Yonfan previously directed festival favorites “Color Blossoms” and “Peony Pavilion.”

F

‘Homage’ pays Spacey, Firth By Gregg Kilday

Colin Firth and Kevin Spacey are attached to star in “Catalonia,” a film adaptation of George Orwell’s “Homage to Catalonia,” which Hugh Hudson will direct for Arclight. Australian screenwriter Bob Ellis has penned the adaptation, which tells of an encounter Orwell and his wife Eileen had with Anarchist brigade commander Georges Kopp during the Spanish Civil War.

Firth will play Orwell with Spacey stepping into the role of Kopp. Al Clark, Hudson’s producing partner, will produce along with Alain Sarde and Hank Levine, with Fernando Meirelles, (”City of God”), whose Brazilian company 02 will be a production partner, as exec producer. Mark Knopfler, founder of the band Dire Straits, will write the score. Arclight Films will handle international sales. ∂

| news

CinemaNX continued from page 2 feature the annual race as a key part of the backdrop. “We have never seen a script good enough and one that properly captures the race, the atmosphere and the adrenaline rush it gives,” he said. “So we’ll shoot this 3-D footage and see where it leads us.” The aim is to put the project out to feature documentary makers if the footage of riders tearing around the island’s roads jumps out at viewers. CinemaNX is becoming more involved in fully financing British projects as part of a corporate strategy to concentrate on homegrown fare and main-

Workshop continued from page 2 ago on the eve of Cannes, is the twin to the city-state’s generous support system for its domestic industry and the local film fund it launched last year. The IFF aims to attract films to shoot in Singapore and, by requiring the involvement of a Singapore partner company, to help its domestic industry become more involved with international productions. A first round of funding, with a call for submissions set for July 31, aims to back 17-20 movies with public funding of up to $2.5 million per project. “Selected applicants will be required to pitch their projects to a committee comprising representatives from MDA and Distribution Workshop,” the MDA said. “Upon selection, the winning

‘Resistance’ Wenders continued from page 2 far,” Neue Road producer Gian-Piero Ringel said. “With ‘Pina,’ we (will) offer the first highly artistic 3-D film. We will set a new benchmark for 3-D.” Bausch, whose unique choreography is credited with revolutionizing the language of modern dance,

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will act as choreographer for the dance performance Wenders plans to capture on film. French cinematographer Alain Derobe will lens the film. Wenders’ longtime sales partners Hanway Films will handle international rights. The director’s last feature, “Palermo Shooting,” premiered last year In Competition at Cannes.

continued from page 2 director Amit Gupta, who also will direct. Sheers is collaborating on the screenplay. “Resistance” is set in an alternative 1944 where Russia has fallen to Nazi Germany and the D-Day landings have failed. With Britain partly occupied by German forces, a group of Welsh villagers wake to discover that their husbands have mysteriously disappeared. “The immensely castable German leading roles give us a

tain a bigger stake in finished movie rights. The agency is in postproduction on “The Disappearance of Alice Creed,” which stars Gemma Arterton, Eddie Marsan and Martin Compston. Bankrolled by CinemaNX, the movie is billed as a contemporary kidnap thriller with a twist. The plot revolves around two kidnappers (Marsan and Compston) who carry out an immaculately planned job after targeting a rich girl (Arterton). But things quickly unravel as the kidnap plays out, with all three characters revealing a secret agenda. “Creed” marks the directorial debut of writer and shorts filmmaker J Blakeson, who cowrote “The Descent 2” for Celador. ∂

projects will have their own dedicated distribution executives involved from the onset of preproduction. After completion, the films will be distributed to the worldwide marketplace by Distribution Workshop.” MDA COO Kenneth Tan said subsequently explained to THR that the fund will welcome applications from projects with other sales companies attached. “What we are most keen on is presales. These provide a measure of the marketability (of the projects),” Tan said. “Public funding decisions in Singapore are very stringent, and it is the MDA that will have final say on funding and be responsible for those decisions.” Distribution Workshop is controlled by China’s Poly Bona group and by its principals, “Infernal Affairs” producer Nansun Shi and former Media Asia executive Jeffrey Chan. ∂

compelling reason to get involved,” Munteanu said. Added Pauline Burt of Film Agency Wales: “We were keen to support Owen Sheers’ feature screenplay debut, having already proven he is a unique writer with a distinctive voice.” Holmes said in Cannes that the partnership at script stage “vindicates” his belief that the book has “real cinematic scope.” The producer also is developing “Rise of the Appliances,” a project from U.K. screenwriting comedy duo Rob Sprackling and John Smith for Sprackling to direct. ∂

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