Cannes Film Festival - 63rd Festival De Cannes 2010 - Australian Stars and Film to Open and Close Event

The announcement of the opening and closing films for the Cannes Film Festival is always interesting to those who follow the film industry. Ridley Scott's classic adventure film Robin Hood will open the festival on 12 May 2010. On 30 April, it was announced in Paris that the closing film will be the joint French/Australian film The Tree - to be screened on 23 May after the awards ceremony.

Robin Hood

Oscar winning Australian actors Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett star as Robin and Marian. The film, began production in April 2009 in London. With a budget of $US130 million ($A200 million) the film is based on historical facts of the period.

This new Robin Hood film is one of many films about the infamous English legend and his tribe of merry men. In 1938, Australian-born actor Errol Flynn played the Robin role in "green tights". Disney produced an animated film - The Adventures of Robin Hood released in 1973. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves released in 1991, starred Kevin Costner with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marian.

The Tree

The Tree is an adaptation of Judy Pascoe's novel Our Father Who Art in the Tree. It was filmed in the quaint, small town of Boonah, Queensland. Directed by Julie Bertuccelli, the film stars last year's Festival de Cannes best actress winner Charlotte Gainsbourg, Australian actor Marton Csokas (Romulus, My Father, Lord of the Rings) and Canadian Aden Young (Mao's Last Dancer, Lucky Country). The adaptation tells the story of a family mourning the death of their father. One of the key roles is that of 10-year-old Australian girl called Simone, played by Morgana Davies, who hears the voice of her dead father speaking from inside a tree.

The contenders for Best Film

ANOTHER YEAR directed by Mike LEIGH

BIUTIFUL directed by Alejandro GONZÁLEZ IѐÁRRITU

COPIE CONFORME (CERTIFIED COPY) directed by Abbas KIAROSTAMI

DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX (OF GODS AND MEN) directed by Xavier BEAUVOIS

FAIR GAME directed by Doug LIMAN

HORS LA LOI (OUTSIDE OF THE LAW) directed by Rachid BOUCHAREB

LA NOSTRA VITA (OUR LIFE) directed by Daniele LUCHETTI

LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER (THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER) directed by Bertrand TAVERNIER

LUNG BOONMEE RALUEK CHAT (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) directed by Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL

OUTRAGE directed by Takeshi KITANO

POETRY directed by LEE Chang-dong

RIZHAO CHONGQING (CHONGQING BLUES) directed by WANG Xiaoshuai

SCHASTYE MOE (MY JOY) directed by Sergei LOZNITSA

SZELÍD TEREMTÉS - A FRANKENSTEIN TERV (TENDER SON - The Frankenstein Project) directed by Kornél MUNDRUCZÓ

THE HOUSEMAID directed by IM Sangsoo

TOURNÉE (ON TOUR) directed by Mathieu AMALRIC

UN HOMME QUI CRIE (A screaming man) directed by Mahamat-Saleh HAROUN

UTOMLYONNYE SOLNTSEM 2: PREDSTOYANIE (THE EXODUS - Burnt by the sun 2) directed by Nikita MIKHALKOV

Short films

BLOKES (BLOCKS) directed by Marialy RIVAS

CHIENNE D'HISTOIRE (BARKING ISLAND) directed by Serge AVÉDIKIAN

ESTAÇÃO (STATION) directed by Marcia FARIA

EZRA RISHONA (FIRST AID) directed by Yarden KARMIN

MAYA directed by Pedro Pío MARTÍN PÉREZ

MICKY BADER (BATHING MICKY) directed by Frida KEMPFF

MUSCLES (MUSCLES) directed by Edward HOUSDEN

ROSA (ROSA) directed by Monica LAIRANA

TO SWALLOW A TOAD (TO SWALLOW A TOAD) directed by Jurgis KRASONS

The Cannes Film Festival - Italy's boycott

No doubt many of Hollywood's A-List actors and film-makers will attend. Missing from the guest list will be Italy's culture minister Sandro Bondi who is boycotting this year's Cannes film festival in protest at an Italian documentary criticizing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's response to a deadly earthquake last year.

The documentary, by comedian Sabina Guzzanti, is called "Draquila" - a wordplay bringing together the Dracula vampire and L'Aquila, the city in central Italy where more than 300 people were killed in the April 2009 quake.

It will screen out of competition at the Cannes festival.

Culture Minister Sandro Bondi, a close ally of Berlusconi, said in a statement he was shocked that the film was selected for the festival, calling it "propaganda offending the truth and the whole Italian people."

He said he had declined an invitation to attend the festival.

List of past winners of Best Film at Cannes Film Festival

View a list of past Cannes Film Festival best film winners HERE

Sources:

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/story/2010/04/30/aussie-films-to-open-close-cannes-fest/

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gcKe4hxa6etwOlm9QyGiwB94mf1w

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2010/04/15/cannes-festival-2010-lineup/

http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/2010/shortFilm.html

http://au.movies.yahoo.com/news/article/-/7195052/italy-minister-shuns-cannes-festival-over-quake-film/

To view more of my content - CLICK HERE