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CANNES 2016 Official selection

The "Dream Team" is back in the quest for the Palme d’Or

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- With four former Palme winners, nine directors who have already won awards and 14 European filmmakers locking horns, the Cannes competition looks set to be truly tantalising

The "Dream Team" is back in the quest for the Palme d’Or
Slack Bay by Bruno Dumont

After a 2015 edition where the limited supply of high-quality works encouraged its organisers to take a big punt on young talent, General Delegate Thierry Frémaux (flanked by President Pierre Lescure) went back to basics and brought out the big guns of global arthouse film as he unveiled the official selection of the 69th Cannes Film Festival (11-22 May 2016) in Paris this morning. The "Dream Team" is therefore back with a vengeance in the competition (with several more years on the clock, but the "old masters" often have more than one trick up their sleeves...), and the programme is positively brimming with big names from the recent history of the seventh art – directors who have already won awards on the Croisette in the past or who, at the very least, are familiar with the dizzy heights of the quest for the Palme d'Or, which will this year be given out by a jury chaired by George Miller (read the news). However, the sheer abundance of bankable names on the menu nevertheless leaves some room for several new entries (four), and the high proportion of seasoned filmmakers in the showcase (with Loach leading the pack at his 79 years of age and an impressive crop of spirited seventy- and sixty-somethings) is offset by the lofty ambitions of the youngest contenders (with 27-year-old Dolan still acting as the baby). Also of note is the presence of three female directors in the race for the ultimate prize, which gathers together 20 features.

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Standing out in the competition are four former winners: Belgium’s Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Palme d’Or in 1999 and 2005 – taking part for the seventh time), Romania’s Cristian Mungiu (Palme d’Or in 2007 – taking part for the third time) and British director Ken Loach (Palme d’Or in 2006 – taking part for the 13th time).

They are accompanied by nine filmmakers who have already won awards (either directly or via their actors) on the great stage of Cannes’ Théâtre Lumière: US director Jim Jarmusch (seventh time), Spanish Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar (fifth time), France’s Olivier Assayas (fifth time), Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn (third time), British director Andrea Arnold (third time), Korea’s Park Chan-wook (third time), France’s Bruno Dumont (third time), Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza (third time) and Canada’s Xavier Dolan (second time).

Also duking it out for the third time is French director Nicole Garcia, and for the second time US filmmaker Jeff Nichols, his fellow countryman Sean Penn and Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (back for the first time since 1992’s Basic Instinct).

Making their debuts at this level are Germany’s Maren Ade, Romania’s Cristi Puiu (winner of Un Certain Regard in 2005, where he also presented his last film in 2010), France’s Alain Guiraudie (who came hurtling onto the Un Certain Regard screen in 2013 with Stranger by the Lake [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile
]
) and Brazil’s Kleber Mendonça Filho (who turned a lot of heads among the international critics in 2012 with his feature debut, Neighbouring Sounds).

With four French directors (Dumont, Assayas, Garcia and Guiraudie), two Romanians (Mungiu and Puiu), two Brits (Arnold and Loach), a Spaniard (Almodóvar), a Dane (Winding Refn), a Dutchman (Verhoeven), a German (Maren Ade) and a Belgian duo (the Dardenne brothers), Europe takes pride of place in the showcase, with 13 films in the running. North America will be banking on four titles (Dolan, Jarmusch, Penn and Nichols), Asia has two directors battling it out (Chan-wook and Mendoza), and South America is trying its luck with just one hopeful (Mendonça Filho).

The official selection, which, for now, totals 49 features (with a small number of additions set to follow), also includes an attractive programme for Un Certain Regard (17 features – read the news). It has also reapplied a high-profile, media-friendly gloss to its out-of-competition section by relying above all on US productions, with The BFG by Steven SpielbergMoney Monster by Jodie Foster and The Nice Guys by Shane Black, which will be joined by The Wailing by Korea’s Na Hong-jin. Also of note are a documentary by Jim Jarmusch on Iggy Pop as a midnight screening, and Spaniard Albert Serra and Paul Vecchiali as special screenings, not to mention Café Society by Woody Allen, which is the opening film (read the news).

Here is the complete list of titles selected:

Competition:

Toni Erdmann [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Maren Ade
film profile
]
 - Maren Ade (Germany/Austria/Romania)
Julieta [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Pedro Almodóvar
film profile
]
 - Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
American Honey [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Andrea Arnold
film profile
]
 - Andrea Arnold (United States/United Kingdom)
The Unknown Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
film profile
]
 - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne (Belgium/France)
Personal Shopper [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Artemio Benki
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile
]
 - Olivier Assayas (France/Belgium/Germany/Czech Republic)
It's Only The End of The World [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Xavier Dolan (Canada/France)
Slack Bay [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Bruno Dumont
film profile
]
 - Bruno Dumont (France/Belgium/Germany)
Paterson [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Jim Jarmusch (United States/Germany)
Staying Vertical [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alain Guiraudie
film profile
]
 - Alain Guiraudie (France)
Aquarius [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brazil/France)
From The Land of The Moon [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Nicole Garcia (France)
I, Daniel Blake [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Ken Loach (United Kingdom/France)
Ma' Rosa - Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)
Bacalaureat [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
film profile
]
 - Cristian Mungiu (Romania/France/Belgium)
Loving [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Jeff Nichols (United States/United Kingdom)
The Handmaiden - Park Chan-wook (South Korea)
The Last Face - Sean Penn (United States)
Sieranevada [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Cristi Puiu
film profile
]
 - Cristi Puiu (Romania/France)
Elle [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
 - Paul Verhoeven (France/Germany/Belgium)
The Neon Demon [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Nicolas Winding Refn
film profile
]
 - Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark/United States/France)

Out of Competition:

Café Society - Woody Allen (United States) (opening film)
The BFG - Steven Spielberg (United States)
Money Monster - Jodie Foster (United States)
The Wailing (Goksung) - Na Hong-Jin (South Korea)
The Nice Guys [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 - Shane Black (United States/United Kingdom)

Special Screenings:

L'ultima spiaggia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thanos Anastopoulos
film profile
]
 - Thanos Anastopoulos, Davide del Degan (Italy/Greece)
Hissein Habré, une tragédie tchadienne [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 - Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad/France)
La mort de Louis XIV [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albert Serra
film profile
]
 - Albert Serra (France/Spain)
Le cancre [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 - Paul Vecchiali (France)
Exil [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 - Rithy Panh (Cambodia/France)

Midnight Screenings:

Gimme Danger - Jim Jarmusch (United States)
Train to Busan (Bu-San-Haeng) - Yeon Sang-ho (South Korea)

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