Yesterday’s big news days kicked off with the initial slate for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. It’s a helluva lineup with big name directors, highly anticipated titles and lots of below-the-radar discoveries to be made. But cinephiles should note that there could be a lot more announcements coming.
Festival head Thierry Fremaux told Screen Daily that there are even more films to be added to the festival. "There are three or four films to put into competition, and three or four films to put into Un Certain Regard," he said. "We’ve got 20 films, not to watch from scratch but to re-watch, to work out how we could show them. We’re waiting for one last film to arrive."
"They’re still working on the Ben Wheatley film [‘High-Rise‘] and we might still be able to see it in time," Fremaux added. "The Stephen Frears film [the Lance Armstrong movie ‘Icon‘] isn’t ready. He has to do some re-takes. The Terence Davies [‘Sunset Song‘], you’ll have to wait and see,"
One movie many expected to see in the lineup was Arnaud Desplechin‘s "My Golden Years," but it’s headed to the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, and Fremaux explains why the director, a perennial presence at Cannes, is absent this year. "I like the film a lot, but we decided to put people into competition who had never come or [hardly ever] come before. He understood that," Fremaux said. "He is one of France’s greatest filmmakers, but he has been in official Selection several times and we decided to make other choices… but it’s complicated. Audiard has only been in three times; Maiwenn, it’s her second time; and Brizé, it’s his first time; Donzelli, it’s the first time. If we had taken the Desplechin instead of Donzelli, they would be saying I didn’t have the courage to select a women with a third film. But it’s very difficult for me, and not just with regards to the Desplechin."
Even selecting the Opening Film appears to have been tricky. While Emmanuelle Bercot‘s "La Tete haute" ("Standing Tall") was selected, marking the second time in Cannes history that a female-directed movie has opened the fest, you might be wondering why something more typically blockbuster-ish in size or star-studded wasn’t chosen, as is usually the case. In another interview with Le Monde, Fremaux states that Warner Bros. didn’t want "Mad Max: Fury Road" as the Opening Film, though he also says Cannes never really considered it either.
So lots to chew on as Cannes draws near. The festival runs from May 13th to 24th.