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Embracing Indiewood, Cannes 2000 Lineup Selected from Nearly 1,400 Films; 15 Countries Represented in Competition

by Eugene Hernandez

In narrowing down the lineup for its 53rd Film Festival, Cannes 2000 programmers viewed nearly 1,400 films -- an increase of nearly 25% over last year. 23 films from 15 countries are screening in a competition that once again includes an array of notable filmmakers from around the world.

As reported on indieWIRE.com yesterday when the Festival has announced its competition, non-competition, Un Certain Regard, short film and Cinefondation lineups, the 2000 Festival will open on May 10th with Roland Joffe's "Vatel," and will close on May 21st with Denys Arcand's "Stardom" Joffe is the Oscar-nominated director of "The Mission" and "The Killing Fields," while Arcand is perhaps best known as the 1989 Cannes Jury Prize winner for "Jesus of Montreal."

[The complete Cannes lineups are available in our special Cannes 2000 section.]

Among the anticipated new movies are those from a group of international auteurs, including Lars von Trier's eagerly awaited "Dancer in the Dark," starring Bjork, Wong Kar-Wai's new untitled project and Ken Loach's "Bread and Roses." Loach is a Cannes favorite, having won awards at past festivals for "Hidden Agenda," "Raining Stones," and "My Name is Joe." Twenty-year old Samira Makhmalbaf returns to Cannes after last year's "The Apple," with "Takhte Siah." Also returning are Swedish director Roy Andersson with "Songs >From the Second Floor," and Amos Gitai ("Kadosh") with "Kippur." Bergman actress and collaborator Liv Ullmann will be in France with "Trolosa," as will the respected Tawainese filmmaker, Edward Yang with "Yi Yi" (A One and a Two). Olivier Assayas, director of last year's "Late August, Early September," as well as "Irma Vep" (1996), returns with "Les Destinees Sentimentales," while Arnaud Desplechin, director of "La Sentinelle" and "My Sex Life. . . or how i got into an argument," will be in Cannes with "Esther Kahn" and Summer Phoenix in the title role. Finally, also at the Festival will be an elder statesman of Japanese Cinema, Nagisa Oshima ("Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," "Realm of the Senses," "Cruel Story of Youth") with "Gohatto."

Cannes Festival organizers have clearly tapped into the changing face of American independent and the emergence, and what we call Indiewood. "Les frontieres traditionnelles entre Majors, mini-majors et purs independants s'estompent de plus en plus et ne significant plus grand chose," the Festival indicated in its press release commentary, meaning, "The traditional boundaries between majors, mini-majors and pure independents grow more and more blurred and they are no longer a big deal."

Underscoring the point, the Festival singled out four films, new to American audiences, that best embody the best of American "independent" cinema: Joel Coen's "O Brother, Where Art Thou" (produced by Working Title and to be released by Disney), "The Yards," James Gray's follow-up to "Little Odessa" (produced by Miramax), Neil LaBute's Propaganda/Polygram produced, "Nurse Betty," to be released by USA Films and Amos Kollek's European-financed indie "Fast Food, Fast Women."

French Filmmaker Luc Besson will head the 2000 Cannes jury as its President, it includes: French director/actress Nicole Garcia, Indian writer Arundhati Roy, Spanish actress Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, British actress Kristin Scott Thomas, German actress Barbara Sukowa, American director Jonathan Demme, British actor Jeremy Irons, Italian director Mario Martone, and French writer Patrick Modiano.

Notable filmmakers in other categories include John Waters out of competition with his latest, "Cecil B. Demented," also out of competition are Darren Aronofsky with his second feature, "Requiem for a Dream," Barbara Kopple with "A Conversation with Gregory Peck," Ang Lee with "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and Eurythmics' Dave Stewart with "Honest." In the Un Certain Regard section, Kristian Levring will be presenting the latest DOGME95 film, "The King is Dead," while Arturo Ripstein will screen "Asi Es La Vida." Also in the section are Griffin Dunne with "Famous," Fina Torres with "Woman on Top," and the directorial debut of Portuguese actress Maria de Medeiros, "Capitaes de Abril."

New at Cannes this year is an expansion of the Palais, dubbed "Espace Riviera," which will be used by the Market. Also new is a 300-seat theater, The Luis Bunuel," for retrospectives, including a salute to Agnes Varda and a look at the work of Otar Iosselleliani. The Festival also announced that it will have electronic subtitling in the Lumiere, Debussy and Bunuel theaters.

[Eugene Hernandez with contributions from Anthony Kaufman]