Cannes International Film Festival 2008

French film wins top prize in Cannes - the first French winner in Cannes since 1987.

The only big surprise on the night was the fact that Israeli animated documentary "Waltz With Bashir" went unrecognized.

CANNES, France

Entre les murs (The Class), a film set in a tough Parisian high school, won the Palme d'Or for best picture at the Cannes festival on Sunday.

Directed by Laurent Cantet, the picture based on an autobiographical novel by Francois Begaudeau.

"I think it would be good for all those people who claim to be able to judge youth ... in two or three aphorisms to learn something new about youth," said Begaudeau, who also plays the central teacher in the film.

The Grand Prix went to Italy's Gomorra (Gomorrah), Matteo Garrone's hard-hitting film about the world of the Camorra Naples crime network.

Jury Award: Il Divo, the Italian film a satire on the life of former prime minister Giulio Andreotti and directed by Paolo Sorrentino.

Special Prize: Catherine Deneuve and Clint Eastwood.

Best Director: Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan for Three Monkeys.

Best Actor: Benicio del Toro, for his portrayal of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's epic four-and-a-half hour Che.

Best Actress: Sandra Corveloni, in the Brazilian drama Linha de Passe (Line of Passage).

Best Screenplay: Belgium's Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, for Lorna's Silence.

Camera d'Or (given to debut directors): Britain's Steve McQueen, for Hunger.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/

Public Enemy 1-1

Korean Cine News

After Silmido, the great duo Seoul Kyeong-gu and Jeong Jae-young are back in:

http://001-1.co.kr/

John Woo´s new film: 1949

1949 (2009, China)

Production: John Woo and Terence Chang (Lion Rock)

Screenplay: Wang Hui-ling (Lust, Caution)

Distribution: Fortissimo Films

Cast: Chang Chen, Song Hye-kyo.

Chinese epic, based on true events at the end of WWII and the final years of the Chinese Civil War, starring Taiwanese Chang Chen (Silk) and Korean actress Song Hye-kyo (Autumn in My Heart). The film will be Chinese-language, mixed with English.

Song Hye-kyo explained to the press at the 61st Cannes Film Festival, “John Woo contacted me [in January] after watching the film Hwang Jini. I’m incredibly honored to be working with a director I admire so much.”

“I met Chang Chen in an awards ceremony last March in Hong Kong. I had a good feeling about him and wanted to act with him, but I didn't know it would happen this quickly.”

"This movie takes place in 1949. There are three couples, and Chang Chen and I are one of them. After wealthily living in Shanghai, I lose my husband in the war and go to Taiwan. I meet Chang Chen and meet a new fate.”

 

Song Hye-kyo´s next projects:
Fetish - US supernatural thriller.
The World They Live On - director Pyo Min Su’s upcoming drama co-starring Hyun Bin.

John Woo's (Mission Impossible II) epic film Red Cliff will be released this summer, starring Chang Chen, Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro.

Source: Starnews; Korea.net

Korean Cinema Invited to Cannes

South Korean films invited to the 2008 Cannes Film Festival

This year, Cannes opens it´s doors to a “more commercial” kind of movies produced in S. Korea, like The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (invited to the Out of Competition section).

The film The Chaser, by first time director Na Hong-jin, and a great success in Korea, will be screened for Midnight Screenings.

Late director Kim Ki-young´s thriller The Housemaid (1960) will be shown at the Classic section . “It is one of the most important works done by Kim, an eccentric figure in Korean film history, someone with extremely extraordinary imagination,” was digitally restored by the Korean Film Archive with sponsors from World Cinema Foundation lead by Martin Scorsese.

And the always brilliant director Bong Joon-ho (The Host) was invited to the Un Certain Regard section. Tokyo! is an omnibus film co-directed by Michel Gondry and Leos Carax, and in Shaking Tokyo segment, Bong pictures the lonely inner side of human beings through the scenery of a megacity named Tokyo.

There´s a great expectation with director Kim Jee-woon´s new film The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, after such different movies as The Foul King, A Tale of Two Sisters and A Bittersweet Life. In The Good… the director revives the so-called 'Manchurian Western', which was popular with Korean films back in 1960s and 70s. Korea's top actors Lee Byung-hun (JSA), Song Kang-ho (The Host) and Jung Woo-sung (Daisy) will be starring in it.

And short animation STOP, by Park Jae-wook will be screened for the Cinefondation section.

Cannes International Film Festival (May 14-25)
Out of Competition section: The Good, the Bad, the Weird; The ChaserUn Certain Regard: Tokyo!
Cinefondation: Stop (animation)
Cannes Classics: The Housemaid(source: Korean Film Council; koreatimes.co.kr)