Sydney Levine

Richard Lormand (World Cinema Publicity) is not the only great publicist one meets at the festivals, but he is unique and his missives are so unique that I want to just publish them as he writes them. I wrote about him last year and will not repeat it here. Richard limits his work to the top festivals such as Berlin, Venice, Toronto, Cannes, sometimes Karlovy Vary and San Sebastian, and he limits his work to what he considers the best. His taste must be correct because his films go on to win the top prizes. So see what he has in store for us in Cannes!!

Now that the titles for the Festival International de Cannes Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Midnight Screenings and Special Screenings have been announced, we will begin to look at the business side of the titles. Cannes Rights Round Up will soon open on this blog as an acquisitions tracking tool as distributors now begin licensing rights for their territories during the spring and summer months to come. There are four female directors out of the 19 films in Competiton which is a new record of 21%. Brava to Lynn Ramsay ♀ , Naomi Kawase ♀ , Maiwenn L ♀ ., and first time Australian filmmaker Julia Leigh ♀ with her Sleeping Beauty!! Out of Competition Kung Fu Panda 2 is directed by Jennifer Yuh ♀, and The Beaver is directed by Jodie Foster ♀.Jennifer Yuh Kung Fu Panda 2Un Certain Regard features Brazilian first timer Juliana Rojas ♀ codirecting Trabalhar Cansa (Travailler Fatigue aka Hard Labor) with Marco Dutra.From Latin America comes Everado Gout's Dias de Gracia from Mexico (one of the two Midnight Screenings). Christian Jimenez's Bonsai from Chile/ France/ Argentina/ Portugal is in Un Certain Regard along with Gerardo Naranjo's Miss Bala from Mexico (from Twentieth Century Fox), first timers Juliana Rojas ♀ and Marco Dutra's Trabalhar Cansa (Travailler Fatigue or Hard Labor)From FilmBiz Asia: Two Japanese films represent Asia in the main competition section of the Cannes festival. They are joined by first film Sleeping Beauty by Australian director Julia Leigh ♀. A trio of Korean films take three of five places occupied by Asia-Pacific titles in Un Certain Regard. Accompanying the three Korean titles, Hong Sang-soo's (홍상수) The Day He Arrives (북촌방향); Kim Ki-duk's (김기덕) Arirang (김기덕);and Na Hong-jin's The Yellow Sea (황해), Un Certain Regard finds room for Eric Khoo's Tatsumi and for Ivan Sen's aboriginal drama Toomelah. Tatsumi is an animated tribute to manga artist Tatsumi Yoshihiro (辰巳ヨシヒロ). Employing non-professional actors, Toomelah is the story of a dilemma faced by a nine year-old boy. The festival selection also has a platform for Peter Chan's starry martial arts film Wu Xia as a midnight screening, and there is a special screening of Le Maitre des Forges de l'Enfer by Franco-Cambodian director Rithy Panh. We will watch for the unannounced films from Brillante Mendoza, Yorgos Lanthimos, Carlos Reygadas, Hirokazu Kore-eda to see if they show up in Directors Fortnight or Critics Week (April 18) which have yet to announce their films.You can see all titles with their international sales agents linked to Cinando here.If you are at a loss which films to see, read Anthony Kaufman's blog for his 7 top choices.

D Street Media Group licensed Rivers Wash Over Me to Strand for U.S. in a pre-Cannes deal.

Sahamongkolfilm licensed Ong Bak 3 to Optimumfor U.K. in a pre-Cannes deal.