Cannes fest selections strike a balanced pose

The 55th Festival de Cannes, which kicks off Wednesday May 15, 2002 with the world premiere of Woody Allen's "Hollywood Ending," finally appears to have struck a fair balance of traditional international auteur fare and movies from largely unknown territories, spiced with enough Hollywood product to inject some fizz into the proceedings.

The eleventh-hour announcement of two digital showings of "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones," scheduled for Thursday May 16, the same day as the film's U.S. release, should serve to counter accusations that Cannes is ill-equipped to be a launch pad for Hollywood blockbusters.

Thierry Fremaux, Cannes artistic director, said the festival is particularly pleased to be able to stage a digital projection of "Clones," which was shot using Sony's HD 24P digital camera.

"Digital is to some extent at the heart of this year's selection. There are digitally shot films by Aleksandr Sukorov, Abbas Kiarostami and Michael Winterbottom. Cinema has evolved little technically, but here it finds something new," Fremaux said in an interview. "I like the idea of juxtaposing George Lucas and Kiarostami. It's Georges Melies and Louis Lumiere. It's extraordinary to see that thanks to this new technology, filmmakers are starting to re-create something that happened before."

Well versed in cinema history through his parallel job as head of the Lumiere Institute film archive and museum, Fremaux said, "Kiarostami shows the world how it is, and Lucas reinvents it. 'Star Wars II' is 'Le Voyage dans la Lune' (A Trip to the Moon) by Melies."

 Another late Cannes addition is Brian De Palma's France-set thriller, "Femme Fatale," starring Antonio Banderas and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, which will have an Out of Competition screening at midnight May 25.

Fremaux said he is satisfied with the final lineup. "I think the selection was generally well received. Now begins the both anxious and euphoric period which consists of screening the films -- and hoping that people will like them as much as (we do)," he said.

He countered suggestions that he had struggled to come up with suitable American movies. "The U.S. offering was very rich, so we said, 'Let's see all the films, and then we'll decide.' That's why some decisions came quite late," he said.

Fremaux said this year's U.S. selection had to be considered as a whole, weighing the Competition titles alongside those screening Out of Competition, including Barbet Schroeder's "Murder by Numbers" and the new DreamWorks animated offering "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron."

"It's clear this year we didn't have everything we wanted," Fremaux said. "Scorsese's film wasn't ready, nor was Spike Jonze's, and it's not every year that there's a film by Terrence Malick or Clint Eastwood. We have to work with reality. But we're quite happy to have two auteurs from the younger generation: Alexander Payne and Paul Thomas Anderson."

Fremaux was slightly annoyed at the suggestion that the Competition gives guaranteed slots to the same old faces.

"It's a valid observation, but it shouldn't be a criticism," he said. "In general, great auteurs make great films. Last year people said it's always the same people -- David Lynch, Nanni Moretti, Michael Haneke. I don't think we were wrong last year to take those movies. We've tried to intersperse new names, new territories and established filmmakers whose films are anticipated. 'Le Fils' is the latest film by the Dardenne brothers, who, the last time they were at Cannes, won the Palme d'Or. It's important to include their new film, even if it gives the impression that it's automatic."

The parallel Cannes Market bows Thursday, and early signs are that the deal-making on the Croisette will be brisk.

"The advance figures are very promising," said Jerome Paillard, director of the market. "Registrations are 15% up on the same period last year, and the number of executives each company is sending is also slightly up, to 3.2 people per company. That goes for U.S. participants, which suggests that they have not been put off by security fears."

After last year's beefed-up security measures, Cannes Mayor Bernard Brochand has re-upped the heavy police presence during the festival, which now will be backed by closed-circuit cameras deployed around the Palais. "It'll be maximum security," City Hall spokesman Michel Blachere said.

The Cannes Market will showcase more than 1,600 movies at various stages of development and production.

"With more than 1,400 screenings scheduled, we've had to rent an extra theater at the Olympia cinema (in central Cannes), bringing our total number of screens to 29," Paillard said.

Among innovations at this year's market will be more digital projection facilities and digital sound, plus bar-code registration at screenings, which will allow sales agents to know exactly who attended their screenings within a matter of hours.

The residents of Cannes will not be left out of the festivities. Just before lunch Thursday, anyone present on the Croisette will be offered a free glass of champagne at what is claimed to be the world's longest buffet table, stretching more than 800 yards along the seafront promenade. The handout, organized by the town's hotel and restaurant owners, will mark the inauguration of a musical promenade featuring famous movie themes, which will continue throughout the fest.