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| by: | May 12, 2008 |
A Canadian feature will kick off the Cannes Film Festival for the first time in nearly 30 years, when Rhombus Media's copro Blindness premieres on May 14, while Toronto director Atom Egoyan will also compete at the French fete with his latest, Adoration.
Organizers unveiled their picks for the 61st edition of the festival late last month. Blindness and Adoration will vie for the coveted Palme d'Or opposite 19 other films, including Clint Eastwood's drama Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie, and Steven Soderbergh's four-hour biopic Che.
Mark Slone, SVP at Alliance Films, which will be releasing Blindness in Canada in the fall, says the company is particularly proud to be attached to the feature.
"The filmmakers took years to gather the rights, resources and amazing cast, and when the world gets to see it on the opening night of Cannes, I'm sure all will agree that it was worth the wait," he tells Playback.
The $25-million project is based on José Saramago's 1995 Nobel Prize-winning novel, and was adapted for the screen by Don McKellar, who also appears in the film. It is a copro among Canada, Japan and Brazil, produced here by Rhombus' Niv Fichman.
Oscar nominee Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) directs the story about a mysterious pandemic that leaves the majority of a community unable to see, except for a doctor's wife. It stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Sandra Oh and Martha Burns. Miramax Films will distribute in the U.S., also in the fall.
The last time a Canadian film opened Cannes was in 1980, with the Quebec musical drama Fantastica, written and directed by Gilles Carle.
Adoration marks Egoyan's fifth run at the Palme d'Or, following the selections of Exotica (1994), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), Felicia's Journey (1999) and Where the Truth Lies (2005).
The director says he's proud to take the Toronto-set drama to the fest, though he acknowledges the stiff competition.
"Whenever you look at the list, you're a little overwhelmed...there's tons of pressure and expectation," he says.
Egoyan feels that Cannes offers the right stage to bow his intimate film about a 15-year-old (played by newcomer Devon Bostick) who uses the Internet to create a new identity.
"There's a focus that's given to films in competition that's undeniable," he says. Adoration's other stars include Scott Speedman (Underworld) and Rachel Blanchard (Where the Truth Lies). It is produced by Egoyan and The Film Farm's Jennifer Weiss and Simone Urdl. Robert Lantos exec produces through Serendipity Point Films, and will release through his Maximum Films. As Playback went to press, the film had reportedly been picked up south of the border by Sony Pictures Classics.
Says Lantos: "This is my seventh time in the Cannes competition, and it is just as thrilling as the first time, back in 1985 with Joshua Then and Now."
Other films screening in competition include the drama Le Silence de Lorna by brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, veteran Italian director Paolo Sorrentino's biopic Il Divo, and Wim Wenders' The Palermo Shooting, starring Dennis Hopper and Milla Jovovich.
Out-of-competition selections include Woody Allen's dramedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona, about a painter who begins a relationship with two American tourists, starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. And Steven Spielberg returns to Cannes with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth installment in the adventure franchise.
Montreal filmmaker Denis Villeneuve (Maelström) will screen his short film Next Floor in competition in the International Critics' Week program. The film, based on an original idea by Phoebe Greenberg, focuses on guests at an extravagant banquet. Villeneuve is currently wrapping the film Polytechnique, a retelling of the 1989 massacre at Montreal's École Polytechnique. Next Floor is produced by Phi Group.
Meanwhile, David Coquard-Dassault's France/Canada copro short L'Ondée will screen in the same showcase, but out of competition. It is produced by the National Film Board's René Chenier, Julie Roy, and Folimage's Pascal Le Nôtre.
Cannes runs May 14-25.
