News	News category

Dark Canadian co-production kicks off glamorous Cannes film fest

14.05.2008 17:01 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

Workers fix the red carpet onto the steps of the Cannes film festival palace, on the eve of the opening of the 61st International film festival in Cannes.(Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press)

The 61st edition of the lavish Cannes International Film Festival officially gets underway Wednesday night with Blindness, the dark Canadian-Japanese-Brazilian co-production based on the acclaimed Jose Saramago novel.

"It's a very strong film, but it is about the disintegration of humanity, and it goes to places where a lot of films don't go," Canadian producer Niv Fichman said of the movie — only the second Canadian film ever to snag the opening-night slot in Cannes (The first was Quebec film Fantastica in 1980).

"Opening night [screenings] are full of dignitaries and people who are not usually cineastes," Fichman told to CBC News from Cannes on Wednesday morning. He admitted that the film is bleak but said he hoped audiences would find the ending redemptive.

Directed by Brazil's Fernando Meirelles with a script laboured on for years by Canadian actor-writer Don McKellar, Blindness is "very faithful" to Portuguese Nobel laureate Saramago's original story about a mysterious epidemic afflicting an unnamed city.

Blindness features a star-studded international cast with a host of Canadians, including Sandra Oh, Susan Coyne and Martha Burns, as well as U.S. actors Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Danny Glover, Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal and Brazilian actress Alice Braga.

The fact that the movie is "a global, international story with an international cast" likely appealed to the Cannes selection committee, longtime Maclean's magazine film critic Brian D. Johnson told CBC News on Wednesday morning.

"For us at Cannes who've been coming for many years, it's really welcome to see a serious film open [the festival]," he added.

"We've been so accustomed to seeing a lot of fluff, or confections or French pastries open Cannes. We had The Da Vinci Code a couple of years ago and that's more typcial of what we usually see on opening night."

Because of this, "I think people are predisposed to like the film," Johnson said. "Everybody respects the level of difficulty in adapting a novel like this, that has all kinds of shifting points of view."

Blindness will face off for the festival's top honour — the Palme d'Or — against another Canadian entry: the drama Adoration by Cannes favourite Atom Egoyan.

Recent films from top directors such as Wim Wenders (The Palermo Shooting), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Le Silence De Lorna), Stephen Soderbergh (Che), Walter Salles (Linha De Passe) and Clint Eastwood (The Changeling) will also vie for the prestigious trophy.

U.S. actor Sean Penn presides over the Cannes jury that will select the winner. Stars expected to touch down in the city include Angelina Jolie, Harrison Ford, Woody Allen, Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Madonna, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro.

Online voting determines NFB winner

High-profile films set to screen out of competition on the Croisette during the 12-day festival include Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona and the animated comedy Kung-Fu Panda.

The National Film Board of Canada's annual short film contest at Cannes has nine finalists hailing from North America and Europe:

About love, hate and the other one, Tobias Bilgeri (Germany).
Historia de un Letrero (The Story of a Sign), Alonso Alvarez (Mexico/U.S.).
Victor Gazon, Patrick Gaz (Canada).
Papiroflexia,Joaquin Baldwin (U.S.).
Raging Ball, Nicolas Duval (France).
Struck, Taron Lexton (U.S.A).
Lectia de Box (The Boxing Lesson), Alexandru Mavrodineanu (Romania).
The Execution of Solomon Harris, Ed Yonaitis (U.S.A).
Balbezit (Ball Possession), Willemiek Kluijfhout (the Netherlands).

Now in its fourth year, and co-organized with YouTube and the festival's Short Film Corner, the competition is decided by online public voting on the NFB website or YouTube.

Two other Canadian shorts will also be showcased in Cannes at the parallel International Critics' Week event: Next Floor, directed by Denis Villeneuve, and Onde, from writer-director David Coquard-Dassault.

The festival runs through May 25.

With files from the Canadian PressPost a commentPeople have commented on this story Recommend this storyPeople have recommended this storyStory Tools: E-MAIL | PRINT | Text Size: S M L XL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACK

Story comments (0)

Sort:Most recent | First to last | Most recommended

Post your comment

Note: The CBC does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CBC has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Please note that comments are pre-moderated/reviewed and published according to our submission guidelines.

Comment:Characters allowed: 2500PostSubmission policy

Internal Links

2 Canadian shorts to screen in International Critics' Week Canadian co-pro Blindness to open Cannes fest Adoration a return to more intimate filmmaking for Egoyan Latest from Egoyan, Eastwood, Soderbergh vie for Cannes top prize

Video

CBC's Tom Harrington interviews Niv Fichman, Canadian producer of the Cannes festival's opening film (Runs: 5:19)Play: QuickTime »Play: Real Media »

More Film Headlines

Moore plans follow-up to Fahrenheit 9/11 0 0Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore has begun work on sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11 that is to be released in 2009.Dark Canadian co-production kicks off glamorous Cannes film fest 0 0The 61st edition of the lavish Cannes International Film Festival officially gets underway Wednesday night with Blindness, the dark Canadian-Japanese-Brazilian co-production based on the acclaimed Jose Saramago novel. Saskatchewan company upbeat about scary movies 0 0A Regina-based film company known for its acclaimed Canadian miniseries and kids programs is moving into horror flicks.Arcade Fire to score horror film The Box 0 0Arcade Fire is composing the score for Richard Kelly's horror film The Box, according to online sources. Sex and the City movie debuts in London 0 0The Sex and the City stars lit up London's Leicester Square for the world premiere of the cinematic sequel to their New York adventures, delighting fans with glamorous outfits that helped make the show an international hit.

More Arts Headlines

Dark Canadian co-production kicks off glamorous Cannes film fest 0 0The 61st edition of the lavish Cannes International Film Festival officially gets underway Wednesday night with Blindness, the dark Canadian-Japanese-Brazilian co-production based on the acclaimed Jose Saramago novel. Moore plans follow-up to Fahrenheit 9/11 0 0Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore has begun work on sequel to Fahrenheit 9/11 that is to be released in 2009.Former CBC News chief Burman to tackle new post at Al-Jazeera 0 0Less than a year after leaving the CBC, former editor in chief Tony Burman is taking on a top post at news network Al-Jazeera English.Thriller, Joni Mitchell album make the cut for U.S. recording registry 0 0Michael Jackson's iconic pop album Thriller, the original 1956 My Fair Lady cast album and Joni Mitchell's For the Roses are among the latest additions to the U.S. National Recording Registry, the Library of Congress announced Wednesday.High-profile editor Bonnie Fuller resigns from AMI 0 0Bonnie Fuller, the Canadian-born editor of some of the world's highest-profile celebrity magazines, has handed in her resignation as executive vice-president and chief editorial director of American Media Inc.