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| Getting Festive |
| The films to watch at Cannes this year |
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In Competition, Out Of Competition, Un Certain Regard... eh?! So many sections for so many films - what does it all mean? Well, in football terms, In Competition is the Premier League, where the champions win the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm). The so-called 'sidebars' are cup contests, where, let's face it, winning isn't so important or prestigious. So, who's in contention from the kick off? Read on... IN COMPETITION 2046 (Hong Kong) Comme Une Image (France) Le Conseguenze Dell'Amore (The Consequences Of Love) (Italy) Exiles (France) Fahrenheit 911 (US) Innocence (Japan) La Nina Santa (The Holy Girl) (Argentina) Nobody Knows (Japan) Old Boy (South Korea) The Edukators (Germany) The Ladykillers (US) The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers (US-UK) Tropical Malady (Thailand) Woman Is The Future of Man (South Korea) OUT OF COMPETITION Films that can't/don't want to/aren't good enough to screen in competition,but still fancy catching the sunlight of publicity in the South of France. We can't think of a suitable footballing metaphor. Festival opener is Pedro Almodóvar's Bad Education. An Hitchcockian coming-of-age noir from the acclaimed auteur, it's the first Spanish film to open the festival. Festival closer is De-Lovely. Kevin Kline stars as Cole Porter in Irwin Winkler's musical biopic, featuring warbling from the likes of Robbie Williams and Alanis Morissette. Other highlights include Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa; Abbas Kiarostami's Five; jury president Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2; Jean-Luc Godard's Our Music; and swords'n'sandals epic Troy. UN CERTAIN REGARD No prizes here, just the honour of screening at Cannes. So, it really isn't the winning, it's the taking part that counts. Like English clubs in the Champions League. Films to look out for here include another Abbas Kiarostami movie - 10 On Ten; Sean Penn in The Assassination Of Richard Nixon; Brit pic Dear Frankie (starring Emily Mortimer and Gerard Butler); Australian drama Somersault; French director Benoit Jacquot's A Tout De Suite, and the Uruguayan pic Whisky. DIRECTOR'S FORTNIGHT Founded as a response to the political eruptions of 1968 (which saw that year's event abandoned), the Director's Fortnight runs parallel to the main competition and prides itself on being more open and daring than its official counterpart. Some films to watch for: Tarnation (an autobiographical documentary by Jonathan Caouette, about his schizophrenic mother); Asia Argento's The Heart Is Deceitful... Above All Things; and paedophile drama The Woodsman with Kevin Bacon. CRITICS WEEK Founded by the Union Of French Film Critics in 1962, this section is open to first and second-time filmmakers, with the best picture receiving the Grand Prix. We could reel off a list of names, but we have no idea about most of these pics. Atash sounds most intriguing, being a co-production between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. For a full list of films in all of the categories - including the Short Films competition - visit the official Cannes Festival site. Want Nev to see any of these films and report back to you? Email him here
Dir: Wong Kar-wai
Long-awaited science fiction drama from the In The Mood For Love auteur. Stars Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung, who also appears in...
Clean (France-UK)
Dir: Olivier Assayas
...playing a junkie who must go cold turkey so she can win back her son. Cheung's ex-husband, Demonlover director Assayas, is a Cannes regular.
Dir: Agnes Jaoui
A romantic comedy from the director of The Taste Of Others, set in the world of Paris book publishing.
Dir: Paolo Sorrentino
A drama about a bloke waiting in a hotel. Really. That's all we know.
Dir: Tony Gatlif
From the helmer behind Mondo and Swing. Seen 'em? Let us know what they're like.
Dir: Michael Moore
The provocative and patriotic American filmmaker behind Bowling For Columbine examines the links between George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden.
Dir: Mamoru Oshii
A thematic sequel to anime classic Ghost In The Shell, this animation is setin a future world where the boundary between man and machine has blurred.
Life Is A Miracle (France)
Dir: Emir Kusturica
The Bosnian auteur who picked up the Palme d'Or for Underground explores the lonely life of a bloke who builds a railway despite war tearing his life apart.
Dir: Lucrecia Martel
A young girl tries to save the soul of an elderly fella in this drama.
Dir: Hirokazu Koreeda
Dead right. Latest drama from the director of Afterlife.
Dir: Park Chan-wook
From the brain behind the acclaimed Sympathy For Mr Vengeance comes this comic book adaptation about a captive released after 15 years, seeking out those who kidnapped him. Hollywood has already bagged remake rights.
Shrek 2 (US)
Dir: Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, Conrad Vernon
Green ogre. Mike Myers. Scottish accent. You know.
Dir: Hans Weingartner
A love triangle drama about crusading activists accidentally caught up in kidnapping. The director previously worked with Good Bye Lenin! star Daniel Brühl on schizophrenia drama The White Noise.
Dir: Joel and Ethan Coen
A remake of the acerbic British black comedy, starring Tom Hanks as a Southern gentleman thief whose gang must off an old lady.
Dir: Stephen Hopkins
Geoffrey Rush plays the genius/loony English comic, in the highly anticipated biopic from the director of 24.
Dir: Walter Salles
Y Tu Mamá También star Gael García Bernal apparently gives a stunning portrayal of Ché Guevara in this road movie about the revolutionary's early life.
Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
The first Thai film to compete for the Palme d'Or is a science fiction/horror movie about the passionate relationship between two men.
Dir: Hong Sang-soo
Two friends pick over the memories of their relationship with the same girl, in this gentle drama from the director of Turning Gate.
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