Stellar Gallic duo: Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert in Guillaume Nicloux’s Valley Of Love, a late addition to the Cannes Competition |
The final additional titles for the 2015 Cannes Competition and the sidebar Un Certain Regard were announced earlier today (23 April) by the Festival organisers, and include a first film in the official selection from Ethiopia - Lamb by Yared Zeleke.
Artistic director Thierry Frémaux altogether added nine titles to the slate, including two which will vie for top prize the Palme d’Or: Michel Franco’s Chronic and Guillaume Niicloux’s Valley Of Love (with Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert).The opening slot of Un Certain Regard will be Naomi Kawase’s Sweet Red Bean Paste, adapted from the novel An by Japanese author Tetsuya Akikawa.
French directors coming to the fore in the late additions, besides Nicloux, will include Gaspard Noé with Love (a sexually explicit love triangle from the director of Irreversible) and Robert Guédiguian with Don’t Tell Me The Boy Was Mad, his 19th feature, dealing with a young Frenchman with Armenian roots who bombs the Turkish ambassador’s car.
With Jacques Audiard, Maiwenn, Valerie Donzelli and Stephane Brize also in the Competition this looks to be a strong year for French directors.
The Yolanda typhoon disaster forms the background to Filipino director Brillante Mendoza’s Taklub, while Michel Franco is the only Latin American director this year with his English language title Chronic.
Extra titles in Competition
Chronic (Michel Franco)
Valley Of Love (Guillaume Nicloux)
Un Certain Regard
Alias Maria (José Luis Rugeles Gracia)
Taklub (Brillante Mendoza)
Lamb (Yared Zeleke)
Cemetery Of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Sweet Red Bean Paste (Naomi Kawase): Opening title in Un Certain Regard
Extra Special Screening
Don’t Tell Me The Boy Was Mad / Une Histoire De Fou (Robert Guédiguian)
Extra Midnight Screening
Love (Gaspar Noé)