|
|
Asia-Pacific
Cannes Film Festival And Selections
Asians to Carry the Torch at Cannes
By Gautaman Bhaskaran South Asia Editor
 | Cannes Film Festival And Selections |
As the only Indian work at the Cannes Film Festival that runs from May 12 to 23, Vikramaditya Motwane¡¯s ¡°Udaan¡± certainly holds a special place. It may not be part of the top Competition slot, but having been chosen after a long Indian hiatus at what is widely believed to be the Queen of Movie Festivals, ¡°Udaan¡± deserves to be applauded. More so, because it is Motwane¡¯s first feature. Produced by the newly established Anurag Kashyap Films, ¡°Udaan¡± is three-hours long and is the story of a boy as he grows up in an emotional vacuum. Having studied in a boarding school, he has not seen his father for eight years, and the movie – starring television actors Ronit Roy and Ram Kapoor and debutant Rajat Barmecha – traces their relationship as it struggles to take off. Motwane¡¯s work, as part of the second most important section at Cannes, ¡°A Certain Regard¡±, will screen along with the creations of heavyweights, such as Jean-Luc Godard (¡°Socialisme¡±), the auteur credited with the French New Wave, 102-year-old Manoel de Oliveira (¡°The Strange Case of Angelica¡±) and Lodge Kerrigan (¡°Rebecca H¡±) among others. More significantly, ¡°Udaan¡¯s¡± selection reaffirms that there is a cinema in India which goes beyond Bollywood and its formulaic song-dance-fight sequences. And, there are people who believe in the immense potential of such cinema.Before ¡°Udaan¡± was chosen, Motwane¡¯s claim to fame was his association with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The young director had helped Bhansali with ¡°Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam¡± and ¡°Devdas¡± (screened in Cannes in 2002 as part of the Special section). Motwane wrote the ¡°Udaan¡± script in 2003, but could not find money to film it. Some found the script hollow without conviction, some others lambasted the concept. Till, he met Anurag Kashyap, who agreed to finance the movie and write the dialogue. The shooting took just 42 days. The inclusion of an Indian film after seven years (Murali Nair¡¯s ¡°Arimpara¡± in A Certain Regard in 2003 was the last) also coincides with a strong Asian presence at Cannes this year, its 63rd edition. And Korean helmers are leading the brigade. South Korea¡¯s Im Sang-soo¡¯s ¡°The Housemaid¡± – a remake of a 1960s classic thriller with the same title – and Lee Chang-dong¡¯s ¡°Poetry¡± will compete for the Festival¡¯s most cherished Palm d¡¯Or. Lee¡¯s ¡°Secret Sunshine¡± ran for the prize in 2007, and clinched the best actress award for Jeon Do-yeon. Also in Competition are Japan¡¯s Takeshi Kitano with his ¡°Outrage¡±, where the auteur returns to the gangster genre, and Thai newcomer Apichatpong Weerasethakul with ¡°Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives¡±. It tackles a profound theme like karma and reincarnation. In the A Certain Regard, Korean director Hong Sang-soo¡¯s romance, ¡°Ha Ha Ha¡±, Japanese auteur Hideo Nakata¡¯s English work, ¡°Chatroom¡± and Chinese helmer Xiaoshuai Wang¡¯s ¡°Chongqing Blues¡± will be featured along with movies from other parts of the world. As usual, Cannes has gone in for a mix of the known and the unknown faces. We have Woody Allen (¡°You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger¡± with India¡¯s Freida Pinto in it), Oliver Stone (¡°Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps¡±) and Stephen Frears (¡°Tamara Drewe¡±) to add a dash of zing to Out of Competition cinema. I am told Allen did not want his work to compete, and the Festival agreed.Giants like Mike Leigh (¡°Another Year¡±), Alejandro González Iñárritu (¡°Biutiful¡±), Abbas Kiarostami (¡°Certified Copy¡±) and Bertrand Tavernier (¡°The Princess of Montpensier¡±) will enrich the Competition. So too will Nikita Mikhalkov (¡°Burnt By The Sun 2¡±) and Rachid Bouchareb (¡°Outside the Law¡± — and whose ¡°Days of Glory¡± was a highly tipped Cannes contender in 2006, where the eventual winner was Ken Loach¡¯s ¡°The Wind That Shakes the Barley¡±) These are big festival names that do not go wrong easily.With Leigh, Frears and Ridley Scott (his ¡°Robin Hood¡± will open the Festival) at Cannes, this seems like a great year for the Brits as well, and it is no secret that they have had a lean period in recent times. Though not as terrible as India¡¯s! The Americans must be disappointed: only one Competition entry from Doug Liman. His ¡°Fair game¡± is strong on cast, and includes the irresistible Sean Penn (who chaired the Cannes jury in 2008), Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts. She also stars in Allen¡¯s work.Now for Cannes¡¯ surprises, which are no longer a surprise, for they have become an annual ritual: Xavier Beauvois¡¯ ¡°Of Gods and Men¡±, Daniele Luchetti¡¯s ¡°La nostra vita¡±, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun¡¯s ¡°A Screaming Man¡± , Mathieu Amalric¡¯s ¡°Tournee¡± and Sergey Loznitsa¡¯s ¡°You, My Joy¡±. Incidentally, some more films will snuggle up the Red Carpet before the projectors signal the start of the Festival. Gautaman Bhaskaran will be at Cannes for the 20th time this year.
Related Articles Tiger Man Mike Pandey Egypt's First Edition of El Gouna Film ... El Gouna Film Festival Opens with Sheikh ... New Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival to Add ... India Stands Shamed after Racial Attacks near ... The Dashing Pedro Almodovar to Chair Cannes ... Korean Cinema Comes to Chennai in India The Horror of Custodial Death Modi Is the Man We Need in India Mumbai¡¯s Child King The Cocktail at Cannes Cannes Film Fest Begins on a Hollywood Note Mumbai Terrorized Again Venice Lines Up Impressive Jury Cannes Film Fest Begins on a Delightful Note No Indian Movie at the Festival Meaningless Film Censorship This Bloody Life! Mumbai and Pusan Film Fest Establish Ties On Road, in Rage India Picks Wrong Films for Oscars Robert De Niro to Head Cannes Film Fest Jury Someone Killed Jessica, But of Course! Middle Eastern Cinema Hits Hard Dubai Film Fest Opener Dubai Film Fest to Unravel Diverse Selection Indian Police Cut Corners to Tackle Crime Goa Festival Not God's Own "West Is West" Sets IFFI Sailing Fine Cinema at the Coming Dubai Film Festival "The King's Speech" to Set the Fest Rolling Abu Dhabi Film Festival a Fantastic Mix of ... "Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema" ... The Venetian Storm Frieda's Venice Jafar Panahi's Music Soothes Souls "Black Swan" Opens Venice Festival Festival to Bounce with Youthful Energy Shame and Scandal Plague Commonwealth Games Child Needs Compassion, Not Cane A Beast Called Beauty Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema Bhopal Gas Tragedy: A Crime Called Bhopal Honour Killings Are India's Shame Cannes Film Festival And Poetry Cannes More Art Than Glamour This Time An Indian Pilgrimage to Cannes Maoist Rebellion in India Cannes Film Festival and Probables "Robin Hood" to Open Cannes Film Festival Persecution of Artists The Only Two Real Races This Year Curry Bashing in Australia US Director Tim Burton to Lead Cannes Jury India's Car Boom Creates Its Own Chaos Making Idiots Out of Men Indian Girls Find Paris Hilton¡¯s Shoes Too Hot Mexican Film Wins Top Prize at Marrakech Ben Kingsley Hopes to Be an Envoy for Cinema Movie Director Hopes Obama Would Solve the ... Nandita Das on Marrakech Jury A Decaying Film Festival Marrakech Festival a Boon for Local Cinema Panorama Selection Questionable IFFI to Open on a Note of Visual Lyricism South Korea to Be Focus at the Film Fest Dalai Lama¡¯s Tawang Visit Vexes Beijing Why Mumbai Film Fest Scores over Goa Mumbai¡¯s Young Movie Critics Ready to Tear ... India Is Still Hungry for Food Honor Killing through Lens at Mumbai Festival 11th Mumbai Film Festival to Open with Matt ... Film Festival to Showcase Some Gems Can India Host 2010 Commonwealth Games? A New Irritant in India-China Ties The Venetian Sorrow The Tiger War Israeli War Film Wins Venice¡¯s Top Golden Lion Politicians Livid over Festival Movie "Bad Lieutenant" Creates Bad Blood between Two ... Clooney and Damon Star Attractions at Venice Muslim Bashing Must End Mumbai Film Festival Prizes to Be among the ... An Indian Juror in De Sica Land India's Gays Can Now Love without Fear Moore's "Capitalism," 70 Other Films to ... An Indian Summer at the Lagoon City Festival May Be Strong on European Fare A Tamil Film with a Difference Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:
But ... India Is Racist Too Hollywood Bungles in Bollywood The Tragic Tale of the Indian Tiger Cannes Jury Honors Chilling Tales Lars Von Trier¡¯s Sex and Horror Gems and the Cannes Film Festival Market and the Cannes Film Festival Keats Poetry, Campion¡¯s Reading Lou Ye¡¯s Controversial Disaster Clash of Titans on the Croisette Sexy Sirens and Political Propagandists Is Sharmila Tagore the Right Choice for Cannes ... The Stars in Cannes¡¯ Dark Skies Cannes Courts Controversy Indian Elections: A Circus of Villains Festival Unveils Lineup of Masters Beyond Bollywood¡¯s Melodramatic Mishmash India's Infrastructure at Breaking Point Guessing the Festival Goodies Kate Winslet the New Face of Brilliance Tarantino¡¯s ¡®Basterds¡¯ to Spit Fire at Fest Animated Film, Up, to Open Festival Smoking Screen Oscar-Rich Penelope Set to Master English Cannes Honours Clint Eastwood Renowned French Star to Chair Cannes Jury Fable of Mr Benjamin Button: Riveting Cinema The Mangalore Molest Aamir Khan Film Is a Bad Copy It May Well Be the End of Agony in Sri Lanka Woody Allen¡¯s "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" International Film Festival of India Mumbai Terror Marrakech Int'l Film Festival Has Grown Marrakech Int'l Film Festival Marrakech International Film Festival Shambled Secularism Benegal¡¯s Sajjanpur Birdwatchers Venice Festival Blues Venice under the Hollywood Spell ? A Riveting Movie on Islam's Crisis Venice Festival a Haven for World Premieres Pakistani Films Come to India, at Last! Tamil Super Hero Rises Again The Comic Fantasy The Smoking Screen! Bollywood and Beyond at Stuttgart New Film May Spell Hope for Bollywood Indian Cinema Feeds Deceit An Indian Film on an American Power Plant India Not At Cannes Cannes Line-Up Writer Taslima Nasreen Forced Out of India India Inspires World Fashion Mills & Boon "Jodhaa Akbar" Creates Controversy in India Sania Mirza Subject to Ridicule in Native India Sarkozy and Bruni Love Causes Moral Outrage India and the Oscars Marrakech International Film Festival Reviewed Paranoid Park Cannes 2007: Killings The Spy Case The Good and the Not So Good Bollywood Superman First Kashmiri Film in 20 Years Chinese Influence Seems Unstoppable Cannes Film Festival 2006: Minimalism, Too Cannes Fest Prizes Cannes Film Festival 2006: Great Delights The Da Vinci Code Missing Tigers The Despair of Tibetans Trilateral Stratagem To Slow China's Growth Sri Lanka Crisis Hollywood Movies Doing Well In India Peace Pipe Mangal Pandey: The Rising Honda Clash Bush-Manmohan Singh Pact Satyajit Ray, Still India's Most Noted Movie ... Ban on Cigarettes in India "Match Point" Excoriated by Britons Crisis In India¡¯s Hindu Nationalist Party Manmohan Singh¡¯s One Year 58th Cannes International Film Festival Begins Indo-Pakistan Cricket Diplomacy U.S. Visa Refusal The 7th Deauville Asian Film Festival Closes Seedy Film Journalism Indian Tigers Butchered in Broad Daylight No Oscar for Scorsese, Yet Again Nepal in Turmoil As King Sacks PM Deuba History Repeats in Struggle for Free Press India Could Have Prevented Tsunami Deaths Argue over Freedom on Internet "City of Gold" Dubai Stands like Oasis in ... Towards a Solution to the Kashmir Problem India & China Rising Bush Victory and India Indian Robinhood After 9/11, World Links Muslim with Violence India's Great Heritage Taj Mahal in Danger "Kashmir": A Never Ending Thorny Issue The Village -- A Silly Joke Jakarta Bombing Aimed at Aussie ... Millions of Indians Go to Bed Hungry Sri Lanka's Ethnic War Knows No End Over 600 Tibetan Monks, Nuns Should Be Freed India's Schoolgirl Killer Hanged in Controversy 3 Kidnapped Indians Endure Agonizing Torture Musharraf's Sets Deadline on Kashmir Usefulness of Nepalese Monarchy in Question Temple of Learning Turns into Grave of Death AIDS Keeps Threatening the Poor in Asia, Africa Fearful of Dowry Parents Kill Newborn Girls Hot Discussion on Death Penalty in India India's Flag of Democracy Kept Unfurled Politics Dominates Cannes Int'l Film Festival Intolerance Grows before India General Election Fears of Strife Continue in Sri Lanka Torture, Rape Occur in Indian Classroom World Leaders Must Take Stand against Nukes India's Cities Prosper as Country Folk Starve India, Pakistan Form Friendly Ties Cell Phones Bring Joy, Sorrow World Over
Other Articles by Gautaman Bhaskaran
Tiger Man Mike Pandey Egypt's First Edition of El Gouna Film ... El Gouna Film Festival Opens with Sheikh ... New Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival to Add ... India Stands Shamed after Racial Attacks ...
Gautaman Bhaskaran is a veteran film critic and writer who has covered Cannes and other major international festivals, like Venice, Berlin, Montreal, Melbourne, and Fukuoka over the past two decades. He has been to Cannes alone for 15 years. He has worked in two of India¡¯s leading English newspapers, The Hindu and The Statesman, and is now completing an authorized biography of India¡¯s auteur-director, Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Penguin International will publish the book, whose research was funded by Ford Foundation.
back
|
|
|
|
|