50th Semaine de la Critique Lineup

This year the infamous parallel section is 50 years old and their motto, 50 years of discoveries, truly describes the many extraordinary directors that made their debut at this section with the likes of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros to Wong Kar-Wai’s As Tears Go By, Erice’s L’Esprit de la ruche, Crialese’s Respiru and so many more that you can read here.

A few hours ago organizers announced the films that this milestone anniversary conform the Selection and even when they are not yet at the site here are the seven (7) films (only first or second film) that made the Selection plus the other films that are Special Screenings and the Short Films.

The Selection

17 Filles, Delphine and Muriel Coulin, France
Avé, Konstantin Bojanov, Bulgaria and France
Las Acacias, Pablo Giorgelli, Argentina and Spain
(*) הנותנת Hanotenet, Hagar Ben Asher, Israel and Germany
Sauna on Moon, Zou Peng, China
(*) Snowtown, Justin Kurzel, Australia
Take Shelter, Jeff Nichols, USA

(*) First Film, competes for Camera d’Or (not sure about the others, so will wait to confirm)

Jury
President: Lee Chang-dong, director, South Korea

Special Screenings
Opening Film: La Guerre est déclarée, Valérie Donzelli, France
Closing Film: Pourquoi tu pleures?, Katia Lewcowicz, France
Walk away Renée, Jonathan Caouette, USA, France and Belgium
(*) My Little Princess, Eva Ionesco, France (with Isabelle Huppert!)
Mourir auprès de toi, Spike Jonze and Simon Cahn, France (short film)

Short Films

Alexis Ivanovitch vous êtes mon héros, Guillaume Gouix, France
Black Moon, Amie Siegel, USA
Blue, Stephan Kang, New Zealand
Boy, Topaz Adizes, USA
Bul-Myul-Ui-Sa-Na-Ie, Moon Byoung-gon, Korea
Dimanches, Valérie Rosier, Belgium
In Front of the House, Lee Tae-ho, Korea
La inviolabilidad del domicilio se basa en el hombre que aparece empunando un hacha, Alex Piperno, Uruguay and Argentina
Junior, Julia Ducournau, France
Permanencias, Ricardo Alves Junior, Brazil

Jury
President: Jerzy Skolimowski, actor, producer, scriptwriter and director, Poland

To check films at official site please go here. Suggest to watch video as has photos from films and also, English subtitles!

Watch Trailers @MOC

I know is extraordinary news but the more I learn about the movies in this year Cannes the more women directors I find; still it’s starting to look as if it was done “on purpose”. I really hope that’s just my twisted imagination and that all selected directors (no matter the genre) truly deserve to be in the many selections. Sigh.

Tribute Series

As we know in May, La Semaine de la Critique will celebrate its 50th year. Since 1962, La Semaine de la Critique has been unwavering in its dedication to discovering new talent through showcasing directors’ first and second feature films from all over the world. This anniversary gives us the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to all of the filmmakers who made their debuts with us.

All around the world, Festivals and Cinemas have agreed to help celebrate our 50 years of discovery, by presenting tribute series or retrospectives of important films originally selected by La Semaine de la Critique.

The tour started on March 18th at Los Angeles County Museum of Art and will travel to Lebanon, Thailand, South Korea, India, Belgium, Peru, USA, Brazil, and many cities in France. But most interesting is that MUBI will be part of the event by programming some films selected at La Semaine de la Critique over the last 20 years. Films will be available from May 12th all over the world at MUBI site. I really hope that “all over the world” means exactly what it says and MUBI has the rights to all countries and not just some.

The Posters

This year for a change I really like the posters with scenes from movies, so the poster that opens the post comes from Barbet Schroeder’s More and the following are from Bernardo Bertolucci’s Prima della Rivolozione, Wong Kar-wai’s Wang jiao ka men (As Tears Go By), Jaques Audiard’s Regarde Les Hommes Tomber and, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Amores Perros. Enjoy!