Cannes 2012: First look

List of films that will premiere at Cannes in 2012.

LOS ANGELES:

Brad Pitt and Nicole Kidman are expected to be among the famous faces on the Cannes red carpet this year, as organisers unveiled the 2012 line-up in Paris on Thursday. Officials are hoping that the blend of Hollywood star power and auteur from around the globe will help the world’s biggest film festival recover from the controversy of last year, when Danish director Lars Von Trier was expelled for making Nazi jokes during a press conference.

Pitt’s latest film Killing Them Softly directed by New Zealand-born Andrew Dominik is in the main competition line-up at the May 16-27 event that previews new films.

Canada’s David Cronenberg is also in competition with Cosmopolis starring Twilight heart-throb Robert Pattinson, while the director’s son Brandon is in the smaller Un Certain Regard selection with his debut Antiviral.

Twilight fans will also be keen to get their teeth into On the Road, directed by Brazilian Walter Salles, which is an adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s classic novel. Among its cast is Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart, alongside Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst.

There are several previous winners of the coveted Palme d’Or for best picture that are up for the main prize again this year. Some of the films in this category are Austria’s Michael Haneke (Amour/Love), Britain’s Ken Loach (The Angel’s Share) and Romania’s Cristian Mungiu (Beyond the Hills).

Hollywood is in the frame with the third instalment of the hit Madagascar animation series, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, which is in 3D.

As previously announced, the festival will open with Wes Anderson’s 1960s drama Moonrise Kingdom, starring Bruce Willis and Bill Murray. The story revolves around two young lovers who run away from their New England homes prompting locals to send out a search party.

The closing film in 2012 will be Claude Miller’s Therese Desqueyroux, in honour of the French director who died shortly after completing the picture. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2012.