The Dish Rag

Clint Eastwood, 'Kung Fu Panda' Head to Cannes

Zap2It.com | April 23, 2008
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New films from Atom Egoyan, Steven Soderbergh, Wim Wenders and Charlie Kaufman also make the Cannes slate

Clint Eastwood's "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie, is one of several high profile American films going for the Palme d'Or at next month's Cannes Film Festival.

While the official Cannes lineup, which was announced on Wednesday, April 23, includes big names and former winners, several of the biggest movies at the Festival will be screening out-of-competition. While they may not be going for the Palme, expect Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull," Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and the DreamWorks Animation comedy "Kung Fu Panda" to generate more than their share of buzz.

What, you thought the American press was going to concentrate more on Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne's quest for a third Palme d'Or was "The Silence of Lorna"? As if.

Other previous Palme d'Or winners with new films in competition include Wim Wenders with "The Palermo Shooting" and Steven Soderbergh, whose two-part -- "Guerrilla" and "The Argentine" -- biopic of Che Guevara stars Benicio Del Toro. Since Soderbergh's film is technically a Spanish production, Cannes will only include two American films this year, Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's directing debut "Synecdoche, New York" and "Changeling."

While Eastwood has never taken the Palme d'Or, the "Changeling" director has brought four previous films into the Cannes competition, most recently "Mystic River" and "Bird."

Among the other Cannes veterans returning to competition are Atom Egoyan ("Adoration), Walter Salles ("Linha de passe"), Arnaud Desplechin ("A Christmas Tale"), Nuri Bilge Ceylan ("Daydreams"), Lucrecia Martel (La mujer sin cabeza) and Jia Zhangke ("24 City").

Your 20 film competition slate: "24 City," (Jia Zhangke, China) "Adoration," (Atom Egoyan, Canada) "Changeling," (Clint Eastwood, U.S.) "Che" ("The Argentine," "Guerrilla,") (Steven Soderbergh, Spain) "Un Conte de noel," (Arnaud Desplechin, France) "Daydreams," (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey) "Delta," (Kornel Mundruczo, Germany-Hungary) "Il Divo," (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy) "Gomorra," (Matteo Garrone, Italy) "La Frontiere de l'aube," (Philippe Garrel, France) "Leonera," (Pablo Trapero, Argentina-South Korea) "Linha de Passe," (Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas, Brazil) "La Mujer sin cabeza," (Lucrecia Martel, Argentina) "My Magic," (Eric Khoo, Singapore) "The Palermo Shooting," (Wim Wenders, Germany) "Serbis," (Brillante Mendoza, Philippines) "The Silence of Lorna," (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne (U.K.-France) "Synecdoche, New York," (Charlie Kaufman, U.S.) "Waltz With Bashir," (Ari Folman, Israel)

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