YESTERDAY Samir Farid attended the opening of the 66th Cannes Festival with The Great Gatsby, a 3-D take on F Scott Fitzerald's classic directed by the great Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaoprio. It was an out-of-competition screening, and the second Luhrmann film to open Cannes after his 2001 masterpiece Moulan Rouge. This year the festival includes 84 premieres from 26 countries, 57 of which are full-length features. With India as the guest of honour of this round, the festival includes two Palestinian films: Hani Abu Assad's Omar in Un Certain Regard and the brothers Mohammed and Ahmad Abou Nasser's Condom Lead in the short film competition (participating as a Palestinian production). The official competition includes the following films: Behind the candelabra directed by Steven Soderbergh Borgman directed by Alex Van Warmerdam Grigris directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Heli directed by Amat Escalante Inside llewyn davis directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Jeune & jolie (Young & beautiful) directed by François Ozon Jimmy P. (Psychotherapy of a plains indian) directed by Arnaud Desplechin La grande bellezza (THE GREAT BEAUTY) directed by Paolo Sorrentino La vénus à la fourrure (Venus in fur) directed by Roman Polanski La vie d'adèle - chapitre 1 & 2 (Blue is the warmest colour) directed by Abdellatif Kechiche Le passé (The past) directed by Asghar Farhadi Michael kohlhaas directed by Arnaud Des pallières Nebraska directed by Alexander Payne Only god forgives directed by Nicolas Winding refn Only lovers left alive directed by Jim Jarmusch Soshite chichi ni naru (Like Father, Like Son) directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu The immigrant directed by James GRAY Tian zhu ding (A TOUCH OF SIN) directed by Jia Zhangke Un château en italie (A CASTLE IN ITALY) directed by Valeria Bruni tedeschi Wara no tate (Shield of Straw) directed by Takashi Miike
