Cannes. 2006.

By Alison Willmore on 04/20/2006

Announcements and rumors have been trickling out over the past few weeks, but at last, the official selection of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival was announced today. Here they are, in all their linked-out glory (some of the official sites aren't in English):

Opening night:

"The Da Vinci Code" - Ron Howard [IMDb, official site]

Closing:

"Transylvania" - Tony Gatlif [IMDb]

Competition:

"Volver," Pedro Almodóvar [IMDb, official site]
"Red Road," Andrea Arnold [IMDb]
"La Raison Du Plus Faible" - Lucas Belvaux [IMDb]
"Indigènes" - Rachid Bouchareb [IMDb, official site]
"Iklimer" - Nuri Bilge Ceylan [IMDb]
"Marie Antoinette" - Sofia Coppola [IMDb, official site]
"Juventude em Marcha" - Pedro Costa [IMDb]
"Pan's Labyrinth" - Guillermo Del Toro [IMDb, official site]
"Flandres" - Bruno Dumont [IMDb]
"Selon Charlie" - Nicole Garcia [IMDb]
"Quand J'étais Chaunteur" - Xavier Giannoli [IMDb]
"Babel" - Alejandro González Iñárritu [IMDb]
"Laitakaupungin Valot" - Aki Kaurismaki [IMDb]
"Southland Tales," - Richard Kelly [IMDb, official site]
"Fast Food Nation" - Richard Linklater [IMDb]
"The Wind That Shakes The Barley" - Ken Loach [IMDb]
"Summer Palace" - Lou Ye
"Il Caimano" - Nanni Moretti [IMDb]
"L'Amico di Famiglia" - Paolo Sorrentino [IMDb]

Un Certain Regard:

Opening Film: "Paris, Je T'aime" - Everyone [IMDb]

"Bled Number One" - Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche
"Il Registra di Matrimoni" - Marco Bellocchio [IMDb]
"Cronica de Una Fuga" - Israel Adrián Caetano
"Ten Canoes" - Rolf de Heer [IMDb, official site]
"La Tourneuse de Pages" - Denis Dercourt [IMDb]
"Hamaca Paraguaya" - Paz Encina
"Uro" - Stefan Faldbakken [IMDb]
"La Californie" - Jacques Fieschi [IMDb]
"Suburban Mayhem" - Paul Goldman [IMDb, official site]
"Meurtrières" - Patrick Grandperret [IMDb]
"Z Odzysku" - Slawomir Fabicki
"Salvador Puig Antich" - Manuel Huerga [IMDb]
"977" - Nikolay Khomeriki
"A Scanner Darkly" - Richard Linklater [IMDb, official site]
"Cum Mi-Am Petrecut Sfarsitul Lumii (The Way I Spent The End Of The World)" - Catalin Mitulescu [official site]
"Serambi" - Garin Nugroho
"Taxidermie" - György Pálfi [IMDb, official site]
"Gwai wik (Re-cycle)" - Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang [IMDb, official site]
"Bihisht Faqat Baroi Murdagon (To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die)" - Djamshed Usmonov
"El Violin" - Francisco Vargas [IMDb]
"You Am I" - Kristijonas Vildziunas
"Luxury Car" - Wang Chao
"The Unforgiven" - Yoon Jong-bin [IMDb, official site]

Out of competition:

"United 93" - Paul Greengrass [IMDb, official site]
"X-Men: The Last Stand" - Brett Ratner [IMDb. official site]
"Over the Hedge" - Tim Johnson, Karey Kirkpatrick [IMDb, official site]

Midnight screenings:

"Shortbus" - John Cameron Mitchell [IMDb]
"Guisi (Silk)" - Su Chao Pin [IMDb, official site]
"Election 2" - Johnnie To [IMDb]

Clearly, it's Cannes, so there's much over which to salivate: Andrea Arnold's "Red Road," the feature follow-up to her superb, Oscar-winning short "Wasp" ("Red Road" once again stars Nathalie Press); Guillermo Del Toro's incredible-looking "Pan's Labyrinth"; the new Bruno Dumont; Richard Kelly's hotly anticipated sophomore effort ("Donnie Darko" being merely one of the most beloved debuts in the past decade — no pressure, Rich); and the latest from the extremely talented Lou Ye, whose "Suzhou River" is a favorite of ours.

Surprising, the paucity of Asian selections, though. And two Linklaters (!).

And whaddya know — despite the film's showing tendencies toward being the "Chinese Democracy" of high-profile indie projects, it looks like JCM actually finished "Shortbus" after all.

+ The Official Selection (Festival-Cannes.fr)