Cannes, fests, events, 5/12.

By David Hudson on 05/12/2009

For her overview of the Cannes Film Festival in the International Herald Tribune, Joan Dupont notes that the "president of the festival, Gilles Jacob, has published a memoir, 'La vie passera comme un rêve' ('Life Goes By in a Dream'), revealing old grudges and discreet crushes - who would have thought? He tells tales on capricious Coppola and Cimino, and heaps praise on the bewitching Isabelles - Adjani and Huppert, this year's jury president. Mr Jacob has passed some of his power to Thierry Frémaux," with whom she chats about this year's lineup. "So what's new? A feast of horror and gore."

Jacob's book, by the way, tops Peter Bradshaw's annotated list of 10 Cannes-related books, which you can find in the Guardian's special Cannes section - where, too, Angelique Chrisafis talks with Isabelle Huppert. Related: Le Point's photo gallery of jury members.

Another special Cannes section to poke around in: the Telegraph's.

"Variety will for the first time in more than a decade be producing its daily Cannes edition entirely from its LA offices, cutting costs by paying overtime to a skeleton crew in LA working a two-week nightshift from Opening Night to the May 24th Palme d'Or awards ceremonies," notes Rex Weiner, who argues in the Huffington Post that "the lack of serious coverage by industry journalists may prove to be [the] death knell" of the festival itself. Far as I can tell, he's serious.

The American Pavilion, "which serves as a communication and hospitality center for the thousands of Americans in Cannes, will be an important hub for indieWIRE during the upcoming Festival de Cannes and will feature a daily roster of events and programming."

For Cahiers du Cinéma (and in French), Bill Krohn talks with Francis Ford Coppola about "Tetro," which'll be opening this year's Directors' Fortnight.

"Geoff Gilmore, Cameron Bailey, Janet Pierson and Sky Sitney - four of the biggest names in the North American film festival world - gathered in Toronto last week to share their thoughts on the future." Peter Knegt has "eleven choice quotes" at indieWIRE.

MoMA's Kim Longinotto retrospective runs through May 23. Michael Tully talks with her at Hammer to Nail.

Via Andy Horbal: The schedule for Pittburgh's summertime "Cinema in the Parks" series.

The Chicago Reader's Ed M Koziarski: "Linda Garcia Merchant's documentary 'Sweet Words, Bitter Words,' featuring six solo performances by members of 'LGBTQQ' Latina spoken word group La Dulce Palabra, premieres Thursday as part of the National Museum of Mexican Art's 'Sor Juana Festival: A Tribute to Mexican Women.'"

More Cannes? Coverage of the coverage: Cannes 2009.

[Photo: Detail from the cover for Gilles Jacob's "La vie passera comme un rêve," Robert Laffont, 2009]

Tags: Cannes 2009, Francis Ford Coppola, Isabelle Huppert, Kim Longinotto, Tetro