Start - Kadr

The 61st Cannes Film Festival began with a press show of the film "Blindness" of the Brazilian director Fernando Meyrellsh yesterday the next Cannes International Film Festival opened. Having exchanged the seventh ten, the main world film forum decided to younger: the presence of classic directors in the competitive program, usually exceeding half, was reduced to a third.

Until the official opening, held last night and preceded by the traditional passage of stars along the red carpet (residents and tourists reserved observation positions already three hours before the ceremony), the press managed to defend a long line into the Debyussi Hall to the Brazilian Meyrellsh’s film “Blind”, in which Julianna Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gael Garcia Burnal were shot. And even meet with the film crew.

Coproduction - the production of the era of globalization - partly deprives the theme of national representative offices in Cannes: most competitive work (21 film) - precisely co -products. But since no one has canceled competitive traditions, the fact that the so -called “Week of Critics” was invited to one of the most promising events of the festival, Valery Gai -Germanic (“Everyone will die, and I will stay”), and the “Special look” programs by documentary player Sergey Paulpan (“Tulip”), although it morally compensates for the absence of Russians in a large competition.

Of the classics in the festival, VIM Wenders, Philip Garrel, the Egoyan atom, the Cannes Grand Prix of 20 years ago Stephen Sodelberg, twice Grand Prixes of the Dardenn brothers, finally, Klint Eastwood, participate. This Cannes old -timer (on May 31 he will be 78 years old) was both convicted and the judge: it was he who once gave the “gold palm branch” of Tarantino for the “criminal reading”, depriving Mikhalkov’s “weary of the sun” by the highest reward. Now Eastwood again went to the contestants.

The winners of 2007, Romanians, are absent this year. The only place from Eastern Europe in the competition is given to the 33-year-old Hungary Cornel Mundrujo ("Delta"). In the Asian representative office, the films of China, the Philippines and Singapore went around Japan and Korea. Special hopes in Cannes are associated with Latin American cinema. Just like in the opera, where Latin America has recently supplies the main young tenors.

It’s too early to talk about a competitive intrigue. But as a possible application for it, one can consider the directorial debut of the famous Hollywood screenwriter of the 50 -year -old Charlie Kaufman - the film “Sinecdoha. New York "about a crazy director who, for a theater production, decided to make a copy of New York-size.

As always, the Strategy of the Cannes Film Festival is the search for new names. And as always, they are waiting for revelations from a “special look” - an out -of -competition, but significant program of an informal cinema. One of the most honorable events remains the “two-week directors”, exactly 40 years ago during the student unrest of 1968, invented by Jean-Luc Godard as an alternative to official cinema. Then, by the way, the Cannes Film Festival was torn off, so the current 40th anniversary of the “two-week” will be celebrated with a large pump.

And, as usual, loud Cannes premieres are waiting for connoisseurs of cinema. Harrison Ford will present the fourth series of Indiana Jones, which will be released on May 22 in Russian rental. Scarlet Johansson will come to the presentation of Woody Allen's out -of -end film “Vicki Christina Barcelona”. As for the competitive participants, Angelina Jolie, who played the main role among Clint Eastwood, and Benisio del Toro, the performer of Che Guevara, in the contest of Sodaberg “Che”, by the way, already bought by the Russian company Paradise, are waiting for specially impatience.

Views of competitive films are held in the Debussi hall from 8.30 in the morning. The jury was headed by Sean Penn this year. It is almost impossible for those who did not take care of tickets in advance: the quota, which remained after the distribution of accreditation to reporters (their number on the first festival day exceeded 2 thousand), the Knight Cleaning participants and other guests, the Cannes mayor have long distributed among honorary citizens of the city.

05/15/2008 / Olga Galitskaya / Cannes Material published in the newspaper No. 88 of 05/15/2008.