Cannes 2008 full line-up announced

Who will win the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes?

Not a British director, that's for sure – the Cannes film festival announced its 2008 line-up this morning (April 23) and only two British filmmakers will show films in the official selection, and neither of them in the main competition.

One of those filmmakers is Terence Davies, director of 'Distant Voices, Still Lives' and 'The House of Mirth', whose new documentary, 'Of Time and the City', a poetic meditation on his home town of Liverpool, will show out-of-competition as one of five 'special screenings' at Cannes, alongside a 'redux' version of Wong Kar-wai's 1994 film, 'Ashes of Time'.

A number of the world's greatest filmmakers will unveil new films at the festival. Cannes regular, Wim Wenders returns with 'The Palermo Shooting', a romantic thriller about a photographer on the run in Europe, Turkish master Nuri Ceylan brings his fifth feature, 'Three Monkeys' to the Croisette, Walter Salles will show 'Linha de Passe', and Pablo Trapero will screen 'Leonera'.

Belgium's Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are in with a chance of winning the Palme d'Or for the third time: their 'Le Silence de Lorna' plays in competition.

Clint Eastwood is back at Cannes with 'Changeling', a period drama about a mother who is reunited with her abducted son. Angelina Jolie plays the mother.

Before the announcement, rumours were flying around that Steven Soderbergh would not be able to finish his two-film study of Che Guevara in time. The rumours were unfounded: both 'Guerilla' and 'The Argentine' will play at the festival. Benecio del Toro plays Che in both films.

The rumours also suggested that Woody Allen's new film, 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona', shot in Barcelona with Scarlett Johansson and Penélope Cruz, would not be selected by Cannes. In fact, the film will play in an out-of-competition slot.

As previously announced, Sean Penn heads up the jury looking to award the Palme d'Or. He will be joined by Natalie Portman, Alfonso Cuaron, Rachid Bouchareb, Alexandra Maria Lara, Sergio Castellitto and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Fans of Charlie Kaufman, writer of the Michel Gondry films 'Human Nature' and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', will be pleased to know that his directorial debut 'Synecdoche, New York, starring Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Samantha Morton, will play in competition.

As expected, Steven Spielberg's 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' will receive its world premiere at the festival.

Young British director Thomas Clay will present his second feature, 'Soi Cowboy' in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival. In 2005, Clay showed his debut, 'The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael' in the Critics' Week selection of the festival, where its borrowed histrionics and awkward violence generally didn't go down very well with British critics.

As ever, Time Out Film will report from Cannes and bring you reviews of all the main films as and when they screen.

THE FULL LINE-UP

Competition
Nuri Bilge Ceylan – 'Three Monkeys'
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne – 'Le Silence De Lorna'
Arnaud Desplechin – 'A Christmas Story'
Clint Eastwood – 'Changeling'
Atom Egoyan – 'Adoration'
Ari Folman – 'Waltz With Bashir'
Philippe Garrel – 'La Frontiere De L'Aube'
Matteo Garrone – 'Gomorra'
Charlie Kaufman – 'Synecdoche, New York'
Eric Khoo – 'My Magic'
Lucretia Martel – 'La Mujer Sin Cabeza'
Brillante Mendoza – 'Serbis'
Kornel Mondruczo – 'Delta'
Walter Salles – 'Linha De Passe''
Paolo Sorrentino – 'Il Divo'
Pablo Trapero – 'Leonera'
Wim Wenders – 'The Palermo Shooting'
Jia Zhangke – '24 City'
Steven Soderbergh – 'Guerrilla and The Argentine'

Un Certain Regard
Bong Joon Ho, Leos Carax, Michel Gondry – 'Tokyo!'
Antonio Campos – 'Afterschool'
Chung Mong-Hong – 'Ting Che'
Thomas Clay – 'Soi Cowboy'
Raymond Depardon – 'La Vie Moderne'
Andreas Dresen – 'Wolke 9'
Sergey Dvortsevoy – 'Tulpan'
Amat Escalante – 'Los Bastardos'
Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige – 'Je Veux Voir'
Bent Hamer – 'O'Horten'
Annemarie Jacir – 'Milh Hadha Al-Bahr'
Kiyoshi Kurosawa – 'Tokyo Sonata'
Fendou Liu – 'Yi Ban Haishui, Yi Ban Huoyan'
Matheus Nachtergaele – 'A Festa Da Menina Morta'
Ruben Ostlund – 'De Ofrivilliga'
Kelly Reichardt – 'Wendy And Lucy'
Jean-Stephane Sauvaire – 'Johnny Mad Dog'
Pierre Schoeller – 'Versailles'
James Toback – 'Tyson'

Out of competition
Steven Spielberg – 'Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull'
Mark Osborne and John Stevenson – 'Kung Fu Panda'
Ji-Woon Kim – 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird'
Woody Allen – 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona'

Special screenings
Marina Zenovich – 'Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'
Wong Kar-wai – 'Ashes Of Time Redux'
Daniel Leconte – 'C'est Dur D'etre Aime Par Des Cons'
Marco Tullio Giordana – 'Sangue Pazzo'
Terence Davies – 'Of Time And The City'

Midnight Screenings
Emir Kusturica – 'Maradona'
Jennifer Lynch – 'Surveillance'
Hong-Jin Na – 'The Chaser'

Special Jury President's Screening
Alison Thompson – 'The Third Wave'

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