Following his rejection of an out-of-competition slot, Francis Ford Coppola will unveil Tetro as the opening film of this year’s Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes film festival (May 13 - 23).

Francis Ford Coppola

Last week, the filmmaker released a statement saying he had turned down an out-of-competition invitation to the festival: “While I very much appreciate the invitation, this is an independent film, self-financed and self-released, and I felt that being invited for a non-competition gala screening wasn’t true to the personal and independent nature of this film.”

The rest of the line-up for the Fortnight includes 23 features of which seven are first films and eligible to compete for the Camera d’Or.

The US and France have a strong presence in the sidebar with other films spread out over Canada, Europe and Asia.

There is also a trio of titles from Sundance: Cherien Dabis’ well-received Amreeka, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa’s I Love You Philip Morris, and Lynn Shelton’s Humpday which sold to Magnolia in Park City for mid-six figures.

The line-up also includes five films from directing duos:

  • Benny and Josh Safdie, Go Get Some Rosemary
  • Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, La Pivellina
  • Nobuhiro Suwa and Hyppolyte Girardot, Yuki & Nina
  • Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, I Love You Philip Morris
  • Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Ajami

Ajami has also been selected to close the event.

Veteran directors include:

  • Denis Villeneueve with Polytechnique (Canada)
  • Luc Moullet with La Terre De La Folie (France)
  • Pedro Costa with Ne Change Rien (Portugal)
  • Hong San-Soo with Like You Know It All (South Korea)

Meanwhile, first films that will also compete for the Camera d’Or:

  • Les Beaux Gosses by Riad Sattouf
  • Eastern Plays by Kamen Kalev
  • Daniel Y Ana by Michel Franco
  • Here by Tzu-Nyen Ho
  • La Famille Wolberg from Axelle Ropert
  • Karoake, dir: Chain Fui (Chris) Chong
  • Ajami by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani

There will be also be a special screening of Montparnasse by director Mikhael Hers.

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