From the anticipated films by seasoned auteurs to the buzz titles from first-timers, Screen profiles the films headed to all the sections of the Cannes Film Festival in 2012

In Competition

After The Battle (Egy-Fr)

Dir Yousry Nasrallah

After The Battle is a Cairo-set drama charting the unlikely romance between an educated young woman and a poor camel herder, set during the tumultuous political upheaval of the Arab Spring. Nasrallah’s The Gate Of The Sun screened out of competition in 2004.

Contact MK2, intlsales@mk2.com

The Angels’ Share (UK-Bel-Fr-It)

Dir Ken Loach

Loach has appeared in Competition at Cannes a record 11 times — winning the Palme d’Or for The Wind That Shakes The Barley in 2006 — and he returns to the Croisette with this Glasgow-set comedy caper. Starring John Henshaw, William Ruane and Gary Maitland, the film was written by Loach’s long-time writing partner Paul Laverty.

Contact Wild Bunch, www.wildbunch.biz

Beyond The Hills (Rom)

Dir Cristian Mungiu

Having won the Palme d’Or in 2007 with 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, Romanian director Mungiu returns with this drama about two young women in a convent who grew up in the same orphanage. The Dardenne brothers produced. Sundance Selects has North American rights.

Contact Wild Bunch, www.wildbunch.biz

Cosmopolis (Can-Fr)

Dir David Cronenberg

Cronenberg adapted Don DeLillo’s novel about a financial golden boy who embarks on a day-long odyssey across Manhattan as his world is on the verge of collapse. Robert Pattinson leads the cast which also includes Juliette Binoche, Mathieu Amalric and Paul Giamatti. Paulo Branco and Martin Katz produce. Stone Angels will release in France and Kinology has done a slew of pre-sales. Cronenberg won a special jury prize in Cannes in 1996 for Crash, while his films Spider and A History Of Violence also showed in Competition.

Contact Kinology, gmelin@kinology.eu

Holy Motors (Fr-Ger)

Dir Leos Carax

Carax’s first feature since Pola X, which screened in Competition at Cannes in 1999, Holy Motors follows ‘DL’, a being who inhabits multiple lives over a 24-hour period. Eva Mendes and Kylie Minogue star alongside Michel Piccoli, a previous best actor winner at Cannes back in 1980 for Salto Nel Vuoto.

Contact Wild Bunch, www.wildbunch.biz

The Hunt (Den-Swe)

Dir Thomas Vinterberg

Mads Mikkelsen stars as Lucas, a divorced man rebuilding his life who is accused of a crime he did not commit. Nordisk will release in Denmark, and TrustNordisk has already sold the Zentropa production to the UK (Arrow) and Benelux (Wild Bunch). Vinterberg’s Festen won a jury prize at Cannes 1998; his last feature, Submarino, premiered at the Berlinale. The Hunt is the first Danish-language film to compete in Cannes in 14 years.

Contact TrustNordisk, info@trustnordisk.com

In Another Country (S Kor)

Dir Hong Sang-soo

South Korean director Hong won the Un Certain Regard prize in 2010 with Hahaha and returns to the Cannes Competition for the third time. In Another Country stars Isabelle Huppert, playing three different women called Anne in three different stories.

Contact Finecut, www.finecut.co.kr

In The Fog (Ger-Neth-Belarus-Russ-Lat)

Dir Sergei Loznitsa

Ukrainian director Loznitsa returns to Cannes after screening My Joy in Competition in 2010. Adapted from the novel by Vasiliy Bykov, In The Fog is set in the German-occupied Western frontiers of the USSR in 1942, when a railway worker is wrongly accused of being a collaborator. The cast includes Vladimir Svirski, Vlad Abashin and Nikita Peremotovs.

Contact The Match Factory, info@matchfactory.de

Killing Them Softly (US)

Dir Andrew Dominik

Brad Pitt’s annual sojourn to the Croisette coincides with a second starring role for his The Assassination Of Jesse James director, this time in Killing Them Softly (formerly Cogan’s Trade) as an enforcer who investigates a heist. New Zealand-born Dominik made his debut in 2000 with the acclaimed Chopper.

Contact (int’l) Inferno, Gerald @inferno-entertainment.com

Lawless (US)

Dir John Hillcoat

Australia’s Hillcoat re-teams with The Proposition scriptwriter Nick Cave for this adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s prohibition era family saga The Wettest County In The World. Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf and Jessica Chastain, Lawless will be a Cannes Competition debut for Hillcoat, whose 2009 feature The Road was in Competition at Venice.

Contact FilmNation Entertainment, www.wearefilmnation.com

Like Someone In Love (Fr-Jap-Iran)

Dir Abbas Kiarostami

Kiarostami’s Tokyo-set film follows a woman (Rin Takanashi) who earns her school fees as a prostitute. The Iranian auteur won the Palme d’Or in 1997 for Taste Of Cherry and was in Competition in 2010 with Certified Copy, which won best actress for Juliette Binoche.

Contact MK2, intlsales@mk2.com

Love (Ger-Aust-Fr)

Dir Michael Haneke

Cannes regular Haneke returns with the story of an elderly couple whose relationship is tested after one of them suffers a stroke. Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert star in the drama recently picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for the US. Haneke’s The White Ribbon won the Palme d’Or in 2009.

Contact Les Films Du Losange, info@filmsdulosange.fr

Moonrise Kingdom (US)

Dir Wes Anderson

Opening film

Anderson’s festival opener — his first in Cannes — centres on star-crossed lovers who spark a frenzy when they elope from their 1965 New England community. Anderson regulars Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman join Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Edward Norton alongside newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. Scott Rudin produced Anderson’s third collaboration with Steve Rales’ Indian Paintbrush.

Contact Focus Features, focusfeatures.com

Mud (US)

Dir Jeff Nichols

Nichols’ Take Shelter won Critics’ Week last year, and he returns with the story of a disillusioned boy and his friend who help a fugitive reconnect with the love of his life. Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon and Take Shelter’s Michael Shannon star.

Contact FilmNation, info@wearefilmnation.com

On The Road (US-UK-Fr)

Dir Walter Salles

Salles’ long-awaited Jack Kerouac adaptation stars Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley as beatniks Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise on a life-affirming road trip. Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst add glamour and Francis Ford Coppola was executive producer. Bart Walker represents domestic rights while MK2 is the producer and international sales agent. Salles also came to Cannes with The Motorcycle Diaries and Linha De Passe.

Contact (N Am) Cinetic Media, bart@cineticmedia.com; Contact (int’l) MK2, intlsales@mk2.com

The Paperboy (US)

Dir Lee Daniels

Daniels has effortlessly segued into an elite group of US directors beloved by Cannes with his follow-up to Precious. A potent combination of Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron flesh out the 1960s-set erotic drama about a young man who falls for the lover of a Death Row inmate. Millennium Entertainment holds US distribution rights.

Contact Nu Image, twilson@nuimage.net

Paradise: Love (Aust)

Dir Ulrich Seidl

In the first film of his Paradise trilogy, Seidl tells the story of a 50-year-old Austrian woman (Margarete Tiesel) who travels to Kenya to find a lover. Ulrich Seidl Film produced with Germany’s Tat and France’s Societe Parisienne as co-producers. Seidl’s Dog Days won a special grand jury prize at Venice in 2001 and he last appeared in Cannes Competition with Import/Export in 2007.

Contact Coproduction Office, celine@coproductionoffice.eu

Post Tenebras Lux (Mex-Fr-Neth-Ger)

Dir Carlos Reygadas

Having previously won the Jury Prize for Silent Light and a Camera d’Or special mention for Japon, Reygadas returns to Cannes with a semi-autobiographical tale charting the travails of a young urban family living in the Mexican countryside. Mantarraya Productions handle international sales apart from Switzerland and Spain, which are handled by Le Pacte.

Contact Mantarraya, info@mantarraya.com; Le Pacte, contact@le-pacte.com

Reality (It-Fr)

Dir Matteo Garrone

Garrone’s Gomorrah screened in Cannes Competition in 2008, winning the Grand Prix, and the director returns with a satirical drama about Italy’s obsession
with reality television. Claudia Gerini is among the cast of the Italy-France co-production between Fandango, Archimede and Le Pacte. Alexandre Desplat provides the soundtrack.

Contact Fandango Portobello, mail@portobellopictures.com

Rust & Bone (Bel-Fr)

Dir Jacques Audiard

Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts star in Audiard’s third entry in Cannes Competition, about a man who falls in love with a trainer of killer whales. Co-written with Thomas Bidegain, Audiard’s collaborator on 2009 grand jury prize winner A Prophet, Celluloid Dreams has sold the title to North America (SPC), the UK (StudioCanal), Italy (BIM) and Benelux (Lumiere). UGC releases in France on May 17.

Contact Celluloid Dreams, info@celluloid-dreams.com

The Taste Of Money (S Kor)

Dir Im Sang-Soo

Described by its director as an “extension” to his 2010 Cannes Competition title The Housemaid, Im’s film is an erotic suspense drama dwelling on Na-mi (Kim Hyo-jin), the child who witnessed the suicide of her nanny in The Housemaid. In The Taste Of Money, the adult Na-mi is drawn into a complex relationship between her mother and a handsome male secretary.

Contact Daisy & Cinergy Entertainment, ericanam628@gmail.com

You Haven’t Seen Anything Yet (Fr)

Dir Alain Resnais

At age 89, French auteur Resnais returns to Cannes Competition for the fifth time with this feature starring Mathieu Amalric, based loosely on Jean Anouilh’s 1941 play Eurydice. Resnais was last in Competition with 2009’s Wild Grass, while his My American Uncle won the grand jury prize in 1980.

Contact StudioCanal, www.studiocanal.com

Out of Competition

Hemingway & Gellhorn (US)

Dir Philip Kaufman

Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman star as famous literary couple Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn in Kaufman’s latest film, which will air on HBO in the US and was executive produced by James Gandolfini. Renowned for The Right Stuff, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being and Henry & June, Kaufman’s last feature was the 2004 thriller Twisted.

Contact HBO, www.hbo.com

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (US)

Dir Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon

Cannes head Thierry Fremaux has a soft spot for DreamWorks Animation, hence this out-of-competition slot for Madagascar 3. The sequel promises the usual animal magic plus a memorable nemesis in the form of Frances McDormand’s formidable Captain Chantel DuBois. Paramount is worldwide distributor.

Contact Paramount, www.paramount.com

Me And You (It)

Dir Bernardo Bertolucci

Bertolucci’s first Italian-language feature in 31 years, Me And You stars newcomer Jacopo Olmo Antinori as a boy whose troubles with adults lead him to spend a lot of time in the family basement. Bertolucci was last in Cannes Competition with Stealing Beauty in 1996 and he won an honorary Palme d’Or last year.

Contact HanWay Films, www.hanwayfilms.com

Thérese Desqueyroux (Fr)

Dir Claude Miller

Closing film

French master Miller died aged 70 in April, having just finished post on Thérese Desqueyroux. Based on Francois Mauriac’s 1920s novel, Audrey Tautou stars as a woman trapped in a marriage who tries to reclaim her freedom. Miller won the grand jury prize at Cannes in 1998 for Class Trip.

Contact TF1 International, www.tf1international.com