Director Ari Folman may have lost the Oscar for his film Waltz with Bashir four years ago but in the process he won the star of his next film, The Congress, which debuted here in Cannes this week. The Israeli filmmaker met Robin Wright on the awards season circuit in Los Angeles back in 2009 and the two quickly hit it off.

Back in Israel, Folman's animation team swiftly sent him a few sketches of Robin Wright ahead of his meeting with the actress. She was wowed and signed on immediately for Folman's next film, an ambitious adaptation of Stanisław Lem's The Futurological Congress that mixes live action and hand drawn animation.

"I will go with you wherever you take me," the filmmaker said Wright told him. Ari Folman, who said this week that sci-fi is his favorite film genre, takes her character to interesting places in The Congress.

Folman's complex and captivating new movie, a futuristic story about a fictitious actress named "Robin Wright" who opts to save her career by having herself digitally scanned to preserve herself forever, played well here when it opened the Directors' Fortnight section of Cannes 2013. It's a film that's full of ideas—one that's not so easy to summarize here—and as a result it has provoked divergent responses from early audiences. There's little disagreement, however, that it's one of the more original visions to unfold on screen in the early days of the 66th Cannes Film Festival.

The Congress depicts an all-consuming Hollywood in which actors wholly hand themselves over to the studios. In a new star system, actors receive a massive paycheck to leave their public life behind and live privately. Only their screen image remains and it is fully controlled by a studio that can manipulate the actor on screen to serve their wishes.

The fate of cinema, in fact the future of humanity itself, is portrayed quite bleakly in Folman's take on Lem's work.

Yet, The Congress is also a film in the tradition of other movies about the movies—think Singing in the Rain or Sunset Boulevard—that feature actors and the industry at odds with dramatic changes in Hollywood, namely the shift from silent to talking pictures.

The Congress begins as a live action film in the present, but after about 45 minutes, events jump 20 years into the future and it becomes an animated movie with a style that evokes early Max Fleischer cartoons (Betty Boop, Popeye). Taken as a whole, The Congress could be viewed as a mash-up of an array of movies, from Being John Malkovich and Holy Motors to Pink Floyd's The Wall.

A number of familiar faces populate the the animated fantasy world inhabited by an aging Rob Wright. Jesus has a few cameos, as do characters that look a lot like present-day Hollywood stars.

During a brief Q&A following the film's first screening here this week, Ari Folman owned up to the fact that Jesus Christ appears in his new movie, but he said that guy who looks like Maverick from Top Gun isn't necessarily who we think it is.

"Did you see Tom Cruise in the movie?" Folman quipped slyly.

For more FilmLinc Daily coverage of the 66th Cannes Film Festival, click here.

Outside the press conference room is an artist rendering of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi joyfully waving on what looks like a film stock version of a magic carpet flying above a minaret-filled skyline, and next to him is the word "Liberté." While Panahi has run afoul of authorities at home in Iran and is officially forbidden from practicing his craft, that did not stop him from collaborating on Closed Curtain, which premiered in Berlin in February.

It is not certain if fellow Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi saw the piece as he made his way in or out of the press room today, where he spoke about his latest film Le Passé (The Past), which will have its world premiere Friday night at the Festival de Cannes, but Farhadi did acknowledge state censorship and how that has shaped his filmmaking, even when working outside the borders of his own country.

His latest feature, a follow-up to his 2012 Best Foreign-language Oscar-winner A Separation, stars Bérénice Bejo (The Artist), Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) and Ali Mosaffa (Somewhere Else) and is set in Paris, though he hinted that even in another country, the official confines he worked under continue to inform his choices. Characteristic of Farhadi's past discussions in public when the subject of the regime in Tehran is brought up, he chooses his words carefully.

"There are two kinds of censorship which work in an official way, and there's a far more sinister one which springs from a person's inner-censorship, which comes from a social situation that surrounds someone or something like finance," said Farhadi. "When somebody works in a different [country], they're still working with assimilation—and that's a part of me. When I work with this assimilation, I try to see it as an asset, working within those [confines] and within that context."

In the case of Le Passé, the context is one of the most anticipated titles of the weekend in Cannes. The story follows Iranian-born Ahmad, who returns to Paris to finalize his divorce with Marie, who has already embarked on a new relationship. During the visit, he sees that a unhealthy relationship exists between his estranged spouse and daughter Lucie. He attempts to repair their bond, but while doing so, Ahmad discovers a secret from the past that could cement their division.

"The relationship within a couple is the most complex there is," said Farhadi, explaining why he consistently likes to center his stories around spouses. "You can rid yourself of the past and try and run away from it, but you [ultimately] can't. The past will eventually weigh in on he present. The past is no more clear than the future. Humans aspire to predict the the future and re-write the past."

Bérénice Bejo in a scene from La passe (The Past).

At a lengthy 140 minutes, this sort of epic drama about the dissolution of a family is risky, even for a high brow audience like the one at Cannes. If the loud applause following the morning press screening is any indication, the film will have its share of positive critical response. For his part, Farhadi said he had all the tools he needed to make a quality film as a followup to the success of A Separation.

"I had no excuse to make a bad film," he said. "Everything worked perfectly. I was satisfied with everything."

"We tested a lot of things and did rehearsals for two months before shooting for four months," recalled Bérénice Bejo. "It was as if we did 50 takes before we did the actual shooting. We had a clear path."

Bejo said that American cinema had inspired her to become an actress and she enjoyed shooting The Artist in L.A., but with a new baby, she was pleased to remain in Paris for Le Passé. "For me, working in the U.S. would be fabulous, but it didn't work that way for personal reasons. Working with Asghar Farhadi on this film was the best situation."

Farhadi himself said he fielded a number of North American offers after his Academy Award triumph last year, and while he expressed interest in working in the U.S. given the right situation, he wants to continue to work as he has in the past.

"I want to write and continue to work in the way I want," he said. "Hollywood is a mixed bag. You can't say you hate or love everything that's done in Hollywood."

Augustine (Opens Friday!)
Writer/Director: Alice Winocour
Cast: Vincent Lindon, Soko, Chiara Mastroianni

Based on the true relationship between Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, the renowned 19th century French neurologist and mentor to Sigmund Freud, and his prized teenage patient, Augustine darkly dazzles and intrigues.

Tomas Hachard of Slant Magazine gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying: "From the opening scene, Winocour sets a tense, physical tone. Augustine, at this point a kitchen maid for an aristocratic family, begins to feel ill while serving dinner. Her hands start to shake … she collapses into a brutal seizure, taking the entire tablecloth down with her. Using quick close-ups and precise editing, Winocour viscerally captures the anguished moment … [Augustine] is a period drama (the costumes, the dimly lit aristocratic mansions), but its perspective is entirely contemporary, offering a damning criticism of the abusive treatment that occurred in the hospital and, in the relationship between Charcot and his star patient, Augustine, a nuanced portrayal of power relations."

Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle (Opens Friday!)
Director: Robbie Gemmel, John Kirby
Writer: Daniel Coffin

Humorous and tenacious, Cape Spin! An American Power Struggle shows 10 years of conflict over the first proposed offshore wind farm in the United States.

"If you want to see a classic case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), see Cape Spin: An American Power Struggle… showing people pushed out of their comfort zones, which causes great drama, often resulting in hilarity." —Eddie Pasa, Reel Film News

The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear (Family Film, Saturday + Sunday)
Director: Jannik Hastrup
Writers: Bent Haller, Michel Fessler
Cast: Marlon Vilstrup, Joachim Boje Helvang, Otto Brandenburg, Paprika Steen

The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear tells the story of a young boy who must choose between being human with Mother Eskimo and being a bear with his adopted Mother Bear.

Not only does The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear portray exceptional “watercolor animation juxtaposing stark whites with rich hues (but also) offers several complicated similarities between the families: not only does Mother Bear’s grief match and Mother Eskimo’s (Carol Jacobanis), but all live in fear of the other… questions nature versus nurture… and speaks to human ignorance of the animal world.” —Nikki Tranter, Pop Matters

(To see the trailer dubbed in English go to The New York Times website.)

The Flame and The Arrow (Burt Lancaster, Monday)
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Writer: Waldo Salt
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Virginia Mayo, Frank Allenby, and Nick Cravat

Lancaster stars as the incredible and suave archer Dardo, who faces off against the evil Hessian Count Ulrich, who has kidnapped Dardo’s wife and son. Often cited as one of Lancaster’s most acrobatic roles.

Richard Brody of The New Yorker says: "Tourneur makes exuberant use of his star’s acrobatic gifts, casting Lancaster’s former circus partner, Nick Cravat, as his sidekick, Piccolo, and incorporating their astounding leaps and catches, balancing acts and high-wire daring, into their revolutionary raids… capturing the spirit of revolt."

The Leopard (Burt Lancaster, Saturday + Tuesday)
Director: Lucino Visconti
Writers: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (novel), Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Enrico Medioli, Massimo Franciosa, and Luchino Visconti (screenplay and adaptation)
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon

Winner of Cannes 1963 Palme d’Or, The Leopard takes place during Sicily’s social struggles in 1860 focusing on the Prince of Salina (Lancaster) and his family.

Roger Ebert said: "The Leopard was written by the only man who could have written it, directed by the only man who could have directed it, and stars the only man who could have played its title character. The first of these claims is irrefutable, because Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, a Sicilian aristocrat, wrote the story out of his own heart and based it on his great-grandfather. Whether another director could have done a better job thanLuchino Visconti is doubtful; the director was himself a descendant of the ruling class that the story eulogizes. But that Burt Lancaster was the correct actor to play Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, was at the time much doubted; that a Hollywood star had been imported to grace this most European—indeed, Italian—indeed, Sicilian—masterpiece was a scandal.” For Ebert, Lancaster’s Prince of Salina reminds us “why we go to the movies."

Lancaster narrates this Criterion Collection trailer himself:

The last time Sofia Coppola premiered a film in Cannes, the daughter of Hollywood royalty kicked up some latent French revolutionary zeal with Marie Antoinette. Her post-modernist English-language re-telling of one of the most pivotal figures in France's history won some praise but also audible boos. Cut to seven years later, and Coppola is back with The Bling Ring, turning the focus squarely on Hollywood and the seemingly insatiable appetite for celebrity culture that oozes out of the city onto virtually every reality show, tabloid and Twitter account there is.

What eventually morphed into Coppola's fifth feature had its roots in a Vanity Fair feature titled The Suspects Wore Louboutins, which the writer/director read on a flight. The article was about a group of celebrity and fashion-obsessed kids from nearby San Fernando Valley who sought a quick path to the life they craved by burglarizing celebrity homes, including those of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom.

"I thought: This sounds like a movie. I'm sure it's already being made," said Coppola in Cannes Thursday. "It was so contemporary and I thought it said so much about our culture today. There's something about these kids living over the hill in suburbia and who wanted to be a part of it."

Apropos to the flavor of the feature, the film stars a mixture of celebrity names, including Emma Watson and Leslie Mann, and relative newcomers Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Taissa Farmiga and Claire Julien.

"I took a year of meeting young actors before putting together this group. Casting directors suggested I meet Emma," said Coppola in Cannes. "I didn't want them to be like a spoof or like cartoon characters, and I wanted real kids who were of the same age. For Emma, it's really interesting to see someone like her transform in a way we haven't seen before."

The cast joined Coppola for the official Bling Ring World Premiere, where mobs of accredited festival-goers waited under the threat of more rain to get in. Not surprisingly given her pedigree, Coppola is a long time presence at the festival, even before she began showing her own films here. She took a different route with her previous film, Somewhere, which won the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last September.

Emma Watson in a scene from The Bling Ring

So far, The Bling Ring has received mixed reviews in Cannes, though the audience last night gave the filmmaker and cast polite applause as the credits rolled. While many stood up, it was hard to tell if that was out of pure enthusiasm or, fittingly, as a means to snap a picture.

"I'm always excited to come to Cannes to show my film," quipped Coppola. "I've come here since I was a kid and am happy to show a film to an international audience and somehow The Bling Ring is very appropriate to show here."

Emma Watson, who shot to fame via the Harry Potter movies, was clearly carrying the star-wattage when introduced ahead of the screening along with Coppola. Earlier ,she commented on working with the Oscar-winning filmmaker and talked about immersing herself into the cult of celebrity—even as a celebrity herself—in preparing for the role, citing reality shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians as a barometer for the cult of fame today.

"I think there are celebrities who create a brand and a business and create a job or niche out of others who are interested in their lives, and there are others who don't," said Watson. "Technology is playing its part because culture is being saturated with these images… If you look at these shots, they look like comic strips."

Huge swaths of younger generations cannot recall a time when such a connection and sense of intimacy did not exist through social media. Israel Bourssard, who plays the most sympathetic character in the film, Marc, perhaps described best the temptation felt by the real members of the so-called "Bling Ring."

"I think every generation has its problems and one of the challenges is social media," he explained. "They can almost touch these celebrities and they just took it to the next level."

The Bling Ring opens Stateside on June 14. Don't miss our free Summer Talk with Sofia Coppola on June 10!

Based on real-life people and events, Augustine tells the story of a 19th century teenage girl of the same name who, after a seizure disrupts her life and work as a housemaid, is sent to the Salpêtrière Hospital where the handsome Doctor Charcot looks after hundreds of mentally ill women. Diagnosed with hysteria, Augustine develops a special bond with the doctor. Despite the brutality and suffering the film depicts, first-time director Alice Winocour describes Augustine as a love story. She also revealed that, during filming, the cast told a lot of dirty jokes.

Augustine manages to combine aspects of the medical and the erotic in a unique way.

That was what was fascinating about the subject to me. There were 3000 patients, women, at Salpêtrière kept under influence of Charcot. All the patients were women and all the doctors were men. It was really a world apart. And these women were having all these really violent sexual fits. And these fits were actually exhibited to men, not only doctors, but those high up in Parisian society, as in a peepshow. It was really a place to go to see a sexual seizure.

Something that was really weird to me in researching the film: there were all these pictures of hysterics acting provocatively, and this really weird atmosphere felt very cinematic to me. Also, it involved bodies, women as guinea pigs, as objects of desire. I set out to make a film about this strange world and then I discovered Augustine, the real woman. She was the most photographed and exhibited patient at the hospital. She was the hospital’s big star! Also, because she was probably pretty [Laughs] and not every woman at the hospital was pretty. And she was probably acting for the doctors. I mean, she was not making it up, but Charcot was staging her.


Like a mise-en-scène?

Yes, and in this game between a patients and doctors, women would do these things that men wanted into order to be interesting in their eyes.


Can we take out the word “doctor” and put in the word “director?”

Yes, right. It’s exactly the same thing! They were really like actresses in front of directors, being staged. At that time, and even today, hysteria is really a mysterious disease. You know, “hysteria” is derived from the Greek word “uterus.” And so what is interesting about this was that the doctors, the men, were having these fantasies about the women in treating them: as you saw in the film, remember, the ovarian compressor? But ovaries have nothing to do with this illness. It was all in the men’s fantasies. And hysteria can also be a masculine disease. What I really found interesting was the way in which men were looking at women with this mix of fear and desire. And I think the strange way that men look at women still exists.


What films did you watch in preparation for Augustine?

A lot! I watched, for example, Black Swan. A lot of horror movies, actually, and exorcism films, such as Dario Argento’s films. Suspiria, in particular. Because I really didn’t want a realist approach for Augustine, but rather a gothic, poetic atmosphere. The [aesthetic] was really inspired by the dark, late Romanticism. Like the novels from the end of the 19th century, the Brontë sisters. For example, the garden in Augustine: I wanted it to express this sort of savagery of the unconscious. And everything to me had to be its own self-contained world, its own world apart.


Would you talk about how you came up with this aesthetic?

For instance, when I saw these drawings of the ovarian compressor, Charcot’s drawings. Or the tamed monkey [that Charcot has Augustine play with]. These things were true, they actually existed. These made me think of Cronenberg’s films, like Dead Ringers.


Soko in Augustine

How did you and Soko [the actress who plays Augustine] design and rehearse the fits, the way the seizures would be? Did you watch movies together?

Yes, exactly. This was very important to the movie that she be like a woman possessed by a demon. You know, in the Middle Ages, hysteria in women meant they were considered as witches and they were then burnt. So I thought it was kind of natural to reference films in that genre. And this was crucial to the film. Also crucial was how I was going to stage a lie, because hysteria is a kind of lie. You know, your body is suddenly doing things that it is impossible to do in real life. Which means it’s also really difficult to stage because the whole body becomes a kind of theater. Your head goes backwards and your body goes forwards and, you know, [laughs] even a Russian gymnast couldn’t do these things that real hysterics can do.


So, I used ropes and strings to pull Soko’s arms and legs in all directions—really brutal movements. To me, the body became like a monster. It was like a rebellion of the body [such] that she was like a victim of her own body.  It was really important to me that you could see that she was not in control at all of what was happening to her. Like, for example, possession films—where a monster is coming suddenly to rape you. So, I watched a lot of films like this. For example, this movie with Barbara Hershey, The Entity [dir. Sidney J. Furie]. And also, I was inspired by Evil Dead II, when the man is attacked by his own hand!


Augustine looks like the film had a pretty large budget. But did you?

No! We didn’t, but I’m glad that you say that! It’s funny how people ask me, “But why so many close-ups?” And I say, “Well, because we had no set.” And we had to glue Soko’s eye shut. We had a €4 million budget. For a first feature, it’s a huge project, but for this film, it was very low.


I guess you must have impressed a lot of people with Ordinary People (2009), the film you co-wrote about Serbian soldiers.

Yes. It was also hard to raise the money, but it was fun at the same time.


How did you connect with Vincent Lindon, Soko, and Chiara Mastroianni, the actors who play Dr. Charcot, Augustine and Charcot’s wife, respectively?

I knew I needed to have this erotic tension between Charcot and Augustine, so I knew I needed to have really physical actors. I liked Soko, and I liked how she had waist and hips as 19th century women had…


People in the 19th century had bigger waist and hips?

Yes. Of course.


Because they carried more weight on them, you mean?

Yes, more weight.  And also women were more shaped… And I thought of Renoir’s paintings, the way women looked in them. And Soko had these extensions in her hair. It was very difficult to find Augustine—I looked at more than 300 girls for the part because I wanted a lot of things that were contradictory, like real hysterics have. You know, they are cold and hot at the same time, happy and sad, naive and at the same time they are strong. [Laughs] You know it required a lot. Because the story tells the change of statuses between Augustine and Charcot. At the beginning, she is weak, but then she takes the power and becomes the one on top. I knew that was the path Augustine was going to follow, and I had to find someone capable of doing it. It was really hard until I found Soko.


Soko and Vincent Lindon in Augustine

The first seizure that Augustine has, she’s serving at the table and a man looks at her, and then the seizure begins. What is her relationship with that man?

Ah! Because in the script, in an earlier version, there was a scene where she was raped by that guy. But then I figured it was too much, too easy, that because she was raped, she had a seizure. Because hysteria is much more complex than that and much more mysterious. I liked that you could see in the man’s look that it was sexual and dominating.


Augustine likes to be dominated, but it also makes her ill.

Yeah, it’s like this game. There is a quote by Lacan: “A hysteric is a slave looking for a master to rule over.” To me this was really the film’s guiding saying. She’s not really a victim and not really the one in charge. This is why I asked Vincent and Soko to play the examinations as love scenes. When he’s feeding her soup, it’s to me very much like a blowjob.


And with the ovarian compressor, it’s really a sadomasochistic sequence where she’s getting pleasure from her suffering. And the classes Charcot gives with Augustine shown to an audience of men, they were really like peep shows. I mean, we made jokes nonstop about how we were making everything sexual. It was, in this hospital in the 19th century, all about sex, but no one was talking about it. They pretended hysteria was this very normal disease with phases and all this scientific terminology, but really Charcot was like a little boy frightened of women’s sexuality. He couldn’t even mention sexuality because he did not think it was serious enough. This is what was so strange about those guys: that they were obsessed by sexuality even though they never spoke of it.

How is Augustine cured?

She cures herself, even before the end of the film, before the last lesson, in a few stages. First of all, with his interest, and I would say his love—maybe I’m really weird, but I would say the film is a love story—suddenly she feels like a woman, not a guinea pig nor an object of desire, but she cures herself. And then, also, she falls down the stairs, which is a great shock, an emotional shock. After that she can move her arms again. So by the last lesson, she is already cured; she is acting for Charcot’s benefit, for the audience of men. She’s faking the seizure just to please him.

What were the best sex jokes told on set?
Oh, there were so many! I cannot remember the best. You had to be there. [Laughs] No, but we did it because it was really violent what we were doing, and the jokes were just to feel better. For Soko, we joked it was like the French show called Koh-Lanta—in which contestants must do difficult tasks and survive under difficult conditions.

I think we called that show Survivor.
Ah, yes, well on this show every day is a new struggle to stay alive, so our joke on set was “Today on Koh-Lanta you must to do this and that.” It was really a sadomasochistic film for Soko, who every day was attached to strings and bandages and cables, and then she had to run through brambles too!

But you were the sadist!
Yes, I know, I know. [Laughs] It was hard on me too. 


What are you working on now?
I’m writing another kind of strange love story, that is a thriller: there are car chases. As with Augustine, the story concentrates on a relationship, but it’s contemporary.

You’ve also spoken of male hysteria, am I right?
Why, are you afraid you are a hysteric? [Laughs]

Yes, well, am I? I’m here in part to find out.
Ah, yes but I charge for this. Money! [Laughs]

Are violent movies manifestations of male hysteria?
No, I think even today there are men in hospitals with paralyses that cannot be medically explained. Even today, after Freud, after all this time, we have no explanation for hysteria. I read something about what took place in the U.S. after September 11 where there was an epidemic of people covered in pustules, in skin problems, in rashes, who believed they were victims of a terror attack, perhaps a gas attack. Finally the experts figured out that it was a case of mass hysteria. It spread from school to school, a sequential, collective mass hysteria. Just as we saw in the Middle Ages with people possessed by evil spirits. It’s about the body expressing a trauma that cannot be expressed with words. The body, as with Augustine, becomes the very theater of one’s emotions.

Alice Winocour's Augustine screened at Film Society of Lincoln Center as part of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. It opens for a theatrical run here on May 17.

We've got some shiny news! Joss Whedon is coming to Film Society on May 29 for a very special evening including a conversation about his career and sneak preview of his bold and modern Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing, which will open here on June 7 (tickets now on sale)!

Whedon came to some people's attention for the first time with the success of last year's mega-blockbuster The Avengers, which became the third highest-grossing film of all time. But those who have been following Whedon’s career since the beginning know that the "Whedonverse," as his fictional repertoire has been affectionately dubbed by fans, spans more than two decades in film and television. After graduating with a film degree from Wesleyan University, Whedon relocated to Los Angeles and began to write for the television sitcoms Roseanne and Parenthood. Soon after, Whedon wrote screenplays for Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie), Alien: Resurrection, and Toy Story. 

By 1997, Whedon created the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and was finally able to portray Buffy’s story in the original way he intended.  Running for a total of seven seasons, the show gained incredible cult status, and even birthed a successful spin-off series, Angel. A few years later, Whedon expanded his science fiction work—to the rest of the universe—with the creation of Firefly, a Space western drama. When the show was cancelled after only one season, fan support helped Whedon get a screenplay based on the show greenlit and Serenity opened in theaters in September 2005.

Whedon’s next television show was Dollhouse, which was followed by work on other shows including The Office and Glee. Whedon even directed a musical tragicomedy miniseries starring Neil Patrick Harris; Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. A firm believer in new media, Whedon crafted the show specifically for Internet distribution. Not only was Dr. Horrible successful, it was wildly influential, and was even named one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Inventions of 2008 (listed at #15!).

Recently, Whedon’s Avengers success landed him the gig with Marvel Studios to direct Avengers 2 and his new superhero television project Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is set to debut on ABC this fall. Of course, he is no stranger to graphic novels. Whedon is the author of Fray, which takes place in a future "Buffyverse" and he has also written comic continuations of Buffy and Firefly/Serenity.  Whedon penned 24 issues of the Astonishing X-Men series, which won an Eisner Award in 2006 for Best Continuing Series, and one of the issues (#6, to be exact) was listed by Marvel Comics readers as one of Marvel’s Top 70 comics of all time. 

If you’re not already impressed, enter: Shakespeare.  Whedon’s latest venture is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing, and not only did he write the screenplay and direct the film, but he also composed the original score. This sharp, fresh take on a classic has been receiving praise since its debut at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

Tickets to An Evening with Joss Whedon on May 29 are now on sale, as are tickets to the theatrical run of Much Ado About Nothing, which opens June 7!

Quentin Tarantino Dominates Cannes Film History, IMDb
Movie site IMDb polled its users about the top 10 films ever to be screened in the Cannes competition, and Quentin Tarantino fared quite well. In fact, he dominates the top tier with the first two spots going to Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds and he even makes a showing in the third spot with Sin City, in which he has a guest director credit. Also among the top 10 most popular titles ever to screen in the Cannes competition were No Country for Old Men (4), Shrek (5), Taxi Driver (6), Pan's Labyrinth (7), Apocalypse Now (8), Drive (9) and L.A. Confidential (10).

Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac Set for Xmas Day Release in Denmark
Controversial Danish director Lars Von Trier's much talked about Nymphomaniac will have its world premiere on Christmas Day in his home city of Copenhagen. There had been speculation Von Trier would premiere his latest in Cannes, but the film was either not finished, or he decided to bow out following controversy that surrounded his last visit with Melancholia. "What's more Christmassy than a film like this?" said Peter Aalbaek Jensen, CEO of Zentropa, which von Trier founded. Like the title suggests, the lengthy feature is a sex-laden drama starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Shia LaBeouf, Jamie Bell, Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe, Stellan Skarsgard and Christian Slater, Deadline reports.

Justin Timberlake Gives The Great Gatsby Competition in Cannes
Timberlake co-hosted a party Wednesday night at the Carlton Beach just off the Croisette for foreign buyers promoting his Cannes Market project, Spinning Gold, even as the festivities for Cannes Film Festival opening night film The Great Gatsby were underway under a torrent of rain. Timberlake will star in the biopic about legendary record exec Neil Bogard, who co-founded Casablanca Records and was closely associated with the rise of disco in the 70s, THR reports.

Scarlett Johansson to Make Directorial Debut
The actress will direct an adaptation of Truman Capote's Summer Crossing. The story centers on a 17 year old debutante who shelves plans to travel to Paris with her parents in order to embark on a romance with a Jewish valet parking attendant during a 1945 New York heatwave. The novel was Capote's first, though it was never published in his lifetime after he threw it away. It is believed a janitor salvaged the book and it eventually sold at auction in 2004 and published afterward, Screen Daily reports.

Zach Braff Kickstarter Controversy Deepens
Braff raised $2.6 million on crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter, saying in part that he could not get his new comedy Wish I Was Here—a followup to his popular 2004 feature Garden State—without fan support. But more controversy is facing Braff over the moral legitimacy of raising money via his fans and the public after it was revealed that he was able to raise millions from traditional funding sources, bringing the project's potential budget up to $10 million, The Guardian reports.

Turnabout is fair play in Cannes. When the competition kicks off tomorrow night here in France, nine jurors—directors Steven Spielberg, Naomi Kawase, Ang Lee, Lynne Ramsay and Christian Mungiu, as well as actors Daniel Auteuil, Vidya Balan, Nicole Kidman and Christoph Waltz—will sit in judgement of the 20 films unspooling over the next 10 days in the race for the 2013 Palme d'Or.

"Everyone sits in judgement of us, so now its our turn," jury president Steven Spielberg joked today. He was seated alongside his fellow jurors during a press conference on a grey afternoon here at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The director said that he's been asked countless times to serve on the jury here. This year he wasn't shooting in the spring so he decided to give it a go. Nicole Kidman, who was here last year with Lee Daniels' The Paperboy, said she's been asked often to participate, but this year is different; she wanted to spend some quality time with Spielberg!

For filmmaker Ang Lee, the idea of judging his colleagues is weighing heavy on his mind.

"I'm afraid to judge people's movies in public," he said "(I have) tried to avoid it as much as I can."

Lee said he's praying that the entire jury will fall in love with the same movie so that their decision is easy and consensual: "Hopefully something will just grab our heart and we wont have to fight that hard or argue."

However, Lee and Kidman each said that being on the Cannes jury is a way to give back and hopefully shine a light on new cinematic voices.

"I think it's very difficult to rank films; it's very difficult to judge films," added the Romanian director Christian Mungiu, who won the Palme d'Or for his film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007. "In a few years you will know if the film is good or not." But, Mungius said, awards bring attention to new films and are good for raising their international profile.

All nine judges had something to say about serving on the most prestigious jury at, arguably, the most prestigious film festival in the world. Try to match the quotes with the jurors below!

Quotes:

1. "We're always sitting in personal, private judgement of the movies we see anyway, this isn't much different than going in to see if a film moves you."

2. "An Oscar is easier than a Palme d'Or. Every festival has its own aura. Cannes is artistically driven, high brow. It is different from the Oscar race which feels more like a popularity contest for 6,000 people."

3. "Walking up the stairs to the photo call and up here [to the press conference], I forgot I was a juror; the memory was still too strong. But I promise I'll concentrate on being a juror."

4. "Today in the world, given current difficulties, it's necessary to overcome this situation. The Cannes Film Festival is an opportunity to exchange dialogues. Here at the festival, it's a place where people come together. We view all these wonderful films which gives us a glimpse into the future. [My country] has suffered many disasters and I truly believe this festival can send out positive messages to the world."

5. "When I was asked to be on the jury, I (went) on the internet to see the past winners of the Palme d'Or and was shocked I had seen a lot of the films and many of them had shaped my film understanding. I am excited to work with my fellow jury members to find the films that will go down in film history. We have all come together because we all love the cinema."

6. "The first step as a filmmaker is to [emulate others], but your next step is to be courageous enough to be original and to expand the limits of your art. I'm looking forward to seeing films that lead us on a different path."

7. "This festival has been very very good to me and I've been asked to be on the jury before. It so happens that I had time and the passion for absorbing this [now]. Ultimately it's just nine people's opinion. At the same time its a platform for films. It celebrates films and gives the films a chance to be discovered."

8. "We are celebrating 100 years of films [in my country] and it's my first film jury. I am excited to see how different people view film."

9. "I had a student film here. [Cannes] is really a platform for special films and the art of film. You come here with the pressure of your own film, instead of seeing your work, which is ultimately what [this festival] is about."

Answers (use cursor to select text to reveal):

1. Steven Spielberg
2. Ang Lee
3. Christoph Waltz
4. Naomi Kawase
5. Daniel Auteuil
6. Christian Mungiu
7. Nicole Kidman
8. Vidya Balan
9. Lynne Ramsay

Gatsby to Open a Wet Cannes
Following a press conference earlier today, director Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan are braving the weather in a blustery Cannes. The Great Gatsby, which opened to solid box office numbers Stateside, will have its European premiere at the 66th Festival de Cannes tonight, marking its European premiere. Noted Luhrmann at the press conference earlier today in Cannes: "I just care that people are going out seeing it, I really do. It was a very nervous weekend for all of us and we're just very grateful to the audience." Check out FilmLinc Daily's expanded coverage of The Great Gatsby.

Werner Herzog to Receive Locarno Film Festival Honors
The German-born director, screenwriter, producer and actor will receive the Pardo d'onore Swisscom at the 66th Festival del film Locarno, taking place August 7 - 17. A selection of Herzog's films, which include Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, will screen at the festival and he will take part in a conversation with Grazia Paganelli, co-author of a study of the filmmaker, which will be open to the public. Said Locarno's Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian: "Over the course of his long career, Herzog has proved adept at moving between fiction and documentary, low-budget productions and films featuring major stars but without ever losing a clear sense of identity. If awards are not only recognitions but also a way of signaling the future, I think that Werner Herzog is the most appropriate person to signpost the way forward the Festival wishes to take."

Thomas Vinterberg Wins Prix Media Honor in Cannes
Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg will be honored with the 2013 European Union Prix MEDIA prize. The award is given to the best new film project with "box-office potential" and is eligible for support from the EU Media program for cinema. The award will be presented to Vinterberg by Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday May 19, which is also Vinterberg's 44th birthday. He will share the award with co-writer Tobias Lindholm (A Hijacking) and producer Sisse Graum (Zentropa) for their new project Kollektivet (The Commune), which tells the story of life in a Danish commune in the 1970s and which is due to go into production next year.

Nantucket Film Festival Launches Academy Partnership
Nantucket and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will partner on an initiative with Haiti's Ciné Institute to promote a young filmmaker outreach program with Ciné students and the local Nantucket Teen View participants. Oscar-winning filmmakers Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine, through the Academy's Visiting Artists program, will attend NFF to present their Oscar winning short film Inocente and lead a roundtable discussion with the Ciné and Nantucket student filmmakers about the craft of documentary filmmaking, covering topics such as story development, production, editing and financing.  The Fines will also present their current release, Life According to Sam, as part of this year's programming. Additionally, students will present projects from their respective programs this past year and will engage in a conversation moderated by Ben Stiller.

Fisher Stevens, Malcolm Gladwell & Leonard Lopate Join Tropfest Jury
Stevens is the Oscar-winning producer of The Cove. He will be joined on the jury by journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell and WNYC host Leonard Lopate at Tropfest New York on June 22 in Brooklyn's Prosepect Park, which will be hosted by Live Schreiber. The event began 21 years ago in Sydney, Australia, becoming one of the world's largest short film festivals, and launched similar events last year in Las Vegas and New York. Film Society of Lincoln Center is proud to again be a partner on TropFest New York.

The Provincetown International Film Festival recently unveiled its 15th anniversary lineup with the East Coast Premiere of Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's Lovelace on tap as the event's Opening Night film. Starring Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Juno Temple, Sharon Stone and James Franco, the bio-drama tells the story of Linda Lovelace, who was used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband, before taking control of her life.

The long weekend event, which is the signature festival of the Provincetown Film Society, will also feature Jeffrey Schwarz's I Am Divine and Pedro Almodóvar's I'm So Excited as PIFF's Friday and Saturday Night Spotlights, respectively, while the East Coast premiere of Emanuel and the Truth About Fishes by Francesca Gregorini will close out the festival.

In other highlights, writer/director Harmony Korine (Spring Breakers, Gummo, Kids) will receive Provincetown's "Filmmaker on the Edge Award" on Saturday evening in Provincetown's Town Hall Saturday on June 22. Korine will appear for an on-stage conversation with P-town part-time resident, John Waters.

The Provincetown International Film Festival takes place June 19 - 23.

Narrative Features
AFTERNOON DELIGHT, directed by Jill Soloway (USA, 2013)
AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, directed by David Lowery (USA, 2013)
THE BEAUTY AND THE PAPARAZZO, Portuguese Spotlight, directed by António-Pedro Vasconcelos (Portugal, 2010)
BLUEBIRD, directed by Lance Edmands (USA, 2013)
BY WAY OF HOME, directed by Isaak James (USA, 2013)
CONCUSSION, directed by Stacie Passon (USA, 2012)
CRYSTAL FAIRY, directed by Sebastian Silva (Chile, 2012)
THE DISCOVERERS, directed by Justin Schwarz (USA, 2012)
EMANUEL AND THE TRUTH ABOUT FISHES, Closing Night Selection, directed by Francesca Gregorini (USA, 2012)
FRUITVALE STATION, directed by Ryan Coogler (USA, 2013)
GEOGRAPHY CLUB, Youth & Diversity Selection, directed by Gary Entin (USA, 2012)
HANNAH ARENDT, directed by Margarethe von Trotta (Germany, 2012)
HAUTE CUISINE, directed by Christain Vincent (France, 2012)
THE HUNT, directed by Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark, 2012)
I’M SO EXCITED!, Saturday Night Spotlight, directed by Pedro Almodovar (Spain, 2013)
LAURENCE ANYWAYS, directed by Xavier Dolan (Canada, 2012)

LOVELACE, Opening Night Selection, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (USA, 2013)
OUT IN THE DARK, directed by Michael Mayer (Israel/USA, 2012)
PASSION, directed by Brian DePalma (USA, 2012)
PRINCE AVALANCHE, directed by David Gordon Green (USA, 2013)
REACHING FOR THE MOON, directed by Bruno Barreto (Brazil, 2013)
SOME VELVET MORNING, directed by Neil LeBute (USA, 2013)
THE SPECTACULAR NOW, directed by James Ponsoldt (USA, 2012)
THERESE, directed by Claude Miller (France, 2011)
THE VOLUNTEER, directed by Vicky Wight (USA, 2013)
THE WAY WAY BACK, directed by Nat Faxon & Jim Rash (USA, 2013)
WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW? directed by Arvin Chen (Taiwan, 2013)
THE ZIGZAG KID, directed by Vincent Bal (Netherlands/Belgium, 2012)

Documentary Features
ANDRE GREGORY: BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER, directed by Cindy Kleine (USA, 2013)
THE BATTLE OF AMFAR, directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman (USA, 2013)
BLACKFISH, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite (USA, 2013)
BUILT ON NARROW LAND, directed by Malachi Connolly (USA, 2013)
CASTING BY, directed by Tom Donahue (USA, 2012)
CONTINENTAL, directed by Malcolm Ingram (USA/Canada, 2012)
THE CRASH REEL, directed by Lucy Walker (USA, 2013)
CUTIE AND THE BOXER, directed by Zachary Heinzerling (USA, 2013)
GIDEON’S ARMY, directed by Dawn Porter (USA, 2013)
GOD LOVES UGANDA, directed by Roger Ross Williams (USA/Uganda, 2013)

GORE VIDAL: THE UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA, directed by Nicholas Wrathall (USA, 2013)
HARRY DEAN STANTON: PARTLY FICTION, directed by Sophie Huber (Switzerland, 2012)
I AM DIVINE, Friday Night Spotlight, directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (USA, 2012)
MOMS MABLEY: I GOT SOMETHINʼ TO TELL YOU, directed by Whoopi Goldberg (USA, 2013)
THE MOO MAN, directed by Andy Heathcote (UK, 2013)
PERSISTENCE OF VISION, directed by Kevin Schreck (USA, 2012)
THE PUNK SINGER, directed by Sini Anderson (US, 2013)
RUNNING FROM CRAZY, directed by Barbara Kopple (USA, 2012)
A SELF-MADE MAN, Youth & Diversity Selection, directed by Lori Petchers (USA, 2013)
SHORED UP, directed by Ben Kalina (USA, 2013)
TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM, directed by Morgan Neville (USA, 2013)
VALENTINE ROAD, Youth & Diversity Selection, directed by Marta Cunningham (USA, 2013)

The Cannes Film Festival, the most important event of its kind in the world, will kick off Wednesday in the South of France.

Cinephiles set their clocks by Cannes because it introduces audiences to the meatiest movies of the year. These are the films that international critics, film programmers and industry executives will be talking about for the next few months and many of these movies are likely to land on festival rosters and then in theaters later this year and into the next. As an aside, I can't help but wonder which will make their way into the lineup for the 51st New York Film Festival, curated by a committee of my colleagues at the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

It all begins in Cannes.

Yet, for Americans making the trip to the Cote d'Azur, this year's Opening Night is rather anticlimactic. The 66th edition of the festival gets underway with Baz Lurmann's The Great Gatsby, which opened to mixed reviews in the USA over the weekend. It's a rare Cannes opener that has already debuted Stateside. In recent years, Cannes opening night selections—Up (2009), Midnight in Paris (2011) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012)—not only had their World Premieres here, but also went on to receive Oscar nominations. Critics seem skeptical that Gatsby will find similar success. Of course, time will tell.

In recent weeks, since the announcement of the lineup, and then over the weekend in Paris, insiders have been buzzing about this year's roster even as some sampled early screenings of Cannes Film Festival entries. I've chatted with lots of folks about the films they are seeing and hearing about from their colleagues.

Naturally, the thrill of Cannes is discovery. Finding the film that no one was even looking for is what makes the experience special. Before we start down that road, here's a subjective list of movies that have risen to the top of my list based purely on pre-fest buzz. They are listed below in the order of their debut date here at the festival.

Emma Watson in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring

Thursday, May 16

The Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola was famously booed at this festival a few years ago for her twist on French history, Marie Antoinette, so naturally folks are wondering how she'll fare this year. No worries Coppola, there's a rich history of films that have been catcalled by the notoriously finicky Cannes audiences (in fact there's a whole Booed at Cannes series unspooling in Brooklyn this week). Buzz on The Bling Ring, Coppola's true story of teens on a crime spree in Los Angeles, is strong and the director will be at the Film Society for a free conversation about the film next month. The Bling Ring opens the Un Certain Regard section of the festival this week and will hit U.S. theaters this summer. Can't wait.

Heli, directed by Amat Escalante
Last year Mexican auteur Carlos Reygadas stirred Cannes with his latest, Post Tenebras Lux. This year, one of his collaborators will be at the festival with a film that insiders tell me could be just as divisive. Early word is that the Mexican entry, set amidst the regional violence in Escalante's home country, will shake up festival attendees. It's playing in the very first competition slot tomorrow night as The Great Gastby unspools in the adjacent theater, so watch Twitter to get the early word on the movie.

Friday, May 17

Le Passe (The Past), directed by Asghar Farhadi
In Paris over the weekend, where Le Passe (The Past) opens concurrent with the Cannes festival, a French film insider told me that this one is an early front-runner for the Palme d'Or. The film, starring Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet), seals Farhadi as a major director, the industry executive praised.

Joel and Ethan Coen's Inside Llewelyn Davis

Saturday, May 18

Blue Ruin, directed by by Jeremy Saulnier
This new American indie entry has buyers buzzing because it's one of the few U.S. films arriving at the festival on the market (that is, available for acquisition). Saulnier's second feature, the story of familial revenge, is being praised as a discovery by Directors' Fortnight brass, where it will debut this weekend.

Sunday, May 19

Borgman, directed by Alex Van Warmerdam
A Dutch film hasn't competed for the Palme d'Or in nearly 40 years. That fact alone is creating palpable anticipation for this entry that Dutch film insiders are calling a "dark, malevolent fable." Observers in Paris this weekend said that this is a film to pay attention to.

Inside Llewyn Davis, directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
The new film from the Coen Brothers, situated within the New York City and Chicago music scenes, arrives in Cannes with strong buzz from a select group of folks who've seen it. The last time the Coens were here in 2007 with No Country For Old Men, this festival launched it into an orbit that lead it to a Best Picture Oscar. Hopes are high.

Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra

Monday, May 20

Seduced and Abandoned, directed by James Toback
Filmed in Cannes last year, Toback's doc collaboration with Alec Baldwin is described as "a cinematic exploration of several interconnected subjects: The Cannes Film Festival and cinema art, money, glamor and death." This curious entry apparently features Bertolucci, Coppola, Polanski, Scorsese, Gosling, Chastain and more.  Toback and Baldwin even had their cameras inside the Film Society's Walter Reade Theater Reade Theater last year. Did we make the cut?

Tuesday, May 21

Behind The Candelabra, directed by Steven Soderbergh
After stirring audiences at Sundance in January of 1989 with the debut of his first feature, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Steven Soderbergh was introduced to cinema's world stage in Cannes a few months later (where the film won the Palme d'Or). This year he's back with his farewell to the movies, a film that some are calling "the gayest movie ever to play in Cannes." Insiders tell me that Behind The Candelabra, an HBO film about Liberace and his lover, features bold, revealing performances by Michael Douglas, Matt Damon and Rob Lowe that will have audiences talking.

Les Salauds, directed by Claire Denis
Of course it's unfair to expect Claire Denis to bear the burden of the dearth of women in competition in Cannes. But, when the lineup for this year's festival was unveiled last month, many observers wondered aloud why this master of French cinema would screen her film in the festival's Un Certain Regard sidebar section rather than in the festival's main competition. Grousing continued this weekend in Paris. Countering the criticis, festival head Thierry Fremaux told Hollywood Reporter last week: "As a citizen, me as a private person, it is a fight for equality which I think is very important in society. But for Cannes, it's different. We select films; we don't select people. We have one woman; we had none last year; we had four the year before. It's a reflection for sure that female directors are few, and too few, unfortunately."

Jean-Luc Godard, Peter Greenaway and Edgar Pêra's 3X3D

Thursday, May 23

3X3D by Jean-Luc Godard, Peter Greenaway and Edgar Pêra
Godard + Greenaway. Together at last? How can you resist the chance to see what the master of the French New Wave will do with 3D for a film, apparently about the creative process, that explores the question: "How does 3D affect the audience and its perception of images?"

Friday, May 24

The Immigrant, directed by James Gray
James Gray is back with his fifth feature, the story of a Polish woman making her way to America in the early 1920s. Buzz from a pre-fest Paris screening is strong for this new film, starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner.

Michael Kohlhass, directed by Arnaud des Pallières
Screening near the very end of the festival, Arnaud des Pallières' film about a 16th century horse merchant is generating strong buzz on the eve of the festival. An insider told me not to miss it.

Eugene Hernandez, the Director of Digital Strategy at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, is covering Cannes daily in France. For the latest, follow him on Twitter at: @eug.

Sean Penn Takes Cannes Spotlight with Haiti Untold Documentary
Haiti Untold is a new documentary which takes a look at the rebuilding effort taking place in the impoverished Caribbean island in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that killed thousands in 2010. The feature concentrates on NGOs working to rebuild Haiti including J/P Haitian Relief Organization, the group set up by Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn, THR reports.

San Francisco International Film Festival Wraps 56th Edition
SFIFF featured 158 films from 51 countries with over 210 filmmakers attending over its 15 day run. Among its guests this year were Steven Soderbergh, Harrison Ford, Richard Linklater, Philip Kaufman, Julie Delpy, William Friedkin, David Gordon Green, Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig, Sarah Polley, Michael Cera and Kate Bosworth. Belmin Sölyemez's Present Tense (Turkey) won the festival's New Directors Prize, while its FIPRESCI award went to Sébastian Betbeder's Nights with Theodore. Kalyanee Mam's A River Changes Course won Best Documentary, while the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Régis Roinsard's Populaire. Morgan Neville's Twenty Feet From Stardom received the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Where Have All the Women Gone in Movies?
There have been recent success in women-lead movies such as Bridesmaids, Hunger Games and Twilight, but female representation in popular movies is at its lowest level in five years, according to a study by USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Among the 100 highest-grossing movies at the U.S. box office last year, only 28.4% of speaking characters were women, a drop from 32.8% three years ago, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Cannes Doc Heads to HBO
The Cannes Film Festival is giving the premium cable network its spotlight, including Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra in its Official Selection. And HBO has now picked up rights in the U.S. and Canada to James Toback's feature documentary Seduced and Abandoned, which is making its world premiere as a Special Screening in the Cannes Official Selection. Told by Alec Baldwin and Toback, the film is described as a "cinematic exploration of several interconnected subjects: The Cannes Film Festival and cinema art, money, glamor and death." Shot during the 65th Anniversary Festival in 2012, it features fascinating and original portraits of Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Berenice Bejo, Diane Kruger and James Caan.

10 Docs Chosen for Independent Filmmaker Labs
The key creative teams of the selected films, chosen from 200 nationwide, will participate in three week-long sessions over the course of 2013 with the first—the Time Warner Foundation Documentary Completion Lab—taking place May 13-17 in New York City. The ten include Approaching the Elephant by Jay Craven, Bringing Tibet Home by Tenzin Tsetan Choklay, Do I Sound Gay? by David Thorpe, Evolution of a Criminal by Darius Clark Monroe, Farmer Veteran by D.L. Anderson, In Country by Megan O'Hara and Mike Attie, Kasamayaki (Made in Kasama) by Yuki Kokubo, The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest by Gabriel London, Mateo by AaronNaar and Roots and Webs by Sara Dosa. Recent fellows headed for theatrical distribution include SXSW's 12 O'Clock Boys, These Birds Walk and New Directors/New Films' Our Nixon.

Cambodian Filmmaker Rithy Panh to Compile IDFA Top 10
Rithy Panh came to international prominence in 2003 with his documentary S21, The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, for which he filmed the testimony of former inmates and guards of a Khmer Rouge punishment camp, and his latest, l’Image Manquante, will screen in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, which begins this week. Rithy Panh will be a guest of the festival during IDFA 2013, where he will talk about his work and his Top 10 in a masterclass. The 26th IDFA will run from November 20 to December 1 in Amsterdam.

Film Society of Lincoln Center is thrilled to partner with the New York Asian Film Festival and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office to present The Jackie Chan Experience. This exciting, one of a kind event features a conversation with Chan about his career followed by a screening of his 101st film, the massive blockbuster Chinese Zodiac, on June 10. In addition, we'll be paying tribute to this daring master of comedy and dazzling stunt-filled Kung Fu with a retrospective of 13 of his films from June 23 - 27. Find out more about them below:

In Armour of God (Jackie Chan, 1986). Chan plays a pop star turned treasure hunter who tries to rescue an old friend’s girlfriend from psychotic monks. Chan also took a life-threatening fall while performing a stunt that halted production for months and required emergency surgery. To this day, he still bears the hole in his head. The sequel, Armour of God 2: Operation Condor (Jackie Chan, 1991), went way over budget and over schedule as Chan hopped around the globe trying to top himself, which he does.

Chan resurrects his character from the Armour of God franchise in Chinese Zodiac (Jackie Chan, 2012) and delivers an action spectacle that has broken box-office records in China. This movie contains manic action scenes, hidden islands, and pirate gangs. Reported to be his final “large-scale action picture,” this is Chan’s farewell to the blockbuster movies that made him famous.

In City Hunter (Wong Jing, 1993) Chan finds himself onboard a luxury cruise liner that becomes the target of terrorists. With outrageous set-pieces, a deadly card game, and a movie-theater brawl that has Chan imitating the moves of an on-screen Bruce Lee, City Hunter is packed with insane action and ridiculous comedy that you won’t want to miss.

Drunken Master 2 (Lau Kar-leung & Jackie Chan, 1994). Photo: Golden Harvest/Paragon/The Kobal Collection/Robert Lam

Drunken Master 2 (Lau Kar-leung & Jackie Chan, 1994) was filmed at the peak of Chan’s prime and many claim this to be the greatest martial arts film ever made. Chan shares the screen with Ti Lung and Anita Mui, who steals the show as his motor-mouthed stepmother. Lush, opulent, and made with no consideration for budget or schedule, it took three months just to shoot the final action scene.

Chan finally proves he’s not just an action star in Little Big Soldier (Ding Sheng, 2010). Set in ancient China, it centers on a farmer (Chan) who’s drafted into the army and winds up accidentally capturing the enemy general. If he can get his unwilling captive back home he’ll earn his freedom. It’s a heartbreaking and hilarious escapade, and Chan’s camera-ready charisma has never been put to better use.

1920s gangster fantasia Miracles (also known as Mr. Canton & Lady Rose; Jackie Chan, 1989) is the movie Chan is most proud of directing. He plays a country bumpkin who inherits the top crime king position from a dying mafia boss in this remake of Frank Capra’s Lady for a Day. 

Police Story (Jackie Chan, 1985). Photo: Golden Harvest/Paragon/The Kobal Collection 

Police Story (Jackie Chan, 1985) is Chan's first contemporary cop thriller, where he plays a hot-tempered inspector framed for murder by a drug lord. This is a breathless adrenaline rush, and contains what might be a record-high amount of broken glass per minute. In Police Story 2 (Jackie Chan, 1988), Chan begins the film demoted to traffic duty after his mall-destroying misadventures in part one. The spectacular stunts and killer set-pieces are still there, including a climactic duel with a deaf-mute bomber set in a fireworks-laced warehouse. In Police Story 3: Supercop (Stanley Tong, 1992), Chan goes undercover with a dangerous drug lord—a set-up that finds him breaking a henchman out of prison, posing with an invented family, and finally dangling from a moving helicopter. The film was released in the US in a dubbed, recut version featuring a theme song by the seminal New Wave rock band Devo.

Project A (Jackie Chan, 1983) is a cops-versus-pirates action movie that transformed Chan from a martial arts star into a director of transcendent physical comedy. One of the first action movies to be set in colonial Hong Kong, Project A is the first of Jackie’s films to contain outrageous stunts, including a jaw-dropping bicycle chase and a 50-foot fall from a clock tower that was so terrifying it took Jackie three days to work up the courage to attempt it.  In Project A 2 (Jackie Chan, 1987), Chan keeps four separate subplots whirling while leaving time for intense action and groundbreaking stunts.

Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (Yuen Wo-ping, 1978) is where it all began. The film became Jackie’s first box-office hit, and the first movie to introduce the world to his innovative brand of action-comedy.

Jackie’s directorial debut The Young Master (Jackie Chan, 1980) was the ideal showcase for his martial arts prowess. Opening on a high-stakes lion dance competition and closing on a ferocious showdown, The Young Master features Chan exploring the thin line between Kung Fu as performance and as life-or-death combat.

An Evening with Jackie Chan takes place on June 10 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The Jackie Chan Experience retrospective screens June 23 - 27. Tickets are now on sale to both events.

What's better than a cool summer breeze? How about a bunch of film windbags sharing stories about some of the most exciting independent movies set to be released in the coming months!

As an extension of our NYFF Live events during the 50th New York Film Festival, Film Society is thrilled to announce a series of free Summer Talks in the Film Center Amphitheater featuring some of the most exciting filmmakers and actors working today. It all kicks off next Thursday, May 16 at 8:00pm with a conversation with the trio behind the highly anticipated Before Midnight, director Richard Linklater and stars/co-writers Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, moderated by Film Comment contributor Phillip Lopate.

In June, Sofia Coppola will be on hand to discuss her new film The Bling Ring, based on a tabloid tizzy of a true story about a group of teenagers whose obsession with celebrity and fashion leads them to rob the houses of some of Hollywood's most famous starlets. Later in the month, Jem Cohen will show one of his short films and talk about how he came to make Locarno favorite Museum Hours.

Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station was among the most buzzed-about movies at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury and Audience Award. In July, Coogler will share with Film Society audiences what lead him to become a filmmaker and why he decided to tell the story of Oscar Grant, a young Oakland man who was victim to excessive police violence, in his debut feature.

Though they don't have confirmed dates yet, we're also excited to announce three additional free talks coming up later this summer at Film Society: Joe Swanberg on Drinking Buddies, Sebastián Silva on Crystal Fairy, and David Lowery on Ain't Them Bodies Saints.

These Summer Talks are free and open to the public. Tickets will be available to the general public at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center box office beginning one hour before the start of the event, on a space available basis.

Film Society of Lincoln Center is honored to announce the lineup for the 24th Human Rights Watch Film Festival, which will run June 13 – 23. HRWFF will bring 20 eye-opening films, including 15 New York Premieres, to Film Society and the IFC Center and, as always, most will be bolstered by fascinating Q&As and panel discussions.

Before the traditional Opening Night festivities, a special Benefit Night fundraiser for the Human Rights Watch organization will kick off the festival. The evening will honor Tim Hetherington, the Restrepo co-director, photojournalist and filmmaker who was killed covering the Libyan civil war in 2011. The Benefit Night features a screening of Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington, directed by Hetherington's close friend Sebastian Junger.

On June 14, Opening Night begins with Oscar-winning filmmaker Freida Mock’s Anita, about Anita Hill and her testimony against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas for sexual harrassment. Mock won an Oscar for Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994), and continues to unveil injustices against women through her work. Closing Night on June 23 features Jeremy Teicher’s award-winning drama Tall As the Baobab Tree, about two young sisters scheming to rescue the youngest from an arranged marriage in Senegal.

Anita Hill in Freida Mock’s Anita.

Through 18 documentaries and two narrative features, HRWFF shows us the lives of those on the margins and the injustices suffered by millions around the world. Each year, HRWFF focuses on specific themes to focus audiences' attention. This year's themes are: traditional values and human rights (women’s rights, disability rights, LGBT rights), crises and migration, Asia, and U.S. human rights.

"One of the most rewarding aspects of programming this festival is that it always reveals thought-provoking and often surprising themes distilled from the past year’s human rights films," said festival director John Biaggi. "The most striking theme this year, which is reflected in 11 films in the festival, is the tension between traditional values and human rights—from issues women face, including sexual harassment, gender equality and child marriage, to dangers faced by the LGBT community, to injustices faced by the disabled. At the core of each of these films—and of all the films in this year’s festival—is the inspiring strength of individuals standing up for themselves, their rights and their communities."

Karima Zoubir’s Camera/Woman.

Traditional Values and Human Rights:

In addition to Anita and Tall As the Baobab Tree, women’s rights issues can be seen in Kim Longinotto’s Salma, the story of a South Indian Muslim woman who was held in confinement for 25 years and became the most famous female poet in the Tamil language. Rafea: Solar Mama, directed by Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief, profiles a Jordanian Bedouin woman fighting for her right to education. The life of a wedding filmmaker in Morocco comes to life in Karima Zoubir’s Camera/Woman. Sundance and SXSW alum Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin, focuses on the news-making imprisonment of the titular Russian all-female punk band/activist group.

Three films stand out addressing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Rights: Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann’s Born This Way, focusing on four gay and lesbian young people in Cameroon; Yoruba Richen’s The New Black, exploring the controversial histories of African-American and LGBT civil rights; and Srdjan Dragojevic’s dark comedy The Parade, about activists' attempts to pull-off a gay pride parade in Belgrade.

Harry Freeland’s In the Shadow of the Sun rounds out the traditional values and human rights category with with its documentation of the lives of two albino men in Tanzania, who survive being killed at birth or banished as outcasts, but face fears and prejudices on a daily basis.

Raoul Peck's Fatal Assistance.

Crisis and Migration:

Director and Haiti’s former minister of culture, Raoul Peck’s Fatal Assistance is this year’s festival Centerpiece film, focusing on Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and the unsolvable human rights assistance that continues to negatively affect the country. Also in this section are Nagieb Khaja’s My Afghanistan—Life in the Forbidden Zone, about Afghans in war-torn areas, and Marco Williams’ The Undocumented, about Mexican migrants crossing Arizona’s Sonora Desert to "freedom."

Asia:

Although seemingly broad in its focus on the continent of Asia, these HRWFF docs hit hot spots of injustice. Coming back to the Film Society after its New York Premiere at New Directors/New Films, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing can do no wrong... well, at least for viewers held in awe of the joy the unrepentant members of Indonesia’s death squads get out of reenacting some of their most horrendous crimes. The second Asian film, Camp 14—Total Control Zone, from German director Marc Wiese, chronicles the life and time of Shin Dong-Huyk, who spent two years in a North Korean labor camp.

United States:

Lastly, the theme of human rights in the United States hits close to home, specifically for New Yorkers in 99%—The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film, about what exactly happened in the 2011 movement and where it’s going. Al Reinert’s An Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story tells the tragically common story of a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and served out 25 years of his sentence before being exonerated. And don’t miss Lisa Biagiotti’s deepsouth, documenting the rise of HIV in rural southern states.

Dowry: Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan. Photo: Brent Stirton

As always, the festival will also present a photo exhibit in the Furman Gallery of the Walter Reade Theater. This years show is Dowry: Child and Forced Marriage in South Sudan, featuring powerful images of child brides by Getty photographer Brent Stirton. The exhibit is free and open to the public throughout the festival.

For more information on the 24th Human Rights Watch Film Festival check out the festival program (PDF).

The writers and stars of director Ben Wheatley's British genre-bending road trip romp Sightseers tossed out the rule book when it comes to horror and laugh out loud fun. Veterans of television and the comedy circuit, in particular, in Great Britain, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram wrote their own script for the Sundance debut film, in which they play a seemingly quiet couple who embark on a journey through the British countryside in their Abbey Oxford Caravan. Lowe plays Tina, a sheltered woman who looks to Chris (Oram) to show her life outside of her prism. The rolling countryside and visits to kitschy roadside distractions mask a brewing underbelly of violence and class warfare as the couple merrily moves from camp to camp, wreaking havoc along the way.

Lowe and Oram tailored their unconventional road show out of the comedy circuit they know so well. Initially envisioned as a television project, the pair turned to the big screen when TV powers-that-be at home balked at their script and short film version of the story. Lowe spoke with FilmLinc Daily about her journey to the big screen and why she found the medium liberating, why script writing is helpful for acting, and taking on the director's chair down the road.

FilmLinc Daily: Sightseers crosses genre in that it's both laugh-out-loud funny at times and yet throws some unexpected turns when this seemingly unassuming couple take a dark turn on their road trip through the Lake District and other areas of England. Did you want to bend the genre rules or how did all this come together?

Alice Lowe: Steve and I met on the comedy circuit in London, which is quite a small world. We started doing a character set, in which we're a couple. We realized that we're both from the Midlands. The south here has a strong identity; if you're from Manchester, it has a strong identity, but in Birmingham there isn't this [sense] of being a cultural center or whatever. So we were talking about growing up and identity and having a lack of direction in a way. We wanted to capture that in film. 

FD: Did you consider the idea of de-emphasizing the comedy aspect and just going for the full jugular thriller story?

AL: I don't think that either of us could really carry that as actors. And what really amused us is that the road movie genre is really an American one and the killings are American as well. We're not 21 and we're not action heroes. The joke for us is that we're not glamorous. That's the initial joke really. It's a road movie with a pair on a killing spree, but with some [trappings] that are very typically British. For us, I think, we have a background in comedy, but both of us have always wanted to do film, which is a Holy Grail that you're never sure if it's something you'll get to do.

We wanted to do a comedy that has a commercial element, but then we'd just sneak in tragic aspects and classical aspects to the story. We wanted aspects of melodrama. Mike Leigh is someone who is always ingrained in your influences when you're British. We figured, though, if we could get away with there being a serious element to the film we'd be very happy. And the film makes you think as well. And we thought: "Why can't a comedy be beautiful and cinematic?"

FD: You come from a heavy television background. Had you considered doing Sighteers for television?

AL: Initially it was a television idea. When you're a comedian, it's your natural call to do television, and we made this short film and we were sending it out to channels. They were all saying it's really funny, but it's so dark and they were not going there. One thing about television in Britain is that they're so scared about complaints. It curbs a lot of drama. It's really weird how safe TV is in Britain at the moment. We were looking at all these American dramas like Dexter and others which have elements of dark comedy and we were thinking: "Well why can't we make something like this? What's the problem?" But then Edgar [Wright] saw the short film and he said that he'd executive produce it. So suddenly we felt liberated.

Sightseers writers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram in a scene from the film, directed by Ben Wheatley.

FD: It's interesting that there are shows like Dexter created on this side of the Atlantic and there are a lot of indie filmmakers who have segued to television—or at least "premium television"—and it seems to be the en vogue space to be in at the moment. And the big screen is seen by some filmmakers as being limiting. Steven Soderbergh is the prime example of that at the moment, having announced his retirement and pursuing projects for HBO including his next feature, Behind the Candelabra.

AL: I think independent film is about the individual voice and the independent vision and that's really what you're selling. The rules of "having to have [a certain] kind of ending" or worrying about whether it tests badly, etc., is really an alien world to me. In Britain, it just seems that we have realized that we have the talent here and the equipment has now become so cheap. I'm surprised that it's taken this long to make the leap, but now people realize: "Let's just do it." TV here has narrowed lately. But American and Danish TV have been much more exciting… It's weird that we generate so much successful television comedy here in the U.K., but we don't trust comedians to generate successful films, but maybe that will change.

FD: Had you both considered directing the film yourselves or at least one of you?

AL: No, I think you need someone outside yourself to tell you about your performances, while at the same time you can experiment and act like kids really. That's part of the brilliant platform Ben [Wheatley] gives you really. He wants to see something very naturalistic and we had great fun doing it.

FD: Do you think about directing?

AL: Well, I'm actually directing my next film. The reason I feel like I am able to do that is because it's one main character. I think it's harder when there are two main characters. Sightseers is a bit of interplay and a power struggle, but if one [inherently] has more power, then it wouldn't have worked. Just think if someone [directing] turned around and said: "I think I'm really going to focus on me in this scene…" It wouldn't have worked. But I think directing is something I'm interested in.

FD: Writing is something you've done extensively, especially for television but also shorts. Is that something you're going to continue to do?

AL: Definitely. It gives me a lot of confidence in having been involved with the creation of the film because it does have a lot to do with the script and that helps in the rehearsal room. I have confidence in how visual it needs to be. But in TV, it's very much more concentrated on dialog. In film, you're painting a canvas. I got really excited about that.

FD: Are you also starring in the film you're directing now and is it a comedy?

AL: It is a comedy, yes, but it's very dark. In that sense it's a continuation of those themes [in Sightseers].

FD: Do you want to exclusively stick with comedy going down the road?

AL: I would like to explore other genres really. I love doing comedy and that's the thing I will always go back to really, but I'd love to have the freedom to do sort of "meaty" roles, but also have the freedom to do the sort of films I want to make, like what Woody Allen does. You forget he's funny because you're so gripped by the story, but they still make you laugh.

Sightseers screened at Film Society in February as part of Film Comment Selects 2013. It opens Friday, May 10 in New York and Los Angeles.

BAMCinemaFest 2013 Lineup
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) revealed the full lineup for the fifth edition of their popular BAMCinemaFest on Wednesday, which includes 22 New York Premieres and one World Premiere. The roster draws heavily on Sundance and SXSW alums, including Opening Night film Ain't Them Bodies Saints by David Lowery, which played both festivals and will open at Film Society on August 16, and Closing Night film Short Term 12, which won the SXSW Grand Jury prize. Other standout titles include Martha Shane & Lana Wilson's late-term abortion doc After Tiller, Kyle Patrick Alvarez's David Sedaris adaptation C.O.G., Andrew Bujalski's dry 80s comedy Computer Chess, an outdoor screening with Rooftop Films of Joe Swanberg's Drinking Buddies, Jem Cohen's Vienna-set drama Museum Hours, James Ponsoldt's coming of age dramedy The Spectacular Now, and Chad Hartigan's Sundance Best of NEXT award winner This Is Martin Bonner. BAMCinemaFest runs June 19 - 28. Full lineup available here.

Bernardo Bertolucci to Head Jury at 70th Venice Film Festival
Two-time Oscar winner Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor) will preside over the jury at the 70th Venice Film Festival later this summer. He filled the same role 30 years ago, but has hardly been seen in the last decade as health problems confined him to to his Rome home. Last year at Cannes, Bertolucci premiered the first film he had directed in nearly 10 years, Me and You, marking a long-awaited return to the public eye. The Venice Film Festival will take place August 28 - September 7. The Los Angeles Times reports.

YouTube Launches Paid Subscription Services Starting at $0.99
YouTube officially announced today that it will launch a pilot program that offers more than 20 paid subscription channels with fees starting at $0.99 per month and averaging $2.99 a month. Roger Corman’s B-movies (such as Death Race 2000 and Piranha) will be available on rotation on "Corman’s Drive-in" for $3.99 a month, and Gravitas Movies and Magnet Releasing films will also have channels. The channels will be available on computers, mobile devices and TV. YouTube’s revenue will amount to slightly less than half generated by the subscriptions. For a full list of the paid subscription channels, head to Indiewire.

L.E.S. Film Fest will open with How to Follow Strangers
The 3rd Lower East Side Film Festival announced it will open the festival with How to Follow Strangers, directed by Choike Nassor. Nassor’s first full-length feature is based on a true story about a woman’s decomposing body found in an apartment long after her death, wearing a Chanel suit. The L.E.S. Film Festival runs June 13-23 at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema and features Judah Friedlander, Academy Award nominee Dan Janvey, Emmy winner Jerry Kupfer, writer and director Rebecca Miller and Bladimiar Norman of The Weinstein Company as judges. The full festival lineup will be announced May 15.

San Francisco International Film Festival winners announced
The 56th San Francisco International Film Festival wrapped up today, with the winners of Golden Gate Awards, the New Director's Prize, and the FIPRESCI Prize announced last night. Below are feature winners. Head to Indiewire for a full list of winners.

Golden Gate Award Documentary Feature Winners:
Documentary Feature: A River Changes Course, Kalyanee Mam | Cambodia/USA | 2012 (Cambodian Cinema ’13)
Bay Area Documentary Feature: The Kill Team, Dan Krauss | USA | 2012
New Directors Prize: Present Tense, Belmin Solyemez | Turkey | 2012
FIPRESCI Prize: Nights with Theodore, Sébastian Betbeder | France | 2012 (Film Comment Selects '13) 

Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby will have already had its regular theatrical release Stateside by the time it has what is sure to be a glitzy red carpet premiere later next week at the Opening Night of the 66th Cannes Film Festival. Quite frankly, the 2 hour and 21 minute feature is made to open Cannes. It also happens to be Luhrmann's second Cannes opener this century after Moulin Rouge launched the 2001 festival.

Void of some of the over the top fantasy elements that characterized that film, The Great Gatsby is nevertheless a spectacle and Luhrmann certainly leaves his characteristic stamp on the classic American story by F. Scott Fitgerald, starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of Jay Gatsby and Tobey Maguire as budding writer/narrator Nick Carraway. In this version, Maguire's Carraway recalls his encounter with the hedonistic 20s in Gatsby's Long Island from a sanitarium where he therapeutically writes his recollections about the mysterious party-giving multimillionaire.

Like Moulin Rouge, The Great Gatsby will no doubt divide audiences and will likely irk adherents to Roaring 20s orthodoxy.

At a recent reception at the New York Public Library, hosted by Peggy Siegal, an attendee who introduced Baz Luhrmann noted that virtually every person educated in America had read the book that spawned the Australian filmmaker's feature. While the story occupies an indelible place in the American psyche, it was actually in a very unlikely place that Luhrmann became engrossed in the novel and planned to make the story his next feature project.

"After Moulin Rouge, I took a trip on the Trans-Siberian railway," said Luhrmann. "Boarding the train wasn't quite the Dostoevsky moment I expected. But to [pass the time] I had two recorded books with me, and one was The Great Gatsby, as well as [a lot] of Australian wine… I realized I didn't know the book at all. It spoke so directly. It was us. It was now. It's a very internal book."

DiCaprio's Gatsby lords over a Long Island castle that sits across the bay from Carraway's cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), who is married to the philandering blue-blooded Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Gatsby throws frequent booze-soaked bacchanalias in hopes that, one day, Daisy will attend. Upon learning that he is Daisy's cousin, Gatsby solicits help from Carraway, who has moved in next door in a beachside bungalow.

A scene from Baz Luhrmann's Cannes opener, The Great Gatsby.

"Jay-Z was one of the first people to see a rough cut of the film," Luhrmann recalled. "Jay-Z said, 'Wow, that's beautiful. But it's aspirational, not about how he made his money. Do they have a moral compass? Do they have a purpose? He uses the parties, the Charleston and everything else to bring everyone into his sticky fly trap, but he wants only one butterfly.'"

Shawn 'Jay Z' Carter, who also served as executive producer on the film, provided much of the modern music for the feature. The Great Gatsby is also peppered with jazz and other period 20s tunes, but Luhrmann was determined to be unorthodox to the music of the decade, which was fueled by a roaring Wall Street, a loosening of morals, and at least for some, a fast-paced quest for the decadent. If distributor Warner Bros. has any intention to re-create the party scenes in the movie at Cannes, that will likely be among the most sought after invitations in years.

"Fitzgerald, in my view, wasn't nostalgic," said Luhrmann. "He took jazz and pop of the time and put it into his text. It was 'the now' that he was trying to express and I want the audience to today to have a similar feeling when they see the film." Fans of the Roaring '20s should not be disappointed by the flapper fashions, lingo and music of the era, but 21st century elements are never too far away.

"Baz wanted a New York that is visceral, modern and sexy, not quaint and nostalgic," noted Maguire. Added Luhrmann, "Fitgerald was focused on new things. He loved technology and he loved film. In my estimation, he put cinematic elements into his writing. And I am channeling myself into Fitzgerald."

The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher and Joel Edgerton, opens Friday in the U.S. and will kick off the 66th Festival de Cannes on May 15.

FilmLinc will be in Cannes reporting from the festival daily beginning late next week.

Man Of Steel, Pixar's Monsters University Added to Los Angeles Film Festival
LAFF will host a pre-festival screening of Warner Bros. Superman feature, Man of Steel on June 12, two days ahead of its official release. Also joining the festival lineup is Disney/Pixar's Monsters University, set for June 18 (it hits theaters June 21). Also at the festival, which takes place June 13 - 23 in downtown Los Angeles, is a conversation with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze in addition to events spotlighting costume design and the inauguration of the Academy's Costume Designers Branch and a look at women editors.

Athens to Take Toronto International Film Festival Spotlight
The Greek capital will be the focus of the 2013 City to City program at the 38th Toronto International Film Festival. Now in its fifth year, the City to City series showcases filmmakers living and working in a selected city, regardless of where their films are set. Past series featured in the series include Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Buenos Aires and Mumbai. This year's lineup in the program spotlighting Athens will be unveiled in July. The Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 5 - 15.

Sydney Film Festival Unveils Lineup
Ivan Sen's Mystery Road will open the 60th Sydney Film Festival, taking place June 5 - 16. The world premiere is an Outback-set murder-mystery starring Hugo Weaving.  Among the films screening in its Official Competition are Only God Forgives, Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell, and Berlin Crystal Bear winner The Rocket. Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha (NYFF50), David Gordon Green's Prince Avalanche, Richard Linklater's Before Midnight and Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo will screen as Special Presentations at the event. Sydney will close out with doc Twenty Feet From Stardom (opening at Film Society on June 14), by filmmaker Morgan Neville, Indiewire reports.

Danny Boyle Honored by Critics' Circle
Filmmaker Danny Boyle received a special centenary award for "services to the arts" at the 100th birthday of the U.K. Critics Circle. Also honored at the event were theater director Max Stafford Clark and choreographer Sir Peter Wright. "It goes to show, I think... that the decisions about who should prosper and who should not should be left in the arms of the people who run the theatres, rather than the people who provide them with the money," said Boyle. BBC reports.

Zach Braff Responds to Kickstarter Campaign Criticism
Braff raised a whopping $2.5 million from 35,000 backers for his planned upcoming directorial project in just two weeks via crowd sourcing site Kickstarter. While a complete success, Braff also faced criticism for being a successful millionaire filmmaker/actor raising money to fund what some called a vanity project. Said Braff: "Most of the backers of my film aren't people on Kickstarter who had $10 and were deciding where to give it, and then gave it to me instead of someone else. They came to Kickstarter because of me, because of this project. They wouldn't have been there otherwise." TOH reports.

The Girls in the Band (Opens Friday!)
Director: Judy Chaikin
Writers: Judy Chaikin, Edward Osei-Gyimah
Cast: Geri Allen, Jane Ira Bloom, Clora Bryant, Herbie Hancock

The documentary follows the untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their journeys from the late 1930s to the present day.

Screen Daily said about The Girls in the Band: "A fascinating, moving and wonderfully tuneful documentary, Judy Chaikin’s absorbing The Girls In The Band is a real treat for music-lovers – especially jazz fans – as well as being a powerful examination of the struggles by talented musicians to break into the resolutely male world of jazz…[It] is a must for any savvy arts broadcaster and has the style, panache and provocative storyline to also work theatrically."

Detroit Unleaded (Tuesday, Indie Night)
Director: Rola Nashef
Writers: Jennifer Ginzinger, Heather Kolf, Rola Nashef
Cast: EJ Assi, Nada Shouhayib, Mike Batayeh, Akram El-Ahmar

The romantic comedy centers on a Lebanese-American youth who is forced to take over his family's gas station business after the untimely death of his father. From behind bullet-proof glass, he attempts to socialize and swoon a girl who stops by, while finessing the challenges of social rules.

The film will screen as part of Film Society's ongoing Indie Night series. Writer/director Rola Nashef spoke with FilmLinc last week about the film: "A big inspiration for telling this story is that Arab America is really a lot of fun. It was a great community to grow up in. Of course it has its ups and downs like anywhere else. But an inspiration was definitely to say, 'Hey look at my friends, they're so sexy, cool and fun, you know?'"

Make Mine Music (Saturday & Sunday, Family Film)
Directors: Robert Cormack, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Josua Meador
Cast: Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore, Benny Goodman, The Andrew Sisters, Jerry Colonna, Andy Russell, Sterling Holloway

This coming weekend's Family Film offering is a 1946 animated classic that unfolds to what was then "contemporary popular music." The film screened at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and often had comparisons made to Fantasia.

Recalling the immediate post-war period in which Make Mine Music launched, Turner Classic Movies notes: "Make Mine Music was the first of what is often referred to by modern sources as Disney's 'package features.' Although the studio had previously experimented with combining distinctly separate animated segments in the earlier features Fantasia, Saludos Amigos and Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music was the first of a series of films, released after the war, which were specifically made to ease the studio's severe financial problems."

From Here to Eternity (May 17 & 19, Man of Steel: Burt Lancaster at 100)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Writers: Daniel Taradash (screenplay), james Jones (novel)
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Philip Ober

Set in Hawaii during the war, the classic drama/romance centers on a private who is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team. Meanwhile, his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.

The Guardian said of the film in 2010 following the restoration of the 1953 Oscar-winner: "Burt Lancaster is the tough sergeant enjoying a blistering affair with a beautiful and highly-strung woman, played by Deborah Kerr, the wife of his incompetent commanding officer. This rerelease is a reminder that their famous kiss in the surf, with Burt having rather uncomfortably to strain his head up into the clinch, actually only lasts a second – despite being frozen, immortalised, on the poster and in a thousand spoofs…What a punch this movie still packs."

Apache (May 18 & 20, Man of Steel: Burt Lancaster at 100)
Director: Robert Aldrich
Writers: James R. Webb, Paul Wellman (novel)
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire, Charles Bronson, John Dehner

During Geronimo’s surrender to the U.S. Cavalry, a lone Apache warrior (Lancaster) defiantly interrupts the ceremony of his white conquerors. Captured and shipped off to the Florida Everglades, he escapes and begins an epic journey back to his desert Southwest home. One of Robert Aldrich’s best and leanest anti-establishment narratives, and one of Lancaster’s most energetic and athletic performances. With Jean Peters as his lover and fellow fugitive, John McIntire as the grudgingly sympathetic frontier scout who pursues them, and Charles Bronson (then Buchinsky) as an old Apache rival who has donned Cavalry Blue.

Won Kar-wai Received Top French Accolade
Hong Kong-based filmmaker Won Kar-wai was named a Commander of France's Order of Arts and Letters. "Commander" is the highest rank of three possible titles for this honor, which has been bestowed on Bruce Willis, Ray Bradbury, Bob Dylan and T.S. Eliot. His latest, The Grandmaster, is headed for U.S. release later this year, TOH reports.

Observer Film Critic Steps Down After 50 Years
British critic Philip French began working with the Observer in 1963 and will retire at the end of August following his 80th birthday. "There is no daily or weekly newspaper of such distinction, and I count myself as extremely fortunate having had the opportunity to be part of such a tradition," wrote French in his resignation letter. He is considered one of the U.K.'s greatest living movie analysts. The Guardian reports.

Fox to Fete Cleopatra 50th Anniversary in Cannes
The studio and Bulgari will tribute the 50th anniversary of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The historical epic shot on 70mm film took home four Academy Awards and was the highest grossing film of 1963, earning more than $57 million in its initial release. The film cost an unprecedented $42 million to make at the time, which translates to $300 million today. A restored version of the 243-minute original will screen on May 21 in Cannes Classics and will be hosted by Jessica Chastain and Kate Burton, daughter of Richard Burton and step-daughter of Elizabeth Taylor, along with other guests. A red carpet reception will follow where Bulgari will display several of Elizabeth Taylor’s most treasured pieces from her personal jewelry collection, which are not for sale, and were reacquired at her highly publicized Christie’s auction.

Dame Helen Mirren Scolds Drummers Dressed as the Queen
Mirren, who is currently playing Queen Elizabeth II in London's West End, emerged in full costume Saturday to scold a group of drummers promoting a gay and transgender festival on Rupert Street outside the Gielgud Theatre, using "thespian words" to insist the group quiet their drumming because they were interrupting her play. "Quiet! I'm trying to do a play in here! People have paid a lot of money for tickets," she reportedly said, in part. Mirren was also joined by Rufus Wright, who plays Prime Minister David Cameron in the production. Mirren won an Oscar for the film The Queen, which opened the New York Film Festival in 2006, BBC reports.

TIFF Bell Lightbox to Showcase Chinese Retrospective
The year-round exhibition space that is also the nucleus of the annual Toronto International Film Festival will host "A Century of Chinese Film," running June 5 to August 11. The exhibit will begin with Cai Chusheng's New Women and conclude with Jia Zhangke's Still Life. In all, 80 films will screen including work from Edward Yang, Hou Hisiao-hsien, Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee and Won Kar-wai.

Detroit Unleaded filmmaker Rola Nashef found her filmmaking self in Detroit and that's exactly where she intends to stay. Born in south Lebanon, her family emigrated to Lansing, Michigan during the civil war. At university she floated between various majors, but it wasn't until she moved to Detroit that she tapped into the city's broader Arab-American community and its subset of artists and filmmakers. After seeing an ad for a film school and a subsequent visit, her destiny was paved. But her experiences in Detroit with fellow young Arab Americans formed her filmmaking canvas for Detroit Unleaded, first a short and later the feature version of a story she wrote and directed.

Screening at the upcoming Indie night series at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center next week, Detroit Unleaded is a touching story of second-generation Lebanese-American Sami who works the night-shift behind bullet-proof glass at his family's Detroit gas station and convenience store. He had planned to move to California and experience freedom at university, but his father's death meant he must mind the store. Together with his charismatic and ambitious cousin Mike, he contends with the rival gas station down the street and meeting friends and ultimately the woman who catches his eye, Najilah. Subcultural conventions and his sequester behind plexiglass for long shifts hinder their burgeoning affections.

Nashef spoke with FilmLinc about Detroit Unleaded before traveling to the San Francisco International Film Festival where she is participating in a program to help filmmakers learn insight into distribution. She feels strongly that her romantic-comedy can be a breakthrough and is determined to get it to as wide an audience as possible. But she is also hoping to get back in the director's chair and build her empire.

FilmLinc: Michigan has some sizable Arab-American communities, did you grow up there?

Rola Nashef: I emigrated with my family when I was five years old from south Lebanon and we emigrated as a result of the civil war. I grew up in Lansing, which is about an hour and a half from Detroit. It's a big city/small town. It's racially and economically more mixed whereas Detroit is more segregated. I didn't grow up in a concentrated Arab-American community like in the way Dearborn or Detroit is.

FL: How did your experience growing up shape Detroit Unleaded, and when did filmmaking become a passion for you?

RN: I had explored some things in college where I was an activist also. I was the head of the Arab student organization and a cultural advocate as well. Then I moved to Detroit to work with The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) working in the cultural arts department and that was the first time I had met artists and creative people. I remember thinking, "Who are these crazy people?" By that point, I had not studied anything creative whatsoever. And then I met my first filmmaker. I soon figured out that for me, there was a better way for me to translate culture.

So, I started putting everything together as this new film school opened up in Michigan.  I had actually seen an ad for it basically in the paper and then everything just clicked. I knew this was what I had to do on the first day I was there. I never second guessed it. It was pretty instant.

FL: Talk about this story. Was it inspired by a particular experience of yours or was it a compilation of experiences or completely unrelated?

RN: When I went to Detroit, I noticed all the gas stations there were owned by Lebanese. It was just this thing. There were all these Arab-American men working behind bullet proof glass and I began to think that this has to change your perspective on how you see the world. I had also been making so many great Arab-American friends and as I met them, I saw that it seemed to be such a right of passage there for so many Arab-American men. We'd go up to the gas station and hang out with our friends and I noticed there would be so many interesting interactions between the Arab clerk behind the glass and the predominately African-American customers that he would serve.

I knew the issues and why the glass was there and the controversy around it. But what I also noticed was all these personal friendships that were formed between the Arab store clerk and his customers and I was interested in the glass because it formed this tangible barrier. It was this metaphor for the barrier that we all face in our lives whether they're physical or mental or whatever. It's something you have to leap over in order to attain intimacy with another person.

The gas station became the central location and turnstile where people come in and out of our lives. This is especially true in Detroit where everything tends to be so racially and economically segregated. The gas stations seem to be one of the few places where people actually inter-mingle.

FL: In the story, your male lead, Sami, has to negotiate interaction with this glass barrier, but then that challenge is compounded by the particular rules of dating in the Arab-American community, correct?

RN: Of course I put a little love story in there and a lot of that stemmed from growing up and dating within our own community, realizing we have different norms and cultural contexts that we adhere to. In Arab America, we've developed our own culture or Arab-American youth culture, which is sometimes in front of our parents and sometimes it isn't. This is my community—we're so diverse. We're constantly stereotyped of course and put into a box and almost seen as non-humans of course, but even worse we're often seen as boring, one-dimensional and oppressed women. That was never my case nor the case of my friends.

Actually a big inspiration for telling this story is that Arab America is really a lot of fun. It was a great community to grow up in. Of course it has its ups and downs like anywhere else. But an inspiration was definitely to say, "Hey look at my friends, they're so sexy, cool and fun, you know?"

FL: Detroit gets more than its fair share of negative press, but quite honestly, it has suffered an economic shock over the last several decades unlike most other cities in America. But culture and renewal is also part of that story. What is your experience with the filmmaking community there and are you sticking around?

RN: There is a core film community here, but it's certainly not comparable to L.A. or New York, but there is this burgeoning filmmaking community here because of [Michigan's] incentives over the past four years. There is also a large skilled crew here because we also have one of the largest commercial industries in the country because of the big three, G.M., Ford and Chrysler. Their commercials are shot here. And that commercial community has transitioned into filmmaking, which has allowed for a diverse crowd of directors, producers, writers etc.

I don't feel the urge to move to New York. People have asked me if I'm moving there now, but no, Detroit is still the cheapest place to make a movie. It's incredible and really my work centers around Detroit. I really don't see myself leaving and I'm really surrounded by great and wonderful artists and my entire family is here. I look forward to working here especially with the incentives. That's the big issue here right now. I'd still like to work on the East and West coasts, but I'd like to be centered here and build my empire [laughs].

FL: And what's coming up? Will you stay in the director's chair?

RN: I'm working on my next film right now, even as Detroit Unleaded is still touring around. It is called Nadia's House and it's about four Lebanese girls trying to get married. Marriage is the foundation. But in the same vein as Detroit Unleaded, the comedy centers around these four girls.

I'm also attracted to television directing and eventually even the theater world. I just love directing, though I've never done theater before, but I'd like to explore all these things, not just feature filmmaking. I just want to create as much content as I possibly can.

See Detroit Unleaded at Indie Night May 7. 

American Sniper Set As Steven Spielberg's Next Movie
Bradley Cooper will star in the movie and will also produce. The story is an adaptation of American Sniper, the autobiography of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. The Warner Bros./DreamWorks co-production is targeting the first quarter of 2014 as a production start date. The book, whose complete title is American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, tells how Texas native Kyle came to record the highest number of sniper kills for an American. It has received praise for its forthrightness in telling a first-person account of his duties, THR reports.

William Friedkin to Receive Venice Honor
The director of The French Connection and The Exorcist will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival. The honorary Golden Lion was a prize he "never expected" but was "proud to accept with gratitude and love." Venice chief Alberto Barbera singled him out for his "revolutionary impact," BBC reports.

Justin Timberlake to Spin Gold in Biopic
Timberlake will play 1970s music entrepreneur Neil Bogart, and he will produce alongside Matt Damon, with production set for early next year. Bogart launched the careers of KISS, Donna Summer, The Village People, Gladys Knight and others. He died at 39 in 1982. Bogart's son, Timothy Scott Bogart, developed the script with Timberlake and wrote the screenplay, Screen Daily reports.

This Weekend's Specialty Newcomers
Xan Cassavetes' Kiss of the Damned, Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan-starrer What Maisie Knew, Michael Shannon and Chris Evans' The Iceman, Keanu Reeves starrer Generation Um…, documentary Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's (playing at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center), Jared Moshé's Dean Man's Burden, Olivier Assayas' Something In The Air and D.W. Young's The Happy House are among the coming weekend's packed list of new specialty releases. Deadline.com gives some background on the titles.

Chinese Theatre Closes for Renovations
The once-again former Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood is set to shut down this week for several months of renovations. The legendary theater with the imprints of Hollywood stars through the decades in cement, is being remodeled to accommodate Imax screenings. The theater is now called TLC Chinese Theatre after the Chinese TV company bought the rights to its name. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Venice to give Friedkin Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement
The 70th Venice International Film Festival will honor director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, Killer Joe) by presenting him with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, according to Indiewire.

A restored version of Friedkin’s 1977 Sorcerer will be screened at the Venice Film Festival. Friedkin has said Sorcerer is his most personal film, which features four outcasts (Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, and Amidou) transporting dynamite through South America for a remote drilling operation. Friedkin is also known for his masculine characters who toe the line between what is right and what is easy in films such as The French Connection, Rules of Engagement, To Live and Die in L.A., and Killer Joe.

“Venice, especially during the Film Festival, is a spiritual home to me,” said Friedkin. “The Golden Lion is something I never expected but am proud to accept with gratitude and love."

Deanna Durbin. Photo: Hollywood Reporter

Deanna Durbin, 1930s, 40s Hollywood icon, dies at 91; Shamshad Begum, Indian film singer, dies at 94
Deanna Durbin, whose on-screen debut with Judy Garland in Every Sunday (and subsequent contract with Universal) was said to have saved the studio from bankruptcy, died at 91. Durbin starred in Three Smart Girls (1936), One Hundred Men And A Girl (1937), Mad About Music (1938), Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), First Love (1939), and It’s A Date (1940). In 1939 Durbin shared an Academy Award with Mickey Rooney for “significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth.”

Like many child stars, Durbin never really made it out of her childhood personification into adult roles. As an adult she starred in The Amazing Mrs. Holiday (1943) and Christmas Holiday (1944), but is most known for her childhood spunkiness. In 1947 she became the highest paid woman in America (beating out Bette Davis), and her fans included Anne Frank and Satyajit Ray. Durbin was married to producer Charles David for 48 years until his death in 1999.

Indian cinema singer, Shamshad Begum, recently passed away at 94. Begum was one of the first playback singers in Hindi cinema: heard, but not seen. Born in 1919 in the northern state of Punjab, Begum did not sing on film until 1941’s Khazanchi, but soon after enjoyed a lot of film success singing in Aar Paar (1954) and C.I.D. (1956).

Adam Brody and Kristen Bell in Neil Labute's Some Girls to be released on Vimeo On Demand.

Some Girls to be first Vimeo On Demand narrative feature film
Neil Labute's Some Girls will be the first narrative feature film to be released exclusively on Vimeo On Demand, according to Indiewire. The entertainment group Leeden Media turned down distribution offers. Some Girls follows a writer who travels the country making amends with his past lovers before his wedding. Starring Adam Brody and co-starring Kristen Bell, Mia Maestro, Emily Watson, Jennifer Morrison and Zoe Kazan.

"The opportunity to go straight from artist to audience is the future and Vimeo is offering a fantastic new platform," Leeden Media's Patty West said. "We were inspired by Amanda Palmer and Shane Carruth, as well as, of course, one of the stars of our film, Kristen Bell, with her $5.7M Kickstarter campaign. These artists are doing it themselves and going directly to their audience. That’s really exciting for filmmakers."

David Gordon Green.

Latest Gordon Green project, Manglehorn, looks to Pacino for lead
After Prince Avalanche and Joe, director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) has begun work on Manglehorn. According to Gordon Green Manglehorn “is the story of (A.J. Manglehorn) who gave up the love of his life for a life of crime and now he regrets it as the world crumbles in front of him.” Gordon Green and co-writer Paul Logan want Pacino to play the title character, according to Empire.

Worldview Entertainment will finance Manglehorn. Worldview previously worked with Gordon Green on Joe, which has yet to be released.

Prince Avalanche, a Sundance premiere, will be released August 9.  

Olivier Assayas' Something in the Air. 

Indiewire picks 10 Indies to watch on VOD in May
During the inevitable May showers, sit back, relax, and check out Indiewire's 10 Independent films picks with Video On Demand:

Aftershock, May 10 (a horror film co-written by Eli Roth)

Happy New Year, May 14 (a powerful PTSD drama)

Honor Flight, May 14 (a sort-of road movie following veterans who visit memorials in D.C.)

David Zellner's Kid Thing. 

Kid Thing, May 21 (If Harmony Korine and David Gordon Green collaborated on a children-centered film, according to Film Society).

Mosquita y Mari, May 14 (NewFest ’12)

Pieta, May 17 (Golden Lion winner)

Sightseers, May 13 (Ben Wheatley’s highly anticipated new film)

Something in the Air, May 3 (NYFF50, need we say more?)

Syrup, May 2 (a satire on the ad world)

Upstream Color, May 7 (A Sundance premiere that is tough to define and, yet, polished. See it to figure it out for yourself, or not).

For more information on where to see these films and to check out the trailers go to Indiewire.

This May and June, Family Films celebrates artful animation and live-action animal adventures!  The series kicks off with Tomm Moore’s Oscar nominated 2009 film The Secret of the Kells (May 4 & 5), where 12-year old Brendan fights to help a monk complete a magical book of knowledge before it’s too late.  Then, Disney’s Fantasia follow-up, Make Mine Music, screens (May 11 & 12).  This 1946 film is scored by popular music of the time, including Benny Goodman and Dinah Shore. 

In Jannik Hastrup’s 2002 touching film The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Bear (May 18 & 19), a young boy decides whether he wants to return to his human family, or stay with his adoptive polar bear family.  From 1996, Claude Nuridsany’s Microcosmos (May 25 & 26) is a beautiful time-lapse photographical documentary on the surprisingly complicated life of various insects. 

The Boy Who Wanted to be a Bear (Jannik Hastrup, 2002)

A walrus named Seela and a polar bear named Nanu come of age in Sarah Robertson’s 2007 film Arctic Tale (June 1 & 2), and Jaques-Remy Girerd’s beautifully animated 2008 film Mia and the Migoo screens on June 8 & 9.  With the help of Migoo, Mia tries to save her father who is stuck in a magical forest.

Mia and the Magoo (Jaques-Remy Girerd, 2008)

The Bear is an endearing 1988 movie directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and filmed with trained bears, depicting the first year of life for a cub (screens June 15 & 16).  From 1941, Dave Fleischer’s Hoppity Goes to Town (Mr. Bug Goes to Town) is a fun movie starring Hoppity, a bug who has to deal with humans who litter and beetles who bully (screens June 22 & 23).  Finally, Family Films of June closes on June 29 & 30 with Winged Migration.  This Jacques Perrin film from 2001 is a beautifully shot account of several bird species’ migration patterns.

So, join us for a wide range of films that are sure to appeal to movie lovers of all ages!

Los Angeles Film Festival Unveils 2013 Lineup
Oscar-winning directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's The Way, Way Back will close out the Los Angeles Film Festival, which takes place downtown L.A. at L.A. Live June 13 - 23. The film stars Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Sam Rockwell. Gala screenings include the North American Premiere of Nicholas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives (opening at Film Society on July 19) and Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station. LAFF's lineup includes 22 films that will screen in it Narrative and Documentary competitions. Narrative Competition titles include 12 features, with Jark Jacob and Todd Arthur Cottam's Pollywogs, Joe Burke's Four Dogs and Alexander Mirecki's All Together Now among the sections eight world premieres. For a full lineup of films and other LA Film Festival events, visit their website.

Seattle International Film Festival Sets Lineup
Joss Whedon's Shakespearean adaptation Much Ado About Nothing (opening at Film Society on June 7) will open the massive festival which will include 18 world, 38 North American, and 6 U.S. premieres. The lineup includes 447 features and 175 shorts. The North American premiere of Sofia Coppola's Un Certain Regard feature The Bling Ring will close out the festival. Other highlights include Jim Rash's The Way, Way Back, David Gordon Green's Prince Avalanche, David Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints (opening at Film Society on August 16) and Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha, Indiewire reports.

Hollywood Star Deanna Durbin Dead at 91
Durbin was the highest-paid star in the U.S. in 1947, but retired from the business the following year aged just 27. She made her film debut in the 1936 MGM short Every Sunday, appearing with Judy Garland. Her first movie for Universal Studios, Three Smart Girls, was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1937. In '46, she was the second highest-paid woman in America, just behind Bette Davis. She retired to a village in France in 1949 after 21 movies. Rarely granting interviews, she sent a letter to reporters in 1958 saying she was "never happy making pictures" and that the "character I was forced into had little or nothing in common with myself - or with other youth of my generation, for that matter." BBC reports.

Alex Gibney to Direct Sinatra Doc
Alex Gibney will make a film about late icon Frank Sinatra. The untitled four-hour mini-series will premiere on HBO and is described as an "up close and personal" look at the entertainer's life and will include previously unseen footage from industry and home movies as well s private and professional performances, Screen Daily reports. Gibney's most recent film, We Steal Secrest: The Story of Wikileaks, opens at Film Society on May 24.

Atoms Star in World's Smallest Movie
Researchers at IBM have created the world's smallest movie by manipulating single atoms on a copper surface. The stop-motion animation uses a few dozen carbon atoms, moved around with the tiny tip of what is called a scanning tunneling microscope. It would take about 1,000 of the frames of the film laid side by side to span a single human hair. The extraordinary feat of atomic precision has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. BBC reports.

In March, FSLC was honored to host a retrospective of films starring Pam Grier, who remains to be one of the most alluring actors to grace the screen.  Since her first roles in cult classics, Grier has proved she is a force to be reckoned with.  From avenging her boyfriend's death in Foxy Brown, to playing a murderous prostitute in Fort Apache the Bronx, to leading a revolt in Escape From LA, Grier's roles are as widespread and iconic as can be.

It is no secret that Grier has served as muse and inspiration for many directors like Roger Corman and Quentin Tarantino; nor is it a surprise.  She charmed us all at FSLC with her her compassion, vitality, and incredible stories.  During Foxy: A Conversation with Pam Grier, the leading lady sat down with FSLC programmer Josh Strauss to discuss her life and career.  You may be surprised (but you'll certainly be entertained) by some of Grier's legendary stories.  Take a look:

Grier on auditioning for Paul Newman in Fort Apache the Bronx:

Grier on Tarantino, Will Smith, and Surviving Cancer:

Grier on Making Fried Chicken for Federico Fellini:

Watch the full conversation here:

Anticipated doc Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's opens this weekend at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Featuring celebs, fashion designers and icons, the film spotlights the famed Fifth Avenue department store and its magnetic place in fashion history. Also this week at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Film Comment will host a pair of Benoît Jacquot films, Villa Amalia starring Isabelle Huppert and his 2010 drama, Deep In the Woods. And the upcoming Columbia University Film Festival unveiled its trailer for its May event.

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's (Opens Friday!)
Writer/Director: Matthew Miele
Subjects: William Fitchner, Mary-Kate Olsen, Ashely Olsen, Candice Bergen, Nicole Richie, Joan Rivers

The documentary spotlighting the famed Manhattan department store includes interviews from a number of fashion designers, style icons and celebrities.

"I held firm on a number of other things that made them a little embarrassed,” Miele told the New York Times, which added about the filmmaker that, "He said examples included information about the large amounts of money that some staff members make, and commentary from Joan Rivers, a loyal customer but not exactly the face some executives wanted to put forward."

Villa Amalia (Film Comment Double Feature)
Writer/Director: Benoît Jacquot
Additional Writers: Julien Boivent, Pascal Quignard (novel)
Cast: Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Xavier Beauvois

The film centers on the story of Ann, a musician whose life is turned upside down by a kiss. When she sees Thomas kissing another woman, Ann makes a clean break, leaving him and everything else far behind her. Suddenly unsure of everything that seemed so certain, Ann knows only that she must change her life and become someone else to find herself. With her music and the friendship of Georges, who pops out of her distant past, she sets off on a journey that will take her to an island where the Villa Amalia stands.

Noted The Telegraph: "Isabelle Huppert stars in an attractive arthouse remake of Under the Tuscan Sun."

Deep in the Woods
Director: Benoît Jacquot
Writers: Julien Boivent, Marcela Iacub, Benoit Jacquot
Cast: Isild Le Besco, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Jérome Kircher, Bernard Rouquette

It's 1865, and a wanderer, Timothee, arrives in a village in the south of France pretending to be deaf and mute. He is struck by a young woman, Josephine, and seeks out the hospitality of her father, Dr. Hughes. There's an awkward dinner and the next day, he comes back to find her alone and makes her fall in a state of hypnotic lethargy before taking advantage of her. Overwhelmed by his powerful hypnotic gift, she follows him even though she seems to be disgusted and afraid of him. He takes her deep into the woods and continues to abuse her until he is arrested and tried.

Indiewire noted at its premiere at the Locarno Film Festival: "To the extent that it sustains an element of psychological mystery, Deep in the Woods has merit, but the fits of inspiration are hampered by the absence of story momentum…"

The Secret of Kells (Family Film)
Director Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey
Writers: Tomm Moore (original story), Fabrice Ziolkowski (screenplay)
Cast: Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Brendan Gleeson

The story centers on Brendan who welcomes master illuminator Brother Aidan who arrives with an unfinished work. Problems ensue when he decides to assist Brendan, which involves going beyond the Abbey walls, which is forbidden by his uncle, Brother Cellach. Cellach is fearful of the invading Vikings who are wreaking havoc across the land, but Brother Aidan needs particular berries for unique ink color, so Brendan defies his uncle and heads off into the forest, and he encounters a host of otherworldly phenomena.

Noted Film Comment about The Secret of Kells: "Rare is the film that appeals to 4-year-olds and medieval-art historians; and brave are the visionaries who pitched the thing to studio suits in the first place; but, lo and behold, here we have it."

Columbia University Film Festival
Various Filmmakers
(May 3 - 9 in New York; June 4 - 6 in L.A.)

The festival is the annual premiere of thesis short films, feature screenplays and teleplays created by graduate MFA students from Columbia University School of the Arts Film Program.

CUFF 2013 trailer from CUFF 2013 on Vimeo.

Barbra Streisand on the red carpet. Photo: Julie Cunnah

Catherine Deneuve. Photo: Julie Cunnah

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Photo: Julie Cunnah

Blythe Danner. Photo: Godlis

Kris Kristofferson and wife Lisa Meyers. Photo: Godlis

Tony Bennett and wife Susan Crow. Photo: Godlis

Pierce Brosnan. Photo: Julie Cunnah

Streisand at the ceremony. Photo: Walter McBride

A devoted fan who says it best. Photo: Julie Cunnah

Godard, Greenaway, Pêra Film to Close Critics Week
3X3D by Jean-Luc Godard, Peter Greenaway and Edgar Pêra will close out Cannes Critics Week. The presentation, which is actually made up of three short films, "explores 3-D and its evolution in the world of cinema," according to the festival. "In Just in Time, Peter Greenaway takes an in-depth look at the superposition of images. With The Three Disasters, Jean-Luc Godard sketches what could well be a Histoire(s) du Cinéma in 3D, the premise of his next feature film. Edgar Pêra concludes the triptych with Cinesapiens, another, more playful history of cinema." The 52nd Critics Week closes Thursday May 23.

Harrison Ford to Receive San Francisco International Film Festival Honors
Ford will receive the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting May 7th at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival. The San Francisco Film Society and its year-round exhibition, education and Filmmaker360 programs will be the beneficiary of the event. As previously announced, Philip Kaufman will receive the festival's Directing Award, while Eric Roth will receive the Kanbar Screenwriting Award, while Ray Dolby will be the recipient of the George Gund III Award.

Colin Firth Eyes Lead in Woody Allen's Next Film
Firth is in talks to star as the male lead opposite Emma Stone, who has joined the untitled feature that will shoot in the south of France. Deadline reports.

Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me Heads to Theaters
Chiemi Karasawa's documentary about actress/performer Elaine Stritch will hit theaters in North America. The 2013 Tribeca Film Festival debut, spotlights Broadway legend Elaine Stritch the uncompromising Tony and Emmy Award-winner is showcased both on and off stage via rare archival footage and intimate cinema vérité. By turns bold, hilarious and moving, the film’s journey connects Stritch’s present to her past, and an inspiring portrait of a one-of-a-kind survivor emerges.  In stolen moments from her corner room at New York’s Carlyle Hotel and on breaks from her tour and work, candid reflections about her life are punctuated with photographs from her personal collection and words from friends (including Hal Prince, George C. Wolfe, Nathan Lane, Cherry Jones, Tina Fey, James Gandolfini, Alec Baldwin and John Turturro). A theatrical release date is still TBD by the film's distributor, Sundance Selects. Stritch recently sat down for an interview with FilmLinc Daily at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Doha & Tribeca End Partnership
The Doha Film Institute and Tribeca Enterprises have severed their partnership, which began in 2008, launching the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November 2009. The pact lasted for four festivals. The Doha Film Institute said it will unveil plans for a new format for its festival during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Said Tribeca Enterprises in a statement: "After four years of successful cultural partnership, the festival has grown immensely and reflects our mutual vision for an event to promote cultural understanding and community through film and education. We are proud of everything DFI and Tribeca have achieved together, and we wish DFI the very best as they move forward with their festival and year-round initiatives." Screen Daily reports.