2008 Cannes Film Festival
Official poster of the 61st Cannes Film Festival featuring a photo of model Anouk Marguerite and photographed by Pierre Collier.[1]
Opening filmBlindness
Closing filmWhat Just Happened
LocationCannes, France
Founded1946
AwardsPalme d'Or: The Class
Hosted byÉdouard Baer
No. of films22 (En Competition)[2]
20 (Un Certain Regard)
8 (Out of Competition)
17 (Cinéfondation)
7 (Special screening)
9 (Short Film)
Festival date14 May 2008 (2008-05-14) – 25 May 2008 (2008-05-25)
Websitefestival-cannes.com/en
Cannes Film Festival

The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2008. The President of the Official Jury was American actor and director Sean Penn. Twenty two films from fourteen countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 24 May, French film The Class, directed by Laurent Cantet, was awarded with the Palme.[3][4]

The festival opened with Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles[5] and closed with What Just Happened, directed by Barry Levinson.[6] Édouard Baer was the master of ceremonies.[7] Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen, opened the Un Certain Regard section.[8]

The British press reported the list of films in competition this year was notable for its absence of British films for the second successive year.[9][10] In addition to films selected for competition this year, major Hollywood productions such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda had their world premieres at the festival.

Juries

Sean Penn, President of the 2008 Feature film Jury

Main competition

The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature films of the 2008 Official Selection:[11]

Un Certain Regard

Cinefondation and Short Films Competition

Caméra d'Or

Official selection

In Competition

The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:[2]

English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country
24 City 二十四城记/二十四城記 Jia Zhangke China
Adoration Atom Egoyan Canada
Blindness Fernando Meirelles Brazil, Canada, Japan
Changeling Clint Eastwood United States
Che (Part I: The Argentine and Part II: Guerilla) Steven Soderbergh Spain, Germany, France, United States
A Christmas Tale Un conte de Noël Arnaud Desplechin France
The Class Entre les murs Laurent Cantet France
Delta Kornél Mundruczó Hungary
Il Divo Paolo Sorrentino Italy
Frontier of the Dawn La frontière de l'aube Philippe Garrel France
Gomorrah Gomorra Matteo Garrone Italy
The Headless Woman La mujer sin cabeza Lucrecia Martel Argentina, Spain, France, Italy
Lion's Den Leonera Pablo Trapero Argentina, South Korea, Brazil, Spain
Linha de Passe Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas Brazil
My Magic Eric Khoo Singapore
Palermo Shooting Wim Wenders Germany, France, Italy
Service Serbis Brillante Mendoza Philippines, France
Lorna's Silence Le silence de Lorna Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne Belgium, Italy, Germany
Synecdoche, New York Charlie Kaufman United States
Three Monkeys Üç Maymun Nuri Bilge Ceylan Turkey
Two Lovers James Gray United States
Waltz with Bashir ואלס עם באשיר Ari Folman Israel, Germany, France

Un Certain Regard

The following films were selected for the competition of Un Certain Regard:[2]

English Title Original Title Director(s) Production Country
Afterschool Antonio Campos United States
Hunger Steve McQueen Ireland, United Kingdom
Involuntary De ofrivilliga Ruben Östlund Sweden
I Want to See Je veux voir Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige France, Lebanon
Johnny Mad Dog Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire France, Belgium, Liberia
The Dead Girl's Feast A Festa da Menina Morta Matheus Nachtergaele Brazil
Los Bastardos Amat Escalante Mexico, France, United States
Modern Life La Vie moderne Raymond Depardon France
Ocean Flame 一半海水，一半火燄 Fendou Liu Hong Kong
O' Horten Bent Hamer Norway, France, Germany, Denmark
Parking 停車 Chung Mong-Hong Taiwan
Salt of this Sea ملح هذا البحر Annemarie Jacir Palestine, France, Israel, United States, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland
Soi Cowboy ซอยคาวบอย Thomas Clay Thailand, United Kingdom
Tokyo! Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho France, Japan, South Korea, Germany
Tokyo Sonata トウキョウソナタ Kiyoshi Kurosawa Japan
Tulpan Тюльпан Sergey Dvortsevoy Kazakhstan, Germany
Tyson James Toback United States
Versailles Pierre Schoeller France
Wendy and Lucy Kelly Reichardt United States
Cloud 9 Wolke Neun Andreas Dresen Germany

Out of Competition

The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:[12][2]

Special Screenings

The following films were selected for the Special Screenings:[13][2]

Cinéfondation

The following short films were selected for the competition of Cinéfondation:[2]

Short film competition

The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:[2]

Cannes Classics

Cannes Classics places the spotlight on documentaries about cinema[14] and restored masterworks from the past.[15]

Tributes

Documentaries about Cinema

Restored prints

Parallel sections

International Critics' Week

The following films were screened for the 47th International Critics' Week (47e Semaine de la Critique):[17]

Feature film competition

Short film competition

Special screenings

Short films
Prix de la Critique

Directors' Fortnight

The following films were screened for the 2008 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalizateurs):[18]

Feature films

Special screenings

Short films

Official Awards

Laurent Cantet, winner of the 2008 Palme d'Or
Matteo Garrone, winner of the 2008 Grand Prix
Director Clint Eastwood at the festival promoting Changeling

In Competition

The following films and people received the 2008 Official selection awards:[19][3]

Un Certain Regard

Cinéfondation

Caméra d'Or

Short Films Competition

Independent Awards

FIPRESCI Prizes

Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist

Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

International Critics' Week

Regards Jeunes Prize

Prix François Chalais

References

  1. ^ "Posters 2008". festival-cannes.fr. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Official Selection 2008: All the Selection". festival-cannes.fr. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "61ème Festival International du Film - Cannes". cinema-francais.fr (in French). Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  4. ^ a b c "Cannes 2008 / Palmarés". cannes-fest.com (in French). Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  5. ^ "Cannes Film Festival 2008 opener: the end of civilisation". The Telegraph. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  6. ^ "2008 Cannes Film Festival Lineup". voices.yahoo.com. 14 May 2008. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014.
  7. ^ "Edouard Baer, emcee of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Visceral Brit offering opens Un Certain Regard section". The Guardian. 15 May 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Cannes Film Festival snubs British movies for the second year running". The Independent. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  10. ^ "Indiana Jones steals the show as Cannes ignores British films". The Times Literary Supplement. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011.
  11. ^ "All Juries 2008". festival-cannes.fr. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Out of competition". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  13. ^ "Retrospective 2008, Special Screenings". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Cannes Classics — Documentaries about Cinema". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  15. ^ "Cannes Classics — Restored Prints". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Cannes Classics — Tribute". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  17. ^ "47e Selecion de la Semaine de la Critique - 2008". archives.semainedelacritique.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  18. ^ "Quinzaine 2008". quinzaine-realisateurs.com. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  19. ^ "Awards 2008: All Awards". festival-cannes.fr. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
  20. ^ "Festival de Cannes : Film details 2008". Archived from the original on 11 September 2011.
  21. ^ "FIPRESCI Awards 2008". fipresci.org. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  22. ^ "Jury Œcuménique Palmarés 2008". cannes.juryoecumenique.org. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  23. ^ "Association Prix François Chalais Cannes 2008". francois-chalais.fr. Archived from the original on 29 October 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2017.

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