Happening since 1945, this year’s Cannes Film Festival is kicking off today, 15 May, 2013. Steven Spielberg will head the 66th Cannes jury and, according to the Telegraph, will reside on his 282ft superyacht, The Seven Seas, which is equipped with an open air infinity pool, featuring a 15ft cinema screen. Alongside cinema heavyweights Nicole Kidman (actress), Ang Lee (director), Lynne Ramsay (director), Christoph Waltz (actor), Cristian Mungiu (director), Naomi Kawase (director), Daniel Auteuil (actor) and Vidya Balan (actress), he will be making some tough decisions selecting this year’s feature film winners. We have selected some of the trailers to some of the highlights — including The Great Gatsby which is to open the event tonight — to be screened at the festival. Palme d’or, Grand Prix, Prix du Jury, Best Actor, Best Actress…what awards do you think are going to who?
Inside Llewyn Davis – The Coen Brothers
Synopsis:
The life of a young folk singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Llewyn Davis is at a crossroads. Guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles-some of them of his own making. Living at the mercy of both friends and strangers, scaring up what work he can find, Llewyn’s misadventures take him from the basket houses of the Village to an empty Chicago club – on an odyssey to audition for music mogul Bud Grossman-and back again.
Only God Forgives – Nicolas Winding Refn (director of Drive)
Synopsis:
Julian, an American fugitive from justice, runs a boxing club in Bangkok as a front for his drug business.
His mother, the head of a vast criminal organization, arrives from the US to collect the body of her favourite son, Billy. Julian’s brother has just been killed after having savagely murdered a young prostitute. Crazy with rage and thirsty for vengeance she demands the head of the murderers from Julian.
But first, Julian must confront Chang, a mysterious retired policeman – and figurehead of a divine justice – who has resolved to scourge the corrupt underworld of brothels and fight clubs.
Behind the Candelabra – Steven Soderbergh
Synopsis:
Before Elvis, before Elton John, Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Liberace: virtuoso pianist, outrageous entertainer and flamboyant star of stage and television. Liberace lived lavishly and embraced a lifestyle of excess both on and off stage. In summer 1977, handsome young stranger Scott Thorson walked into his dressing room and, despite their age difference and seemingly different worlds, the two embarked on a secretive five-year love affair.
The Great Gatsby – Baz Luhrman (out of competition)
Synopsis:
The Great Gatsby follows would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without of the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.
Synopses taken from festival-cannes.fr
