Cannes unveils official selection

The 2009 Cannes Film Festival lineup has been revealed with quite a few big names - Pedro Almodóvar (Broken Embraces), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) Ang Lee (Taking Woodstock), Jane Campion (Bright Star), Ken Loach (Looking for Eric) Terry Gilliam, (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Alejandro Amenabar (Agora), Lars von Trier (Antichrist) and Sam Raimi (Drag Me to Hell).

Variety points out that this year's competition is dominated by European and Asian films, while the presence of American films is quite small. Only two American films will compete for the Palme - Inglourious Basterds and Taking Woodstock. Pixar's Up and Lee Daniels' Sundance sensation Precious are among the other American films in the Official Selection.

You can check out the entire festival lineup below via FirstShowing. There are 52 films from 32 countries that will be screened during the festival which runs between May 13 and May 24.

OPENING NIGHT FILM:
Pixar's Up - Dir: Pete Docter

COMPETITION:
Broken Embraces - Dir: Pedro Almodóvar
Fish Tank - Dir: Andrea Arnold
A Prophet - Dir: Jacques Audiard
Vincere - Dir: Marco Bellocchio
Bright Star - Dir: Jane Campion
In the Beginning - Dir: Xavier Giannoli
Map of the Sounds of Tokyo - Dir: Isabel Coixet
The White Ribbon - Dir: Michael Haneke
Taking Woodstock - Dir: Ang Lee
Looking for Eric - Dir: Ken Loach
Spring Fever - Dir: Lou Ye
Kinatay - Dir: Brillante Mendoza
Enter The Void - Dir: Gasper Noe
Thirst - Dir: Park Chan-wook
Les Herbes Foilles - Dir: Alain Resnais
The Time That Remains - Dir: Elia Suleiman
Inglourious Basterds - Dir: Quentin Tarantino
Vengeance - Dir: Johnnie To
Face - Dir: Tsai Ming-liang
Antichrist - Dir: Lars von Trier

UN CERTAIN REGARD:
Mother - Dir: Bong Joon-ho
Irene - Dir: Alain Cavalier
Precious - Dir: Lee Daniels
Demaine Des L'Aube - Dir: Denis Dercourt
Adrift - Dir: Heitor Dhalia
Nobody Knows About The Persian Cats - Dir: Bahman Ghobadi
The Wind Journeys - Dir: Ciro Guerra
Le Pere De Mes Enfants - Dir: Mia Hansen-Løve
Tale In The Darkness - Dir: Nikolay Khomeriki
Air Doll - Dir: Hirokazu Kore-Eda
Dogtooth - Dir: Giorgos Lanthimos
Tzar - Dir: Pavel Lounguine
Independence - Dir: Raya Martin
Police, Adjective - Dir: Corneliu Porumboiu
Nymph - Dir: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
To Die Like A Man - Dir: João Pedro Rodrigues
Eyes Wide Open - Dir: Haim Tabakman
Samson & Delilah - Dir: Warwick Thornton
The Silent Army - Dir: Jean van de Velde
Tales From The Golden Age - Dir: Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Propescu, Ioanna Uricaru

OUT OF COMPETITION:
The Army of Crime - Dir: Robert Guédiguian
Agora - Dir: Alejandro Amenabar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - Dir: Terry Gilliam

SPECIAL SCREENINGS:
Petition - Dir: Zhao Liang
L'epine Dans le Coeur - Dir: Michel Gondry
Min Ye - Dir: Souleymane Cissé
Jaffa - Dir: Keren Yedaya
Manila - Dir: Adolfo Alix Jr. and Raya Martin
My Neighbor, My Killer - Dir: Anne Aghion

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS:
A Town Called Panic - Dir: Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar
Ne Te Retourne Pas - Dir: Marina de Van
Drag Me to Hell - Dir: Sam Raimi

CLOSING NIGHT FILM:
Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky - Dir: Jan Kounen

Cannes selection speculation

Awards Daily points us to the list of films that are expected to screen in Cannes, which begins May 13. The official selections will be announced on April 23. Ryan, at AD makes a nice little list for us, so I'll post the ones that interest me. You can head on over to AD for the rest.

Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock, about 1969 music fest, with Emile Hirsch

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, the Nazi-hunter saga with Brad Pitt

Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro, an Argentine family drama with Vincent Gallo

Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant remake with Nicolas Cage

Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell, horror-thriller with Alison Lohman

Pete Docter’s Up, the 3D Pixar adventure with Ed Asner

Jane Campion’s Bright Star, a John Keats bio with Ben Wishaw

Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, horror in the woods with Willem Dafoe & Charlotte Gainsbourg

Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric, about a troubled teen soccer fan

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, teen troubles with Michael Fassbender

Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces, a noirish melodrama with Penelope Cruz

Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is rumored to be part of the lineup.

The Playlist notes the films that won't be shown at the festival: Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control (opens May 1), The Coen Brother's A Serious Man, Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful, and Steven Soderbergh's The Informant.

Penelope and Pedro do Vanity Fair

Penelope Cruz and director Pedro Almodóvar appear in the Spain edition of April 2009's Vanity Fair. They're lovely:

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