No Russian films in competition in Cannes

The 57th international film festival is opening in Cannes today, provided with high security measures. Only last night, the administration of the festival managed to agree with the French trade union of freelance actors that they would not hamper the work of the film forum.

The conflict with the French trade union, which disrupted the famous Avignon theater festival last year and many other cultural and public events, kept organizers of the Cannes festival waiting anxiously for several weeks.

This time, however, there will be no Russian films represented at the festival for the time in the past few years. Russian films are neither in the main competition of full-length features, nor among the short-length ones. Only in the Un Certain Regard program, a Russian-Kazakh film, Schizo, directed by Gulshad Omarova will be represented.

The main competition program includes only 18 features which is less than in the previous years. The organizers of the festival put this down to the aspiration to opt for the quality and not the quantity.

The majority of the contesters are beginners and include directors from Argentina, Italy, France, Germany, South Korea and Thailand, which will be represented for the first time.

Among the celebrities there will be Ethan and Joel Coen from the US with their Ladykillers film, Bosnian Emir Kusturica and feature Life is a Miracle, Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai and his film 2046. Besides, features in competition will include the sequel of the famous cartoon, Shrek-2.

Well-established directors are represented in the out of competition program. They are Jean-Luc Godard, Abbas Kiarostami, Zhang Yimou, Pedro Almodovar whose film Bad Education will open the festival, and Quentin Tarantino, President of the Jury, who will present his latest work, Kill Bill Vol. 2 starring Uma Turman.

If nothing upsets the work of the festival, the names of the winner of the Palme d'Or and other prizes will be announced at the awarding ceremony in the Festivals Palace on May 23.