Lineup for Cannes Director’s Fortnight 2014

Nineteen films are in the line-up in this year’s Director’s Fortnight which has a strong Anglo-Saxon element with six films from Australia, the UK, the US and one from US documentary-maker Frederick Wiseman (National Gallery) with French production help.

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However, more than the geography of the 2014 selection by artistic director Edouard Waintrop and his team, is a comedy element which Waintrop, when announcing their choice in Paris on Tuesday, said was less obvious than one might expect in troubled times.

He told RFI that he’s seeing a trend towards the so-called Noir genre or mood, which translates most often into crime films.

“It’s a dark period. It shows in the hundreds of films submitted for the festival. That being said, some are also be funny, even if it’s black humour.”

Waintrop somehow managed to make the journalists at the press conference titter as he announced that one of the special screenings is a restored version of the now 40 year-old Texas Chain-Saw Massacre.

Notable competition entries include John Boorman (at 80), with his Queen and Country. It’s a follow up to his auto-biographical Hope and Glory and takes place at the time of the Korean War.

Don Johnson and Sam Shepherd appear in Cold in July by Jim Mickle.

Eight entries are from first or second-time feature makers.

Céline Sciamma is one of the three third-feature makers. At 33, her Bande de Filles (Girlhood) opens the Director’s Fortnight on 15 May (all the threes for good luck?).

Before the screening of the opening film, the recently late Alain Resnais will be the posthumous recipient of the Carrosse d’Or. The prize is awarded annually by the French Film Director’s Society for lifetime achievement.

It will be presented at the Festival’s opening ceremony, to Resnais’ assistant director on his last films including Life of Riley, Christophe Jouffroy and producer Jean-Louis Livi.