Cannes 2008: Blindness to open festival
Story by Jack Foley
BLINDNESS, a new thriller from City of God and The Constant Gardener director Fernando Meirelles, is to open the Cannes Film Festival in France later this month.
Based on a novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago, the film stars Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo as the inhabitants of a town that is hit by a sudden epidemic of sight-loss. Moore plays the wife of a doctor, who is the only person to retain her sight.
The closing night, film, meanwhile, will be the comedy drama What Just Happened?, starring Robert de Niro, Bruce Willis and Sean Penn.
The film, directed by Barry (Rain Man) Levinson, follows two weeks in the life of a fading Hollywood producer (played by De Niro) who’s having a rough time trying to get his new picture made.
Two of the film’s stars are taking an active involvement in this year’s Cannes event. De Niro will also present the prestigious Palme d’Or prize, awarded by the event’s special jury, on May 25, while Sean Penn leads this year’s jury, which also contains Natalie Portman and former Harry Potter director Alfonso Cuaron.
This year’s festival is already shaping up to be another memorable occasion, with the keenly-anticipated blockbuster Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull premiering out of competition and Clint Eastwood’s Changeling in the running for the Palme d’Or.
The 61st Cannes Film Festival begins on May 14.