Today's Cannes Film Festival features in competition Bright Star, from the U.K. and Australia, and Bak-Jwi (Thirst) from South Korea.
Synopsis of Bright Star:
London 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23 year old English poet, John Keats, and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, an outspoken student of fashion. This unlikely pair started at odds; he thinking her a stylish minx, she unimpressed by literature in general. It was the illness of Keats’s younger brother that drew them together. Keats was touched by Fanny’s efforts to help and agreed to teach her poetry. By the time Fanny’s alarmed mother and Keats’s best friend Brown realised their attachment, the relationship had an unstoppable momentum. Intensely and helplessly absorbed in each other, the young lovers were swept into powerful new sensations, "I have the feeling as if I were dissolving", Keats wrote to her. Together they rode a wave of romantic obsession that deepened as their troubles mounted. Only Keats’s illness proved insurmountable.
Synopsis of Bak-Jwi, or Thirst:
Sang-hyun is a beloved and admired priest in a small town, who devotedly serves at a local hospital. He goes to Africa to volunteer as a test subject in an experiment to find a vaccine to the new deadly infectious disease caused by Emmanuel Virus (E.V.). During the experiment, he is infected by the E.V. and dies. But transfusion of some unidentified blood miraculously brings him back to life, and unbeknownst to him, it has also turned him into a vampire. After his return home, news of Sang-hyun's recovery from E.V. spreads and people start believing he has the gift of healing and flock to receive his prayers.
Today, Cannes officials say the following celebrities have been seen or are expected in Cannes: iels Arestrup, Monica Bellucci, Juliette Binoche, Didier Bourdon, Mariah Carey, Robert Charlebois, Mathieu Demy, Franck Dubosc, Michael Fassbender, Ralph Fiennes, Lenny Kravitz, Gabrielle Lazure, Jerry Lewis, Eva Longoria, Sophie Marceau, Sarah Marshall, Demetri Martin, Rowan Mc Namara, Graham Mc Tavish, Kad Merad, Isabelle Mergault, Paula Patton, Kevin Pollak, Laura Ramsey, Giovanni Ribisi, Tilda Swinton, Said Taghmaoui, Fred Testot, Rachel Weisz, Félicité Wouassi and Jerry Lewis.
Here is the official program for today:
PROGRAM FOR FRIDAY MAY 15th 2009
COMPETITION - Grand Théâtre Lumière
8:30am, 3:00pm and 7:30pm : BRIGHT STAR 2h00 by Jane CAMPION11:30am – 7:30pm : BAK-JWI (Thirst) 2h13 by PARK Chan-Wook
UN CERTAIN REGARD - Salle Debussy
11:00am : POLITIST, ADJECTIV 1h55 (Police, adjective) by Corneliu PORUMBOIU2:00pm et 10:30pm : PRECIOUS 1h49 by Lee DANIELS
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Salle Debussy:7:45pm: THE RED SHOES 2h16 de Michael POWELL, Emeric PRESSBURGER presented by Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell
Salle Buñuel:
8:00pm : L’ÉPINE DANS LE COEUR 1h26 by Michel GONDRY
CANNES CLASSICS - Salle Buñuel
3 :00pm : LOIN DU VIETNAM (Far From Vietnam) 1h55 by Agnès VARDA, Joris IVENS, William KLEIN, Claude LELOUCH, Jean-Luc GODARD, Chris MARKER, Alain RESNAIS5 :30pm : WAKE IN FRIGHT 1h49 by Ted KOTCHEFF
Films crews in attendance.
LE CINÉMA DE LA PLAGE
8 :30pm : Det är jag som är döden 45’9h30pm: PINK FLOYD THE WALL 1h35 by Alan PARKER
Find out more about the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
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Image of Bright Star scene, copyright Cannes Film Festival