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Saturday, 22 May 2004 Now Playing: Winners - 57th Cannes Festival [Official Site] Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11 WINS THE GOLDEN PALM FOR BEST PICTURE! Fahrenheit 9/11 is the first documentary to win Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or since Jacques Cousteau's The Silent World in 1956. [More] Awards given Saturday at the 57th Cannes Film Festival, selected by a nine-member jury headed by American director Quentin Tarantino: Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): "Fahrenheit 9/11," Michael Moore (United States). Grand Prize: "Old Boy," Park Chan-wook (South Korea). Jury Prize: Actress Irma P. Hall, "The Ladykillers," (United States), and "Tropical Malady," Apichatpong Weerasethakul, (Thailand). Best Director: "Exiles," Tony Gatlif (France). Best Actor: Yagira Yuuya (Japan), "Nobody Knows." Best Actress: Maggie Cheung (China), "Clean." Best Screenplay: "Look at Me," Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri (France). Golden Camera (first-time director): "Or," Keren Yedaya, (France/Israel). Best short film: "Traffic," Catalin Mitulescu (Romania). xxxxxxxx Monday, 17 May 2004 Now Playing: 57th Festival de Cannes, May 12-22. [Official Site] SPOTLIGHT FILM: Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11 Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9-11 certainly ruffled feathers and caused mixed reactions when it was screened today in Cannes. "Riles Audiences," screamed the headlines. [Yahoo News] Read on for more - - - > xxxxxxxx Saturday, 15 May 2004 Now Playing: 57th Festival de Cannes, May 12-22. [Official Site] SPOTLIGHT FILM: Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11 [Yahoo News] Miramax Films' Bob and Harvey Weinstein have a thorny relationship with their parent company Disney. Now, they plan to buy back Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11, which Walt Disney Co. under their contractual arrangement with Miramax refused to distribute, and distribute Fahrenheit 9-11 themselves through a third-party company. Under the purchase arrangement, the Weinstein brothers will likely be obligated to repay Disney for the $6M Disney invested in the project, and would likely insist on a deal that cuts Disney out of any future profits. Moore's film criticizes President Bush's handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and connects the Bush family with Osama bin Laden. Disney's Michael Eisner stated that his reason for denial of distribution is that he feels Disney should not take sides on political issues. Read on for more - - - > xxxxxxxx Sunday, 9 May 2004 Now Playing: 57th Festival de Cannes, May 12-22. [Official Site] Coming Attractions: A strike, and political films. [Yahoo News] The pre-festival activities begin today in Cannes for this year's film festival. Officials, jurors, stars, filmmakers, business moguls, fans, etc., begin arriving. Cruise ships and private yachts reserved their births years in advance, airlines and limousine owners are salivating over the much-needed business. The party begins Wednesday. The festival is not, however, without some controversy. France's part-time show business workers, such as actors and technicians, are upset about cuts to their unemployment benefits and plan disruptions as stars make their way up the red carpet into premieres. According to the Associated Press, "Demonstrations will likely be creative and quirky. In the past, protesters blasted fog horns at concerts and stormed the set of a prime-time newscast." There will be politics at Cannes. Alexandra Kerry, the oldest daughter of U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry, directed a 15-minute film, The Last Full Measure, about a family dealing with the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Kerry co-wrote the script with a friend and made the film as her thesis project while a fellow at the American Film Institute. The film will be shown out of competition. Also, two years after Michael Moore got a standing ovation at Cannes for Bowling for Columbine, he's back with another documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. In this one, he examines what happened to the United States after September 11, and how the Bush Administration used the tragic event to push its agenda. [more] Read on for more - - - > xxxxxxxx Saturday, 8 May 2004 Now Playing: Updates for Cannes. Coming Attraction: 57th Festival de Cannes, May 12-22 [Official Site] The list of films for Cannes is now almost complete. There is, as far as I can tell, only two Spanish-language feature films in competition: Lucrecia Martel's La Niña Santa (The Little Saint, Argentina) and Walter Salles' Diarios de Motocicleta (Motorcycle Diaries, Brazil/Germany). Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, La Mala Educación (Bad Education, Spain), will open the festival, but it is not in competition. Educación is about boys at a Roman Catholic school in Spain in the 1960s. From the U.S. Michael Moore's criticism of the Bush Administration, Fahrenheit 911, will generate a lot of press, but does it stand a chance of winning? The other U.S. feature films in competition that will be crowd pleasers are Shrek 2, and the Cohen brother's The Ladykillers. Irwin Winkler's De-Lovely will close the festival, but it is not in competition. You can download the full schedule in PDF. Kathleen Turner is the only juror from the U.S., except President Quentin Tarantino. Much more on the Official Site. Read on for more - - - > xxxxxxxx Sunday, 18 April 2004 Now Playing: Updates for Cannes. Coming Attraction: 57th Festival de Cannes, May 12-22 [Official Site]. De-Lovely, a musical biography of American composer Cole Porter directed by Irwin Winkler will crown the 2004 Cannes Film Festival with music after the Award Ceremony on Saturday, May 22nd, 2004. The film will screen that evening as an official selection out-of-competition. De-Lovely stars Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, and Jonathan Pryce in addition to some of today's biggest pop and rock music stars, including Alanis Morissette, Robbie Williams, Lara Fabian, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, and Diana Krall. The Cannes Festival also celebrates the 80th anniversary of an incredible studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This tribute, in which MGM Vice-Chairman and COO Chris McGurk will take part, will be followed by exceptional festivities: after fireworks signal the end of the screening, a live concert will be given in the bay of Cannes featuring several music stars from the film. The concert will launch the Award Party that will end late that night. De-Lovely is distributed by United Artists, an MGM company. Read on for more - - - > xxxxxxxx Sunday, 11 April 2004 Now Playing: Updates for Cannes. Coming Attraction: 57th Festival de Cannes, May 12-23 [Official Site]. Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, La Mala Educación (Bad Education), will open the festival. [Yahoo Movies] President Quentin Tarantino and his jury will be welcomed by Laura Morante, master of ceremonies for the Festival de Cannes. Morante is the daughter of author Elsa Morante, and was the lead in La Stanza del Figlio (The Son's Room, 2001), which won the Palme d'Or. Details of the selection and events of the Festival de Cannes will be online from midday on April 21st at www.festival-cannes.org. xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx Sunday, 29 February 2004 76th Annual Academy Awards, 2004 Now Playing: AND THE WINNER IS . . . Full Winner's List BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM - - THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, and Mimi Picked it! BEST FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY - - THE FOG OF WAR, and Mimi Picked it! CITY OF GOD received four nominations and won zero. Click the graphic above to order your very own 76th AA's poster. xxxxxxxx FOR MORE ON THIS YEAR'S ACADEMY AWARDS and FILM FESTIVALS PRIOR TO FEBRUARY, see Archive One and Archive Three.

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FOR MORE SEE Archives: Archive One (18 March 2003 - 26 February 2004) Archive Three (29 May 2004 - 4 November 2004) Archive Four (24 November 2004 - 12 March 2005) Archive Five (3 April 2005 - 18 September 2005) MIMI'S HOME PAGE >> MIMI'S SPAIN/CINEMA PAGE>> TOP *Hope dies last.