I have scheduled this first part of my Cannes 2012 Preview to publish while I am somewhere over the middle of the United States, on my way to New York where I will connect with a flight heading into Nice. I’ll be arriving in Cannes some time around 1 PM CET and my third straight journey to the Cannes Film Festival will begin, an experience that has easily become the #1 highlight of my year when it comes to covering movies. As hard as I have to work to cover the festival each year, it is absolutely worth it and based on the selection this year it looks like it will be just as fascinating.
To begin, the festival runs from May 16-27, but I will only be in town through the morning of the 24th. As a result, two films that probably would have made my top ten most anticipated movies list won’t, but don’t worry I won’t forget to mention them before we get too far along.
As for where we’ll begin, this is Part One of my Cannes 2012 Preview, I will be posting Part Two tomorrow where I’ll list the top ten most anticipated films I’ll be seeing over the next couple of weeks, but that doesn’t mean that’s where my journey ends. There are several films from this Part One I’ll be adding to my schedule so let’s take a tour and see what’s being offered.
We’ll begin with the Cannes Classic Selection, a section of the festival I haven’t been able to explore during my first two trips, but this year I may find a way to make it fit.
First there’s Sergio Leone‘s Once Upon a Time in America, which has been restored by Martin Scorsese‘s Film Foundation and will be presented with 25 minutes of additional footage based on Leone’s original cut of the film, giving the feature a total running time of four hours and 13 minutes.
David Lean‘s Lawrence of Arabia will be screened with a new 4K restoration, Alfred Hitchcock‘s 1927 feature The Ring, centering on two boxers competing for the love of the same woman, has been restored and will be presented with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne and Roman Polanski will even be on hand to present a new restoration of his 1979 film Tess.
Also, Universal will be presenting its newly restored 4K print of Steven Spielberg‘s Jaws, which will be released on Blu-ray later this year on August 14.
One exciting note about the Jaws screening is that it will occur on the beach as the festival’s Cinema de la Plage line-up has been announced. Along with Jaws it will feature screenings of five classic James Bond films including Dr. No, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Casino Royale. I have actually never sat down and watched a film on the beach before, and unfortunately Jaws screens after I have already left (though I may be able to catch it elsewhere), but I will definitely be catching at least one of the Bond features… I hope.
Additional beach screenings include Red Tails (which seems weird to me) and Jackie Chan‘s 1982 feature Project A. The complete line-up and dates can be found here. Screenings typically begin around 9:30 PM each night, but the times do vary.
On the next page I take a look at four films I’m actually looking forward to, but will be missing due to scheduling.
