On April 17 the Cannes Film Festival will announce its official selection. However the festival is doing something a bit different this year as if has just announced a few competition and out of competition pictures.
Variety is reporting that one of the films that will premiere in competition will be Tommy Lee Jones' frontier drama "The Homesman." The film stars Jones, Meryl Streeo, William Fichtner, Hailee Steinfeld, and Hilary Swank and tells the story of a claim jumper and a pioneer woman who undertake a perilous journey across the Midwest. The film marks the first entry for Jones in Cannes since 2005. That year he showed "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," which walked away from the Croisette with two major prizes including Best Actor and Best Screenplay.
The festival has also announced that 20th Century Fox/DreamWorks Animation's "How To Train Your Dragon 2" will receive an out of competition screening.The film is the latest DreamWorks animated movie to premiere at the prestigious event. The festival has presented 2001′s "Shrek" and 2004′s "Shrek 2″ (both in competition), and 2008′s "Kung Fu Panda" and 2012′s "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted."
Three Canadian filmmakers will also be part of the festival. Competition veterans David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan will be back with <"Maps to the Stars" and "The Captive."
The lineup has yet to be announced but it is being speculated that Bennett Miller's "Fox Catcher" will make its world premiere. The movie, which was originally intended for a 2013 release is being distributed by Sony Classics and stars Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo.
Two films that are getting a lot of buzz and will most likely get a competition slate will be
Ken Loach's "Jimmy's Hall" and Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner," which is being release by Sony Classicis.
Other films that are likely to appear in competition will be Nuri Bilge Ceylan's three-and-a-half-hour drama "Winter Sleep." Another film that is slated to show is Dardenne brothers' new film "Two Days, One Night." The movie stars Marion Cotillard and will be released by IFC's Sundance Selects.
Michel Hazanavicius is likely to return to the festival with his new film "The Search." The director presented his film "The Artist" in 2011 in the competition slate and that basically began his road t the Oscars. His new film "The Search" will stars his wife Berenice Bejo.
Other films that are currently rumored to being appearing in the official selection are "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" by Swedish helmer Roy Andersson' and "Welcome to New York" by the controversial director Abel Ferrara. The Greek director Panos H. Koutras' is rumored to bring "Xenia," which tells the story two brothers searching for the father who abandoned them.
The festival is one of the most prestigious film event in the world and will run from May 14-25 The festival will open with Olivier Dahan's "Grace of Monaco," starring Nicole Kidman and the Un Certain Regard opening film will be while "Party Girl."