Movie about Irish communist leader in running for Cannes prize

Thu, 17 Apr, 2014 - 19:40

Ken Loach and Mike Leigh will go head-to-head at the Cannes Film Festival.

The British film directors, who have both won the top Palme d'Or prize in the past, will go up against 18 other movies in the In Competition segment, including David Cronenberg with his Robert Pattinson-starring 'Maps To The Stars', and Olivier Assayas' 'Clouds of Sils Maria', which features Kristen Stewart and Chloe Grace Moretz.

The battle between the two iconic filmmakers sees Loach compete with 'Jimmy's Hall', a tale about the Irish communist leader James Gralton, while Leigh's 'Mr Turner' is a biopic of the artist JMW Turner, played by Timothy Spall.

In Competition will also see work from Jean-Luc Godard with 'Goodbye to Language', Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, winner of the grand prix for his' Once Upon a Time in Anatolia' in 2011, and actor Tommy Lee Jones' second film 'The Homesman'.

Another highlight is Michel Hazanavicius's follow-up to 'The Artist', 'The Search', which also stars his wife Berenice Bejo, and the Dardennes brothers' Two Days, One Night' thriller which sees Marion Cotillard race against the clock.

The two female directors are in the running this year are Italian Alice Rohrwacher and Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase.

Cannes favourite Woody Allen, rumoured to be bringing 'Magic in the Moonlight' to the festival, is among the names omitted from the competition this year.

Swedish director Roy Andersson also missed out, as did Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling's directorial debut 'How To Catch A Monster' is set to screen in Un Certain Regard, which recognises work by first time directors, as will Andrew Hulme's 'Snow In Paradise'.

Further additions to the line-up will be announced over the next few days. The 67th Cannes film festival kicks off in the South of France on 14 May with the world premiere of 'Grace of Monaco'.

The films in competition at Cannes 2014 are as follows:

Opening night film: 'Grace of Monaco', Olivier Dahan

'Sils Maria', Olivier Assayas

'Saint Laurent', Bertrand Bonello

'Kış Uykusu', Nuri Bilge Ceylan

'Deux Jours, Une Nuit', Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne

'Mommy', Xavier Dolan

'The Captive', Atom Egoyan

'Adieu au Langage', Jean-Luc Godard

'The Search', Michel Hazanavicius

'The Homesman', Tommy Lee Jones

'Futatsume no Mado', Naomi Kawase