Cannes Film Festival 2011

Cannes Film Festival 2011

Cannes contenders

Celebrities and film critics flock to Cannes, France, every spring for the annual Cannes Film Festival, and this year a notorious American director will open the festival with his romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris" .We review the 19 films -- and the stars -- from around the world competing for this 'year's top prize.

'La piel que habito'

Title translation: "The Skin I Live In"

Country

Director: Pedro Almodovar 

Cast: Antonio Banderas 

Plot: A surgeon seeks revenge on men who raped his daughter.

'L'apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close'

Title translation: "House of Tolerance"

Country

Director: Bertrand Bonello

Cast: Hafsia Herzi Adele Haenel 

Plot: The happenings in a Parisian brothel in the 20th century.

'Pater'

Country

Director: Alain Cavalier

Cast: Vincent London 

Plot: Little is known about the story line of this film, except that it is likely in a self-reflective, documentary style.

'Hearat Shulayim'

Title translation: "Footnote"

Country

Director: Joseph Cedar

Cast: Lior Ashkenazi, Shlomo Bar-Aba

Plot: The rivalry between a father and son is explored.

'Bir Zamanlar Andolu'da'

Title translation: "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia"

Country

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan 

Cast: Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan

Plot: The film follows a doctor living in Anatolia.

'Le Gamin au velo'

Title translation: "Boy With a Bike"

Country

Director: Dardenne brothers

Cast: Cécile De France

Plot: After being abandoned, a young boy is left with an unfit child care provider.

'La Havre'

Country

Director: Aki Kaurismäki 

Cast: André Wilms ,Kati Outinen 

Plot: A shoe shiner tries to save an immigrant child.

'Hanezu No Tsuki'

Title translation: "Moon of the Red Flower"

Country

Director: Naomi Kawase

Cast: Tôta Komizu, Hako Ohshimo

Plot: Set in the Asuka period.

'Sleeping Beauty'

Country

Director: Julia Leigh

Cast: Emily Browning , Michael Dorman 

Plot: An erotic fairy tale about a young college student drawn into a mysterious world.

'Polisse'

Country

Director: Maïwenn Le Besco

Cast: Maïwenn Le Besco,Ricardo Scamarcio 

Plot: A journalist covering crime falls for one of her sources.

'The Tree of Life'

Country

Director: Terrence Malick 

Cast: Brad Pitt ,Sean Penn 

Plot: Tells the science fiction tale of a young boy's life set in '50s Texas.

'La source des femmes'

Title translation: "The Source"

Country

Director: Radu Mihăileanu 

Cast: Hafsia Herzi , Leïla Bekhti 

Plot: The women of a small village threaten to withhold sexual intimacies in this battle of the sexes dramedy.

'Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai'

Country

Director: Takashi Miike 

Cast: Ichikawa Ebizo , Eita 

Plot: A 3-D reimagining of a 1963 film about an aging samurai who is on a mission to regain his family's honor.

'Habemus Papam'

Title translation: "We Have a Pope"

Country

Director: Nanni Moretti 

Cast: Michael Piccoli ,Nanni Moretti 

Plot: Centers on the relationship between a newly elected pope and his therapist.

'We Need to Talk About Kevin'

Country

Director: Lynne Ramsay 

Cast: John C. Reilly , Tilda Swinton 

Plot: The mother of a teenage boy deals with the aftermath of his high school shooting spree.

'Michael'

Country

Director: Michael Schleizner 

Cast: Michael Fuith, David Rauchenberger

Plot: Follows the last five months of the lives of a 10-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man.

'This Must Be the Place'

Country

Director: Paolo Sorrentino 

Cast: Sean Penn ,Eve Hewson ,Frances McDormand 

Plot: A retired rock star sets out on a mission to find his father's killer, an ex-Nazi.

'Melancholia'

Country

Director: Lars von Trier 

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Keifer Sutherland 

Plot: Two sisters struggle with their relationship before a potential demise.

'Drive'

Country

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn 

Cast: Ryan Gosling ,Christina Hendricks , Carey Mulligan

Plot: A stuntman must escape a contract on his life after a heist goes wrong.