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.