Moonrise Kingdom will premiere in Cannes on May 16, opening the 65^th annual edition of the world’s biggest film festival. Directed by Wes Anderson who co-wrote the screenplay with Roman Coppola, the film will be released in French cinemas on the same day as its screening in Cannes and on May 25 in the US. Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacobs commented:

“With Wes Anderson opening the 65th Festival de Cannes, young American cinema will be celebrated on the Croisette.”

Produced by Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson for Focus Features and Indian Paintbrush, Moonrise Kingdom stars Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman. More details and the trailer after the jump.

The Cannes Film Festival is celebrating its 65^th anniversary this year and has chosen one of the most iconic faces of movie history for its poster. Photographed by Otto L. Bettmann , Marilyn Monroe is blowing a candle on a birthday cake. Looking at it, her unforgettable rendition of  “Happy Birthday”, which she sung to President Kennedy in 1962, springs to mind…

It is also a touching tribute to the actress. August 5^th will mark the 50^th anniversary of her death.   Check out the poster after the jump.  The 65th Cannes Film Festival runs from May 16 -27th.

Jean Dujardin must have been just as surprised as everyone else when he didn’t hear his name being called out as they announced the Best Actor award at tonight’s César ceremony in Paris. The Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma opted instead for Omar Sy, who stars in Untouchables, the biggest box-office smash of 2011 in France. A choice that many question.

“Jean Dujardin will win an Oscar for best actor but not a César. How embarrassing…” tweeted (in French) @Les_Cesar_fake, a sentiment that was shared by many others.

Shortly after winning Best Actor, Omar Sy’s Wikipedia page was updated and said that he had won the best actor award “even though he didn’t deserve it.” The comment was removed five minutes later… Another running joke is “Omar m’a tuer” (Omar killed me), in reference to the film of the same name. Maybe the Académie did not want to overcompensate Dujardin… or maybe this was their way of telling the Oscars, “We can do out own thing just to annoy you and everyone else.”

The Artist nevertheless won six of the ten awards it was nominated for, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress.  Hit the jump for a recap of the evening and a full list of winners.

Sometimes controversy is the best publicity. And almost three weeks before its theatrical release in France, Jean Dujardin’s new movie is already garnering a lot of press. Posters for the comedy Les Infidèles (The Players) have been deemed too provocative by the Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (an organization in charge of regulating publicity) who has advised Mars Distribution to remove them “as a preventative measure” after it received several complaints from unhappy citizens and outraged feminists. Four to be precise, but enough to have the offending images taken down.

The two posters feature Jean Dujardin and co-star Gilles Lellouche in explicit positions committing adultery while lying to their wives about their whereabouts. Lellouche is telling his significant other, “Honey, I’m going to get cut off, I’m going inside a tunnel,’ as a woman is…  Oh, just hit the jump to check them out and find out more.

“You want me to speak French to you? That wouldn’t be a good career choice for me. I got a lot of fans here. I don’t want to lose them with one bad accent!” Steven Spielberg joked when the French media asked him to say a few words in their language at a press conference in Paris this week, where he was promoting War Horse.  All kidding aside however, the legendary director does not like to talk about uncompleted projects.  Yet he did offer some insight into four of his upcoming movies.

While he spent much of the 45 minutes answering questions about his new film, he also discussed Lincoln, Robopocalypse, the Adventures of Tintin sequels and Jurassic Park 4.  Hit the jump for more.

Traffic has been halted this week in Nice, while pedestrians stand along the streets watching a car chase, completely unafraid of the bullets flying out the vehicles. Sound like a movie? It kind of is. Shooting for the TV spinoff of The Transporter franchise began this week in the South of France, under the direction of Andy Mikita.

Produced by Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp and Lagardère Entertainment, The Transporter will be filming in the French city before heading out to Toronto next month. Hit the jump for more details and cast info.

With a mere ten days to go until Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class hits theaters, t-shirt designers are getting creative and drawing inspiration from great artists such as the legendary graphic designer Saul Bass and pop artist Nagel.

While the Bass-inspired designs have a more retro feel, the Nagel series draws its influence from the Duran Duran era of the 80’s. Check them out after the jump!

Remember that Bananarama song from the 80s that went something like “Robert De Niro’s waiting, talking Italian”? Well, he really does talk Italian in The Ages of Love, the third installment of Giovanni Veronesi’s comedy Manuale d’amore, De Niro plays an American college professor who moves to Rome and, of course, rediscovers the joys of love with a curvacious woman, played by Monica Bellucci.

An anthology of love stories, Manuale d’amore came out in 2006, followed by Manuale d’Amore 2 (Capitoli Successivi) the following year. With de Niro in the case, here’s to hoping that the film will make it to screen Stateside. It was released in Italy on February 25 and will hit French theaters on June 15.  Hit the jump to read the synopsis and check out some photos and teasers.

Just days before its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, a clip for Polisse has been released, offering a sneak peak at Maïwenn’s first official entry at the fest.  The actress, screenwriter and director, who was once married to Luc Besson, is one of the many female filmmakers selected for the official competition this year. She also has a supporting role in the film.

Read the synopsis and check out the images after the jump.  The 2011 Cannes Film Festival starts tomorrow and runs through May 22nd.

Just a week before kick-off, organizers of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival have announced a last-minute addition to the official selection, rounding up the number of films in competition to a nice 20. The Artist, which was originally due to be screened out of competition, will now be up against Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia and the Dardenne brothers’ Boy With a Bike in the race for the Palme d’Or.

Director Michel Hazanavicius and the star of his Bond-inspired OSS 117 franchise Jean Dujardin have teamed up once again in this black-and-white silent movie about… a silent movie star. Check out the synopsis after the jump.

A clip from Christophe Honoré’s Les Bien-aimés (The Beloved) has been released, a little over two weeks before its premiere at the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. The French movie will screen following the awards ceremony on Sunday, May 22.  Starring Catherine Deneuve, Ludivine Sagnier, Chiara Mastroianni, Milos Forman, Louis Garrel, Michel Delpech and Paul Schneider, the musical comedy draws us “into Prague of the sixties, London of the ’80s, the world of Sept. 11 and Paris of today in a singular, melancholy and romantic work of art,” according to the film fest’s press release.

Hit the jump for the synopsis and to watch Deneuve and her daughter Chiara (daughter of late Italian legend Marcello Mastroianni) singing “Une fille légère”, written by Alex Beaupain.  Les Bien-aimés will be Honoré’s second film to screen at Cannes, although it will be out-of-competition. Les Chansons d’amour, which had also starred Chiara Mastroianni, Sagnier and Garrel, competed at the fest in 2007.

After Quentin Tarantino last year, the Venice Mostra has chosen another hip American director to preside over its jury. Darren Aronofsky, who is a frequent visitor of the Italian festival, will have the honor of awarding the Golden Lion.

According to the Mostra artistic director, Marco Muller, Aronofsky is “a key figure in contemporary cinema whose work constantly engages the evolution and mutations of the many languages of art” and the “leader of a new generation” of filmmakers, while the prestigious French magazine Cahiers du Cinema calls him the “leader of the new generation.” Hit the jump for more Venetian details.

Nicolas Sarkozy is probably not pleased about a movie recounting his quest for power. He might be even less now that the official poster of La Conquête has been released. And it may offer some hints on the tone of the film.  The image is full of symbolism and mockery, the most obvious one being his small size – Sarkozy’s detractors and almost everyone I know in France often make fun of his height. Perched on a very high stool, a metaphor for both his great ambitions and high functions, his head is cut off as if to say we don’t need to see his face to know who it is. Check it out after the jump.

Fest president Gilles Jacob and artistic director Thierry Frémaux announced the official selection of the 64^th Cannes Film Festival at the Grand Hôtel in Paris today. And what a line-up it is.

Cannes favorites Pedro Almodóvar, the Dardenne brothers, Lars Von Trier, Nanni Moretti, Radu Mihaileanu and Aki Kaurismäki are on the prestigious list, as well as four female filmmakers.  As previously reported, Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, will get its worldwide premiere in Cannes. Penn will also walk up the famous red carpet stairs for Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be the Place.

The 19-strong list also includes two newcomers. Julia Leigh and Markus Schleinzer are competing with their first feature films, Sleeping Beauty , starring Sucker Punch‘s Emily Browning, and Michael. Leigh is one of four women directors recognized by the fest this year, alongside Naomi Kawase, Lynne Ramsay and French-born Maïwenn, who was once married to Luc Besson and has enjoyed more success as a director than an actress over the past few years.  The selection for Un Certain Regard, which will open with Gus Van Sant’s Restless also features an eclectic mix of filmmakers.  Full details after the jump.

One of Cannes’ omnipresent directors, Gus Van Sant will return to the South of France this year to present his new film Restless on the opening night of the Un Certain Regard selection, on Thursday, May 12. The Festival kicks off on May 11.  Mia Wasikowska, Henry Hooper and Ryo Kase star in this movie about the relationship of two teenagers. Hit the jump for more info and the trailer.