CLINT EASTWOOD - EASTWOOD AND SODERBERGH TOP CANNES LINEUP

New films from Clint Eastwood and Steven Soderbergh are to be premiered at the 2008 Cannes film festival, it has been announced.

Eastwood's Changeling, a thriller about the kidnapping of a child, starring Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich and Amy Ryan, will take a bow at the prestigious French festival, as will Soderbergh's Che Guevara biopic The Argentine.

Other films unveiled to compete for the coveted Palme d'Or - previously won by Pulp Fiction, The Pianist, Fahrenheit 9/11 and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days - include new efforts from Charlie Kaufman, veteran Wim Wenders, who won in 1984 with Paris, Texas, and Brazilian Walter Salles (director of The Motorcycle Diaries).

Woody Allen's new romance Vicky Cristina Barcelona, starring real-life couple Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, is also to be screened (though as an out-of-competition selection), while Kung Fu Panda, an animated comedy from Dreamworks featuring the voice talents of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Lucy Liu, is also premiering out of competition.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth instalment in the lucrative franchise about the adventurous archaeologist, is also set to debut in the south of France.

Heading this year's judging panel for the Palme d'Or is Oscar-winning actor-turned director Sean Penn, who told the AFP news agency that Cannes "has long been the epicentre in the discovery of new waves of filmmakers".

Opening and closing films for the festival, which runs from May 14th to 25th, have not yet been announced.


23/04/2008 12:00:44