Rebeccannes is back!

And...we're off! King of the Cannes selection Thierry Fremaux and His Royal Cannesness Gilles Jacob announced the official selection for this year's famous French festival at a press conference in Paris yesterday. The lineup is especially American and star-powered this year and features so many anticipated titles I don't even know where to begin. How about here? Voilà some of my stories from today's event. It's the usual suspects, but I don't see this as a bad thing. When else can we see films from Audiard, Haneke, Cronenberg (DEUX Cronenbergs!), Resnais, Salles, Kiarostami, Carax... not to mention anticipated titles from auteurs like Lee Daniels, Jeff Nichols, Andrew Dominik and Im Sang-soo (I LOVED The Housemaid, can't wait to see what The Taste of Money tastes like on screen!) It's the most exciting lineup in years in my opinion. I also send my regards to the Un Certain Regard category -- the trailer for Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways has me very excited to see a cross-dressing Melvil Poupaud in this film and I'm also looking forward to Catherine Corsini's Les 3 Mondes, seeing if Cronenberg deux (namely, Brandon) has inherited his father's talents, Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervene's Le Grand Soir and of course Sylvie Verheyde's film with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Pete Doherty! http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-film-festival-unveils-competition-lineup-2012-wes-anderson-david-cronenberg-us-presence-313859

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-film-festival-thierry-fremaux-qa-314227 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-2012-thierry-fremaux-cannes-un-certain-regard-cronenberg-314139 Plus, may I add that this year's festival poster is the best ever? Marilyn has the right idea - this year's fest will not only be a birthday celebration (Cannes turns 65!) but also très glamour. Looking forward to the world's most prestigious 10-day birthday party. Especially since the guest ist includes Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Matthew McConaughey... not bad! (My birthday is in September, think they'll all come to my party too?)

What do you all think of this year's lineup? Here's what I think! A clip from last night's Le Grand Journal TV show on Canal+.

http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid3349-c-le-grand-journal.html Stay tuned, I'll have more news on Director's Fortnight and Critics Week early next week, as well as more on Cannes Classics, other late announcements and, bien sûr, Nanni Moretti's jury! à bientôt mes amis! xoxo Rebeccannes