Cannes Film Festival Announces Opening Film and More

The prestigious Cannes Film Festival has started to announce the film to premiere this year for for its 65th year. Last week the Festival announced that Wes Anderson’s newest film Moonrise Kingdom will open the festival on May 16th. Moonrise Kingdom was produced and directed by Wes Anderson who wrote the screenplay with Roman Coppola. The cast includes Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Kara Hayward, and Jared Gilman. The film follows two young adolescents who fall in love and run away together, causing mass chaos in the community in the search to find them. Wes Anderson is the writer and director of such films as Rushmore, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Royal Tenenbaums.

The Festival’s Genreal Delegate, Thierry Frémaux, said on the annoucement “Wes Anderson is one of the rising powers of American cinema, to which he brings a highly personal touch, particularly in MOONRISE KINGDOM, which once again is a testimony to the creative freedom in which he continues to evolve. Sensitive and independent, this admirer of Fellini and Renoir is also in his own right a brilliant and inventive filmmaker.”

Moonrise Kingdom looks to be another classic from the mind of Wes Anderson. His unique camera work, set and costume designs, and original story are perfect for the Cannes Film Festival. The good news is that the soundtrack is being composed by Alexandre Desplat who also did The Tree Of Life, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The King’s Speech. With the stellar cast behind him, along with once again working with Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, Moonrise Kingdom should be one for viewers to keep their eye on for this summer.

Variety has also reported that Dreamworks Animation has announced that Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted will also be premiering  at the 65th Cannes Film Festival. This isn’t the first time that Dreamworks Animation has premiered at Cannes, with such previous films like Shrek, Shrek 2, Over The Hedge, and Kung Fu Panda there. Masagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Sacha Baron Cohen in the third film in the series that places the gang in a travelling circus in Europe.

It will be interesting to hear about the different films that will be coming in at Cannes for its 65th year. Moonrise Kingdom seems like a great opener and hopefully the rest of the field will be able to match it. Remember Cannes last year was the premires of films like The Tree Of Life, Melancholia, and The Artist. This should be another great year for the film festival and a great source for good films to come out in 2012.