It's that time of year again when Cannes Film Festival is nearly upon us. Today, the festival announced its full line-up and we're very excited to see that our WFTV Chair, Elizabeth Karlsen has two films in Competition this year!
Carol, based on Patricia Highsmith's novel The Price of Salt, was produced by Elizabeth, alongside Stephen Woolley, for Number 9 Films. The film was directed by indie stalwart, Todd Haynes, and stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.
Set in New York in the early 1950s, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), is working in a Manhattan department store and dreaming of a more fulfilling life when she meets Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett), an alluring woman trapped in a failing marriage. As an immediate connection sparks between them, the innocence of their first encounter dims and their connection deepens. When Carol’s involvement with Therese comes to light, Carol's husband retaliates by challenging her competence as a mother. And as Carol and Therese take refuge on the road, leaving their respective lives behind, a confrontation emerges that will test each woman's assumptions about herself and commitments to one another.
Youth, directed by Oscar winner, Paolo Sorrentino, stars Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano and Jane Fonda. The film was produced by Indigo Films, Co-produced by Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley for Number 9 Films.
Youth follows Fred and Mick, two old friends now approaching eighty, are on vacation together in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. The two friends know that their time is quickly running out, and they decide to face their future together. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children’s confused lives. Mick’s enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests, all of whom, it seems, have all the time that they lack. And while Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred, who gave up his musical career long ago, has no intention of returning to it. But someone wants at all costs to hear his compositions and to see him conduct again
Alongside Elizabeth's film, we're also thrilled to see Macbeth, produced by Laura Hastings-Smith alongside Iain Canning and Emilie Sherman, was also selected for competition. Starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard as Shakespeare’s bloodthirsty power couple in this Scottish-filmed adaptation, Macbeth marks a big step up for Australian director Justin Kurzel from his trip to the Croisette in 2011, when Snowtown, his psychological chiller about the serial killer John Bunting, bowed in the festival’s parallel Critics’ Week sidebar.
We are also very proud of WFTV members, director Eva Riley and producer Elizabeth Brown, who's short films Patriot and Loves is Blind, have been selected for competition. This year, the selection committee at Cannes Film Festival received 4,550 short films, 1,000 more than in 2014, which came from over 100 countries of production. With these huge figures in mind, it's a fantastic achievement that these two shorts were selected.