BABEL
USA
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Koji Yakusho

A Japanese hunter gives his Moroccan guide a gun. The man sells it to a neighbour, whose children play with it, accidentally seriously injuring an American tourist whose children are in the care of a Mexican woman. She, finding no-one to replace her, takes the kids to a Mexican village for her son’s wedding. From here on in it’s rubbing elbows with tragedy, leaving nothing but pain, terrible pain... A polished, brilliant script with sustained rhythm, impeccable actors and typical groundbreaking narrative style from the authors of Amores perros (Love’s a Bitch) and 21 Grams. Best Director Award, definitely the key title at Cannes 2006.

---

BAMAKO/THE COURT
France-Mali-USA
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Cast: Hélène Diarra, Habib Dembélé, Hamèye Mahalmadane

The civilian population accuses the IMF of abusive action in black Africa. The proceedings take place in the patio of a poor family home in one of the city’s skid rows where the locals continue to lead their everyday lives of marriages, separations and housework while the declarations of accusers, defenders and witnesses pour out... Surprising political denunciation and criticism unlike others of its kind, filmed documentary-style and presented at the Cannes Festival official selection.

---

BELLE TOUJOURS
Portugal
Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Cast: Bulle Ogier, Michel Piccoli

At a concert, Michel Piccoli thinks he’s recognised the star of Luis Buñuel’s famous Belle de Jour, Severine, despite the change of actress from Catherine Deneuve to Bulle Ogier. He follows the woman through Paris to find out whether she’s the same person he discovered in fiction or if she’s completely changed tack. An elegant tale shot by cinema’s most veteran working director, a proclaimed homage to Luis Buñuel and Jean-Claude Carriere, yet with more than its share of individual personality. Scheduled for out-of-competition screening at Venice Festival.

---

CHILDREN OF MEN
UK-USA
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Claire-Hope Ashley

2027: human beings may be on the verge of extinction. Humanity has lost the ability to procreate. The world shivers on learning that the youngest person on earth has died at the age of 18. When the chaos explodes, a former radical activist is hired to protect the most sought-after person on earth, the last pregnant woman. Alfonso Cuarón directs this adaptation of P.D. James’ novel starring Clive Owen to be presented at Venice Festival.

---

CRÓNICA DE UNA FUGA (BUENOS AIRES 1977)
Argentina
Director: Israel Adrián Caetano
Cast: Nazareno Casero, Rodrigo de la Serna, Pablo Echarri

Towards the end of 1977, at the height of the Argentine dictatorship, Claudio, goalkeeper of the Almagro football team, is kidnapped by the militia and taken to a mansion with a large group of suspected revolutionaries. Four months of brutal torture and interrogations later, Claudio and three fellow prisoners escape to a foreign country. Highly unconventional portrayal of an episode from the dictatorship, screened in competition at the last Cannes Festival.

---

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
USA
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Cast: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear

A conflictive family: the granddad snorts coke and swears, the father’s classes on how to be a success are a disastrous flop, the mother can’t cope, the uncle is recovering from a failed suicide attempt after being dumped by his boyfriend, the teenage son reads Nietzsche and refuses to speak, the younger daughter has been shortlisted for a kids’ beauty contest. The whole unusual shebang closes ranks to accompany the girl to her competition. A solid opera prima bringing big laughs thanks to a tightknit cast. The most highly acclaimed title at Sundance Festival.

---

NEIL YOUNG / HEART OF GOLD
USA
Director: Jonathan Demme

Jonathan Demme returns to live music with this extremely personal picture of Neil Young in concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium alongside a roster of his most dearly loved musicians (Emmylou Harris, Ben Keith). An intimate, emotional portrait of one of the great rock and country/folk myths through the songs on his recently released album, Prairie Wind, and other classic numbers from his Harvest times filmed with precision, beauty and absolutely no frills, unnecessary to a Demme on excellent form. Presented at Sundance Festival.

---

PARIS, JE T’AIME
France
Director: Various
Cast: Various

Eighteen short stories set in different Parisian neighbourhoods with no common thread: the boy who falls for a Muslim girl; the maid who has to treat her baby the way she treats the offspring of the lady she waits upon; the girl who leaves her son with her grandfather to have dinner with a friend; the couple who rehearse a play; the old folk who like and insult each other; the Yankee tourist visiting Paris alone... This collective movie that opened Un Certain Regard at Cannes offers a fine variety of styles, authors -Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, Walter Salles, Isabel Coixet, Oliver Assayas, Gérard Depardieu, Alfonso Cuaron or Alexander Payne, among others- and an unbeatable cast.

---

VITUS
Switzerland
Director: Fredi M. Murer
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Teo Gheorghiu, Julika Jenkins

Vitus shows signs of surprising talent from a very early on, particularly for music. He fakes an accident in which he appears to have lost his skills in the desire to be like any other kid of his age. His parents worry, but the boy has been saving his energy to keep the family from destitution and shape a future as an artist. Directed by a prestigious Swiss documentary-maker, this film presented at the last Berlin Festival yet again demonstrates the versatile talent of the great German actor, Bruno Ganz.

AGIAN
Spain
Director: Arkaitz Basterra Zalbide

A document detailing the genesis of a group of Basque artists dedicated to music, painting and poetry. They each explain how they came to join the group, their artistic ambitions, their position with respect to the Basque culture and view of life. We see some of their performances, particularly their concert in a small New York club, and their plans for the future. A documentary with an underlying obsession for the survival of a culture which “may be old, may be very limited, may not be the best or the most beautiful in the world, but it’s ours”.

---

NOMADAK TX
Spain
Director: Raúl de la Fuente
Co-directors: Harkaitz Martinez, Igor Otxoa, Pablo Iraburu

The txalaparta is a musical instrument played by two people.
The music emerging from this meeting belongs to neither of the two, but to the action of meeting and dialoguing. Nomadak TX is the result of a dream, a dream by Igor Otxoa and Harkaitz Martinez, two Basque musicians who hope to see the txalaparta become a meeting place not only between two people, but also between very different cultures. Moved by this desire, they travelled to northern India, Lapland, Mongolia and the Sahara, where the txalaparta became a space for musical dialogue giving rise to new experiences.

---

NOTICIAS DE UNA GUERRA
Spain
Director: Eterio Ortega

Documentary film substantially based on archive material narrating the gestation, development and effects of the Civil War, with an educational slant and endeavouring to avoid any kind of ideological stance. A successful attempt to offer a somewhat distant and neutral historical narration, presenting the facts simply, with neither judgment nor bias. A remarkable endeavour to recover a whole range of archive material with the creation of a non-existent soundtrack.

---

EL PRODUCTOR
Spain
Director: Fernando Méndez Leite

A look at the career of Elías Querejeta as a key producer of Spanish cinema since the late 60s until today. A review of his relationship and collaboration with moviemakers like Saura, Erice, Armendáriz, Martínez Lázaro, León de Aranoa and many others, with commented fragments of his films and testimonies by the interested parties. A document of unquestionable interest and tribute to Spanish cinema’s best over the last forty years in the shape of a well-deserved homage to one of our cinema’s most prolific authors.

---

LA SILLA DE FERNANDO
Spain
Director: David Trueba, Luis Alegre

Everyone knows that Fernando Fernán Gómez is an exceptional conversationalist and that it’s considered to be a privilege to exchange conversation with him. The authors of this documentary seek to ensure, thanks to the man himself, that the circle of privileged people who listen to his confidences is as wide as possible. Fernando refers to divine and human aspects, with no set order, no outline. The reflections of this “great thinker” are all delightfully pithy, and some of them are downright hilarious.

---