Cannes pits Hollywood against obscure arthouse

By Mike Collett-White


LONDON (Reuters) - Hollywood legends and obscure arthouse
directors descend on Cannes from Wednesday for the world's
biggest film festival that combines edgy cinema with A-list
celebrities, glitzy parties and frenetic deal-making.


Clint Eastwood is in the main competition with
"Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie, pitting him against,
among others, Kornel Mundruczo of Hungary in the kind of
David-and-Goliath contest on which Cannes thrives.


Out of competition, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will
be on the famed red carpet in the palm-lined seafront town with
the latest Indiana Jones adventure featuring Harrison Ford and
Cate Blanchett.


Woody Allen also presents "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
starring Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Javier Bardem.


The 61st edition of the super-charged 12-day movie marathon
has a strong South American flavor, with two Argentinian and
two Brazilian films in the main competition lineup.


From Argentina comes Pablo Trapero's prison drama "Leonera"
and thriller "The Headless Woman" by Lucrecia Martel, and
Brazil has Walter Salles's "Line of Passage" and "Blindness,"
directed by Fernando Meirelles of "City of God" fame.


"I think it reflects what people have been talking about,
and that is the re-emergence of quality cinema throughout Latin
America, including Mexico, Argentina and Brazil," said Jay
Weissberg, Rome-based critic for trade publication Variety.


U.S. director Steven Soderbergh also presents "Che," his
two-part, four-and-a-half-hour epic on Argentine revolutionary
Che Guevara, with Benicio del Toro in the title role.