Texas Rocks Cannes 2011

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Cannes 2011When I originally wrote about Austin and Texas films playing at Cannes this year, I had no idea that two of them would walk away with major awards. It has been a great year for Texas movies at the French festival.

The biggest news is that Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life took home the Palme D'Or, the grand prize of the entire festival. The Smithville-shot movie opens in Austin on June 3 -- however, if you want to see it earlier, Austin Film Society is hosting a special screening and benefit reception on Tuesday, May 31 at the Paramount.

In addition, Austin filmmaker Jeff Nichols' movie Take Shelter won the Grand Prize in the Critics' Week program ... and in that same category, Nichols also won the screenwriting award for his film. Take Shelter premiered at Cannes this year and will get a theatrical release in the fall from Sony Picture Classics ... no word yet on when we'll see it in Austin. Both Take Shelter and The Tree of Life star Jessica Chastain, who will be attending the AFS screening of Malick's film next week.

Other Cannes coverage and news:

  • Charles Ealy at the Austin American-Statesman has a good round-up of all the Austin folks at Cannes this year. 
  • Ealy also reminds us that even a Woody Allen movie can have Texas ties. Allen's latest film, Midnight in Paris, which played Cannes (and will open in Austin on June 10), stars UT alum and Dallas native Owen Wilson.
  • Filmmaker and former Austinite Kyle Henry has written an excellent column for Filmmaker Magazine on why he went to Cannes, yet skipped the screening for his short film Fourplay: Tampa.
  • Austin writer Kyle Killen, who scripted The Beaver, is starting to blog about his Cannes experience. But what I liked was his remark on Twitter last week: "Wednesday, just so you know, Tuesday set a pretty high bar." He then linked to this photo (it's not mine or his so I can't publish it here). Hope we'll see more blog entries from him soon.