I'm working on a short list of *black feature films* that could be making their debuts at the 2012 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, and I hope to have that posted in the next 24 hours, since the official selection announcement is scheduled to be made on the 19th (today's the 17th).

Ahead of that announcement, this morning, the festival unveiled its Official Selections in the Cinéfondation and Short Films categories, competing for the 2012 Short Film Palme d'or.

As the press release notes, the short list of films was selected from over a total of 6,200 films that were submitted to the selection committee, and for the first time, both a Syrian and a Puerto Rican filmmaker are participating in the competition.

And skimming the list, I immediately noticed 1 title that we've already profiled on S&A; Grainger David's The Chair, which Vanessa wrote about last week; as she noted, The Chair screened at the SXSW Film Fest last month, and won the Jury Award for Best Short Film. However, unfortunately, neither of us was aware of it while at the festival, and so we didn't get to see it! 

Boo-hoo.

What's the film about? Synopsis:

THE CHAIR is the story of a mysterious outbreak of poisonous mold in a small town, and one boy's attempt to understand his mother's death, his grandmother's obsession with their discarded recliner, and the roots of this short-lived, strange, and inexplicable plague.

The film stars newcomers King Hoey and Khari Lucas, and just picked up more accolades, winning the 1st Prize King Award and the Wasserman Directing Award at the NYU First Run Film Fest.

I'm actually surprised Cannes is screening it; I thought they preferred world premieres especially in the competition categories; but maybe that's just for feature films only.

Anyway, congrats to Grainger who seems to be making a bit of a splash with his 12-minute film. 

We'll go through both lists below thoroughly to make sure nothing is missed; but in the meantime, check out the trailer for The Chair if you missed it last week.

Alvaro APONTE-CENTENO	MI SANTA MIRADA	Puerto Rico	15'
Eicke BETTINGA	GASP	Germany	15'
Mohamed BOUROKBA  (aka Hamé)	CE CHEMIN DEVANT MOI	France	15'
Bassam CHEKHES	FALASTEIN, SANDOUK  AL INTEZAR  LIL BURTUQAL (WAITING FOR P.O. BOX)	Syria	15'
Grainger DAVID	THE CHAIR	United States	12'
Zia MANDIVWALLA	NIGHT SHIFT	New-Zealand	14'
Chloé ROBICHAUD	CHEF DE MEUTE	Canada	13'
Michael SPICCIA	YARDBIRD	Australia	13'
Emilie VERHAMME	COCKAIGNE	Belgium	13'
L.Rezan YESILBAS	SESSIZ-BE DENG (SILENT)	Turkey	14'

The Cinéfondation Selection

 

Fifteen films have been selected out of more than 1,700 submissions from 320 film schools across the globe. For the first time, a Lebanese school features in the selection, which covers fiction and animation and highlights films sharing the same film-making ambition and the expression of a very personal vision.

 

Pascale ABOU JAMRA ALBA, Lebanon	DERRIÈRE MOI LES OLIVIERS (Behind Me Olive Trees)	20’
Shoichi AKINO Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan	RIYOUSHI (The Barber)	39’
Arthur CAHN La Fémis, France	LES RAVISSEMENTS (The Raptures)	50’
Morten HELGELAND The Animation Workshop, Denmark	SLUG INVASION	6’
Michal HOGENAUER FAMU, Czech Republic	TAMBYLLES	58’
Leni HUYGHE Sint-Lukas Brussels, Belgium	MATTEUS	18’
Cristi IFTIME UNATC, Romania	TABĂRA DIN RĂZOARE (The Camp in Razoare)	22’
Taisia IGUMENTSEVA VGIK, Russia	DOROGA NA (The Road to)	32’
Piero MESSINA CSC, Italy	TERRA    (Land)	23’
Miguel Angel MOULET EICTV, Cuba	LOS ANFITRIONES (The Hosts)	16’
Meryl O'CONNOR UCLA, USA	THE BALLAD OF FINN + YETI	18’
Timothy RECKART NFTS, United-Kingdom	HEAD OVER HEELS	10’
Matthew James REILLY NYU, USA	ABIGAIL	17’
Eti TSICKO TAU, Israël	RESEN (Dog Leash)	26’
Eduardo WILLIAMS UCINE, Argentina	PUDE VER UN PUMA (Could See a Puma)	17’