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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’