Bono, Depeche Mode rumoured to appear at Ian Curtis film party

It's a rumour, OK? So take it for what it is. Bono and members of both New Order and Depeche Mode will most likely attend the party for the premiere of the film "Control", based on the life of the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis who killed himself at the age of only 23.

"Control" is based on the book "Touching From a Distance" by Curtis' wife Deborah Curtis, with a screenplay by Matt Greenhalgh. Noted rock photographer Anton Corbijn directed the movie, which explains the connection with Bono and Depeche Mode. Inevitably, there is talk of someone getting on stage to play a song or two. But who? "Control" is opening the Director's Fortnight.

Winners of the 4th Pan-African film festival in Cannes

The jury of the Fourth Edition of the Cannes Pan African Film Festival, presided by Mrs. Pascale OBOLO, made the following awards:

• The DIKALO award for best feature film to Sergio Bianchi for his film "What is it worth ?"(Brazil)

• The Pan African Award for the best feature (jury creation) to Sol de Carvalho for "Le jardin d’un autre home [An other man’s garden]" (Mozambique)
• The DIKALO award for the best short film: ex aequo

Gérard Essomba : "L’enfant peau rouge [The Redskin Child " (Cameroun)

Tami Ravid : "Samual"( Holland)

• The Special Jury Award : to Cécile Vernant’s work "Il était une fois...Sasha et Désiré [Once upon a time ... Sacha and Désiré]" (France)

• The DIKALO award for the best documentary to Kal Touré for "Victimes de nos richesses : pays pillés...[Victimes of our riches: pillaged countries]" (Mali)

• The Special Award for the Best Actor to Mugisha Feruzi for his performance in Nicole Parker’s film "The Plague(USA)

The 2007 edition will be remembered for the quality of the films presented. The festival organiser, Basile Ngangue Ebelle (pictured right with Cecile Vernant), was awarded a Médaille de Verneil by the French Academy of Arts, Science & Letters for his work just prior to the festival.

Canada dominates interactive Emmies at MIPTV

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has announced the winners for the International Interactive Emmy® Awards, organized for the second year in a row at MIPTV in Cannes, France in partnership with Reed MIDEM and hosted by actor Roger Bart (Desperate Housewives, The Producers).

Canada led the evening with Zimmer Twins and ReGenesis Extended Reality Game in a tie for the Interactive Program category and BITE Television winning the Interactive Channel category, while the Interactive TV Service category went to the UK’s BBCi.

The Pioneer Prize was presented to BSkyB, for their innovative contributions to the field of interactive television and accepted by Sophie Turner-Laing (photo), Managing Director, Sky Entertainment.

The black-tie ceremony was attended by over 250 international executives from the television, broadband and mobile industries including sponsors: AETN, Deutsche Telekom, Intent Mediaworks, MPS Broadband, Nokia and Sky.

The 35th International Emmy Awards Gala will be held in New York, November 19, 2007.

2007 INTERNATIONAL INTERACTIVE EMMY® AWARD WINNERS

INTERACTIVE PROGRAM

ReGenesis Extended
Reality Game
Xenophile Media
Canada

Zimmer Twins
Lost the Plot Productions/
Zinc Roe Design
Canada

INTERACTIVE CHANNEL

BITE Television
BITE Television
Canada

INTERACTIVE TV SERVICE

BBCi
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
United Kingdom

Wong Kar-Wai's "My Blueberry Nights" to open Cannes

The 60th Cannes festival will open with a Cannes darling, Wong Kar-Wai's "My Blueberry Nights". Singer Norah Jones makes her big-screen debut as a lovelorn woman on a soul-searching journey across America. This, and the fact that this is Kar-Wai's first English-language feature, is sure to create plenty of interest.

Other films selected for competition are:

Catherine Breillat's An Old Mistress (Une Vieille Maitresse)
Christophe Honore's The Love Songs (Les Chansons d'amour)
Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Fatih Akin's The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite)
The Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men
David Fincher's Zodiac
James Gray's We Own The Night
Naomi Kawase's Mogari No Mori
Emir Kusturica's Promise Me This
Lee Chang-Dong's Secret Sunshine
Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days
Raphael Nadjari's Tehilim
Carlos Reygadas' Silent Light
Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Persepolis
Ulrich Seidl's Import/Export
Alexander Sokurov's Alexandra
Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof
Bela Tarr's The Man From London
Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park
Andrey Zvyagintsev's The Banishment

Official selection, out of competition:

Michael Moore's Sicko
Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen
Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart

The closing film, out of competition, will be Denys Arcand's The Age Of Darkness.

Cannes festival archives now online

The Festival de Cannes has just unveiled a video archive of the first 60 years in time for this year's festivities, Tales of a Festival. The site features extensive archives going back to 1946 in French (mostly) and English. The material was made available from France's Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA) and CANAL+. Needless to say, some of this material is priceless, with interviews of Hitchcok, countless people mounting the red carpet and celebrities such as Maurice Chevalier, Picasso and George Simenon. In 1968, the festival was expecting 5 000 people and so hired a total of 8 hostesses to deal with the rush. That year, they showed 29 features and 11 short films! When you think that there are something like 100 000 people in Cannes during the festival these days, you get an idea of how the event has changed.

"Tales of a Festival" also allows you to upload videos. Let us know if you do so. This is definitely the site of the month. Check it out at Tales of a Festival.