Movies to Watch Out At Cannes Film Festival-2008

The Cannes Film Festival kicks off this May, and 23 films are competing for the Grand Prize, the Palme D'or.

Here's a look at some of the films that really seem worth waiting for, even though the more obscure entries are likely to throw up something very special indeed.

1. Adoration, by Atom Egoyan

Critically toasted director Egoyan hasn't made a feature length film for some time, and this movie about an Irish terrorist and his pregnant girlfriend comes to the festival riding a tidal wave of buzz.

Starring Scott Speedman and Rachel Blanchard, this drama might just be worth the wait.

2. Che, by Steven Soderbergh

While competing at Cannes as one single four-hour motion picture, this biopic is actually a two-parter -- The Argentine, focussing on the Cuban revolution, and Guerilla, about the post-revolution period, starting with Che's trip to the UN in 1964 right upto his death.

Knowing Soderbergh's skill for economy, four hours would be heavily packed indeed.

Also, the cast is stunning. Benicio Del Toro plays Che, with Franka Potente, Julia Ormond and the superb Catalina Sandino Moreno all starring.

3. Changeling, by Clint Eastwood

America's most prolific cowboy is at it again, and with this thriller Eastwood goes back to the real life Wineville Chicken Murders of the 1920s.

The film stars Angelina Jolie as a mother whose son is kidnapped and eventually returned -- after which she's convinced the child isn't her own.

LAPD corruption and the local stigma only form part of Jolie's woes as she struggles -- aided by John Malkovich -- to make her case.

4. La Mujer Sin Cabeza, by Lucrecia Martel

A critical part of the New Argentina Cinema movement that kickstarted in 1998, Martel showed promise with her very first feature in 2001, La Cienaga (The Swamp), which swept the festival circuit convincingly.

Her second feature, La Nina Santa (The Holy Girl) was in competition at Cannes in 2004, and received very favourably indeed.

This time she's up for the big prize again for this film -- translated as The Woman Who Lost Her Head -- and has a very good chance indeed.

5. Linha De Passe, by Walter Salles

While Salles became an international icon with his 2004 sensation The Motorcycle Diaries, he was already one of the world's finest directors with films like Terra Estrangeira (Foreign Land), Central Do Brasil (Central Station) and Abril Despedecado (Behind The Sun) cementing his reputation long before Diaries came along.

After a Hollywood stint with horror adaptation Dark Water, he's back doing what he does best. And we're waiting.

In the picture: Brazilian director and co-producer Walter Salles (L) and director Sandra Kogut during a photocall in Cannes last year.

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