BIG FESTS ANNOUNCE THEIR TITLES

Cannes is getting ready to announce its official selections but a core sample of the line-up was taken by Derek Elley over at Variety and it comes back reading one (1) Asian movie: Kore-eda's samurai flick, HANA. Also, the Koju Yakusho/Bradd Pitt flick, BABEL, will be there as well. Other movies may materialize and he mentions:

Still Life," by China's Jia Zhangke ("The World"), "Summer Palace" by Lou Ye ("Suzhou River"), South Korean f/x-heavy monster drama "The Host" by Bong Jun-ho ("Memories of Murder") and Johnnie To's "Election 2."

ELECTION 2 has just been sent over, but rumor has it that THE HOST, STILL LIFE and SUMMER PALACE all won't be ready in time and are looking for fall fest dates.

Udine has announced its line-up and the biggest treat is a retrospective of Asian musicals mostly from the 50's, 60's and 70's. They've got a nice slice of contemporary Thai and Hong Kong flicks and the Takashi Miike "Masters of Horror" segment "Imprint", as well.

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