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Michael Douglas in the spotlight at Deauville film fest
2007-08-29
One of Hollywood's most versatile actors, Michael Douglas, takes center stage at the Deauville Film Festival opening Friday that also brings George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to the French beach resort. The 33rd annual festival of American cinema will pay tribute to Douglas whose latest film "King of California" by director Mike Cahill will open the 10-day event. Douglas plays a dysfunctional father who returns home afer spending two years in a mental institution to enlist his daughter in a search for gold left behind by Spanish missionaries. During his nearly 40-year career in film as an actor and producer, Douglas has stood out for such memorable performances as that of Gordon Gekko, the greedy trader in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" and of an unemployed defence worker in Joel Schumacher's "Falling Down". A selection of his films will be screened as part of the tribute. The festival will also honour director Sidney Lumet, actress Sigourney Weaver who shot to fame in Ridley Scott's "Alien" and Ida Lupino, one of the first actresses to direct movies. Lumet's latest movie "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead" will have its world premiere at the festival as will Ben Affleck's directorial debut "Gone, Baby, Gone." More than 120 films will be screened during the festival, half of which are part of a new "American Nights" programme of classics that will be shown around the clock, including westerns, comedies, gangster moves and erotic films. Some of the Hollywood productions on offer include the thrillers "The Bourne Ultimatum" starring Matt Damon and "Michael Clayton" with George Clooney and the western drama "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", in which Brad Pitt plays the legendary Jesse James. Festival goers will also see Paul Haggis' "In The Valley of Elah" that touches on the Iraq war, "Shoot'Em Up" starring Monica Bellucci and "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane" by Jonathan Levine. Eleven independent productions are competing this year for the Grand Prize that was last year awarded to "Little Miss Sunshine" by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. In the running are "Broken English" by director Zoe Casavetes, "Factory Girl" by George Ickenlooper, "The Dead Girl" by Karen Moncrieff, "Waitress" by Adrienne Shelly and "For Your Consideration" by Christopher Guest. "Grace is Gone" by John C. Strouse about a man whose wife dies in the Iraq war is also up for the Grand Prize along with "Ira and Abby" by Robert Cary, "Live!" by Bill Guttentag, "Never Forever" by Gina Kim, "Rocket Science" by Jeffrey Blitz and "Teeth" by Michael Lichtenstein. French director and screenwriter Andre Techine, who heads the jury, will announce the Grand Prize an the Jury Prize on September 9. Four other prizes will also be handed out. Eight documentary films including Michael Moore's "Sicko" about the poor state of the American health care system, Ken Burn's "The War" and "Cocaine Cowboys" by Billy Corben will also be screened as part of the "Uncle Sam's Docs" section.
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