French director Alain Chabat will be this year’s guest of honor at Directors’ Fortnight, the Cannes independent festival sidebar organized by the French Directors’ Guild.
Chabat, best known for his quirky comedies and children’s films, including RRRrrrr!!! (2004), Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), and Houba! On the Trail of the Marsupilami (2012) will pick a “surprise film” to screen in Cannes on May 20, during the festival.
“Alain has returned time and again to a form of mainstream auteur cinema where absurdity and schoolboy humour rub shoulders with irreverent, magical worlds fit for the biggest of kids,” Directors’ Fortnight organizers said in a statement on Tuesday. “We all dream of seeing more auteur comedies on the big screen, so we gave Alain Chabat carte blanche to pick a surprise film that will be revealed during the festival. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Alain Chabat, in which he will reflect on the comedies that have made him laugh, and have played a big role in his life and filmmaking.”
Chabat’s last feature as a director was the 2017’s family-friendly holiday comedy Christmas and Co. He’s wrapped production on the upcoming Netflix animated mini-series Asterix & Obelix: The Big Fight. Chabat’s 2002 live-action Asterix & Obelix adaptation, starring Christian Clavier as Asterix and Gérard Depardieu as Obelix, grossed more than $128 million at the global box office, making it the most successful of the many versions, live action and animated, of the iconic comic books.
Laurent Cantet and Robin Campillo’s French drama Enzo will open this year’s Directors’ Fortnight on May 14, with Eva Victor’s Sundance hit Sorry, Baby as the closing film on May 24.
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