By LOU LUMENICK
May 16, 2008
CANNES - The fuss over Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt aside, the animated film generating the most buzz at the Cannes Film Festival is not "Kung Fu Panda," which is very conventional and seems aimed strictly at kids.
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There was considerable talk about "Waltz With Bashir," an unconventional documentary by Israel's Ari Folman that combines flash animation, traditional hand drawing and computer-generated images.
The animation was based on video interviews Folman shot of himself and other former Israeli soldiers who were stationed in Lebanon, where Christian militia members opened fire on Palestinian refugee camps in 1981.
Though "Waltz With Bashir" is considerably more violent, some compared it to another autobiographical Middle Eastern animated feature, "Persepolis," which shared the directing award last year at Cannes.
The festival scored its first US acquisition, with IFC films picking up US rights to "A Christmas Tale," a French family dramedy with Mathieu Almaric ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly") that will have its world premiere here today.
Magnet Releasing snapped up Jennifer Lynch's thriller "Surveillance," starring Bill Pullman and Julia Ormond, which is showing out of competition. IFC also picked up "The Pleasure of Being Robbed," which premiered at the South by Southwest festival in Texas and is also showing here.
That title could serve as an unofficial motto for Cannes, where a café au lait costs $10, a five-minute taxi ride goes for $20, and a daily Internet connection at a hotel will set you back $40. Not to mention the muggers and burglars who every year prey on the wealthy crowd that flocks to the Riviera festival.
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