Paul Schrader, Laura Poitras Films Are Chosen for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight Lineup

Independent section will open with Marco Bellocchio’s “Sweet Dreams”

Directors Fortnight

American filmmakers Paul Schrader and Laura Poitras are among the directors whose films have been chosen for the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, organizers of the non-competitive screening series announced on Tuesday morning in Paris.

The section will open with “Fai bei Sogni” (“Sweet Dreams”) by Italian director Marco Bellcchio, and close with the Nicolas Cage/Willem Dafoe drama “Dog Eat Dog,” written and directed by Schrader.

Documentary director Poitras will be in the section with “Risk,” her followup to the Oscar-winning “Citizenfour.”

Other directors in the Fortnight include Paolo Virzi “Like Crazy”), Joachim Lafosse (“After Love”), Pablo Larrain (“Neruda”) and 87-year-old Alejandro Jodorowsky (“Endless Poetry”).

Directors’ Fortnight, or Quinzaine des Realisateurs, is an independent section that runs concurrently with the Cannes Film Festival. The section was launched in 1969 as a more adventurous but non-competitive alternative to the main festival.

Recent films at Directors’ Fortnight included “Whiplash,” “Dope,” and the Oscar nominees “Embrace of the Serpent,” “Mustang,” “No,” “Ernest & Celestine” and “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.”

This year’s Cannes Film Festival will begin on May 11 and run through May 22.

The Directors’ Fortnight lineup:

“Fai bei Sogni” (“Sweet Dreams”), Marco Bellcchio (opening film)
“Dog Eat Dog,” Paul Schrader (closing film)
“After Love,” Joachim Lafosse
“The Aquatic Effect “(“L’Effet aquatique”),  Solveig Anspach
“Divines,” Houda Benyamina
“Endless Poetry,” Alejandro Jodorowsky
“Fiore,” Claudio Giovanessi
“Like Crazy,” Paolo Virzi
“Ma Vie De Courgette” (“My Life as a Zucchni”) Claude Barras
“Main Dreams,” Nathan Morlando
“Mercenaire,” Sacha Wolff
“My Life as a Courgette,” Claude Barras
“Neruda,” Pablo Larrain
“Psycho Raman,” Anurag Kashyap
“Risk,” Laura Poitras
“Tour de France,” Rachid Bjaidani
“Two Lovers and a Bear,” Kim Nguyen
“Les Vies de Therese,” Sebastien Lifshitz”
“Wolf and Sheep,” Shahrbanoo Sadat

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