Cronenberg, Egoyan, Gosling among Canuck filmmakers headed to Cannes

TORONTO – Canuck filmmakers will figure prominently at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, Xavier Dolan and first-time director Ryan Gosling among those set to unspool new work on the Croisette.

Cronenberg’s satire of Hollywood life, “Maps to the Stars,” will vie for the Palme d’Or alongside Egoyan’s “The Captive” and Xavier Dolan’s “Mommy.” They’ll face off against 15 other films including Bennett Miller’s much-anticipated Steve Carell feature “Foxcatcher,” and new works from Tommy Lee Jones, Jean-Luc Godard, “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius, Mike Leigh, and Ken Loach.

Telefilm Canada notes this is the most Canadian films that have screened in competition in the same year.

“This year’s Cannes festival is truly a monumental occasion for Canadian filmmakers,” executive director Carolle Brabant said Thursday in a statement. “This is the strongest presence we’ve ever had, and a true testament to the exceptional vision and tremendous artistry of our country’s filmmakers. Canadians should feel very proud.”

“Maps to the Stars” stars Julianne Moore, Robert Pattinson, John Cusack and Mia Wasikowska in “a haunting ghost story and a scathing attack on the celebrity-obsessed society of L.A.”

“The Captive” boasts Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman and Rosario Dawson in a psychological thriller about the kidnapping of a young girl. As the film teases out the threads connecting the victim, her family, the predators and the investigators, the mystery is revealed.

“What fascinates me is the study of three intimate relationships — between the parents, between the detectives, between the captor and the captive,” Egoyan said Thursday in a statement. “In fact, everyone in this film is captive to some aspect of their past colliding with the present.”

“The Captive” is Egoyan’s sixth feature to be shown in competition, and his eighth to be chosen as an official selection. He’s had more films at Cannes than any other Canadian director. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of his first film in Cannes — 1989’s “Speaking Parts,” and the 20th anniversary since 1994’s “Exotica” screened in competition.

Also returning to Cannes is Dolan, whose film “Mommy” stars Anne Dorval, Antoine Olivier Pilon and Suzanne Clement and is set in a fictional Canada where distressed parents are allowed to abandon troubled children to the hospital system. It centres on “Die,” a feisty widow who tries to cope with her ADHD son Steve, and Kyla, a mysterious neighbour who offers her help.

“It’s a pretty emotional movie, hopeful and emotional,” Dolan said Thursday at a press conference in Montreal. “We’ve been told by people who saw the movie it was by far the most stirringly emotional of all five (of my films).”

Dolan says “it feels good” to make the list of 18 films vying for the top prize, after being snubbed from competition in 2012.

“I’ve been a fan of the Cannes Film Festival for a long time and I’ve seen lots of heroes of mine make their way through that scale … so seeing ‘Mommy’ as part of the official competition is proof of, I guess, achievement. And I am extremely flattered and honoured.”

The Quebec filmmaker first made a splash at Cannes with his emotionally raw 2009 debut “I Killed My Mother,” which won three awards and launched his career into a global spotlight.

He followed that up with the 2010 romantic comedy “Heartbeats,” which won the Regards Jeunes Prize, and the gender-bending “Laurence Anyways” which was picked for the non-competitive “Un certain regard” sidebar in 2012.

At the time, Dolan didn’t hide his disappointment at being excluded from official competition, but on Thursday he downplayed any past rancour when asked if he felt vindicated by making the cut this year.

“There’s no vindication. I’m not vindicated. Two years ago I expressed very fleetingly my disappointment at not being in another category,” he said, calling it a “huge thing” to be included alongside Egoyan and Cronenberg. “Anybody with a plan in life and a minimum of ambition can express their disappointment. There is nothing arrogant in that. I never said I didn’t want to go to the sidebar.”

This year, the un certain regard section features another Canuck’s directorial debut — that of Gosling, star of such hits as “The Notebook” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” “Lost River” is said to be a fantasy thriller about a single mother who is drawn into a dark underworld while her teenage son finds a road that leads to a secret underwater town.

Gosling — whose diverse acting resume includes “The Notebook,” “The Place Beyond the Pines” and “Drive” — writes and directs while Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan and Eva Mendes star.

And Canadian director Dean DeBlois makes the slate with his animated feature “How To Train Your Dragon 2,” the followup to his Oscar-nominated feature about a boy and his loyal pal, to the out-of-competition slate.

Organizers of the famed festival announced the lineup Thursday.

The Cannes Film Festival runs May 14 to 25.