Given that the Cannes Film Festival parties for the films in competition are usually themed around the films themselves, will the guests be wearing balaclavas and Mickey Mouse T-shirts when The General has its world premiere there next month? John Boorman's film about the Dublin criminal, Martin Cahill, will represent Ireland at the 51st festival, it was announced at a press conference in Paris yesterday.
The film, which features the Irish actor, Brendan Gleeson, follows Martin Cahill's criminal experiences from his teenage years to the elaborate crimes he committed as an adult - to his murder in Ranelagh in August 1994. The entire cast is Irish, with the exception of the American actor, Jon Voight, who plays Inspector Ned Kenny with a soft Kerry accent.
The other Irish film selected for Cannes is Happy Birthday to Me, a short film made by Martin Mahon (34), former programme director of the Dublin Film Festival, for only £7,000. It features Joan Sheehy as a woman preparing to celebrate her 35th birthday, and it co-stars Brendan Coyle, who features in The General as a UVF leader.
The Irish actor, Donal McCann, features with Susan Sarandon in John Turturro's Illuminata, which also has been selected, as has Todd Haynes's Velvet Goldmine, which stars Ewan McGregor and the young Irish actor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers. The competition also includes the new films by Ken Loach, Terry Gilliam, Nanni Moretti, Hector Babenco and Lars von Treir. Cannes will open on May 13th with the American political satire, Primary Colors, starring John Travolta as a philandering presidential candidate, and the festival will close on May 24th with the US blockbuster, Godzilla, starring Matthew Broderick.