7 films added to Cannes film fest line-up

PanARMENIAN.Net - Franck Khalfoun's "Maniac," Gilles Bourdos' "Renoir" and Adam Leon's "Gimme the Loot" have been added to the 65th Cannes Film Festival's official selection, Variety reported.

Cannes artistic chief Thierry Fremaux's inclusion of "Maniac," a Midnight Screening, is sure to spark Croisette buzz.

An English-language remake of William Lustig's rabidly brutal serial-killer classic, now starring Elijah Wood and written by Alexandre Aja and long-time partner Gregory Lavasseur, "Maniac" is the latest production from Thomas Langmann's Paris-based La Petite Reine, producer of "The Artist."

Fremaux's promotion of "The Artist" to Cannes competition last year set the film on course to Oscar glory. Pic is being sold by Wild Bunch.

"Renoir," which is produced by Fidelite Film, will close Un Certain Regard. The pic, which is also repped by Wild Bunch, captures the French painter Auguste Renoir in his twilight years.

Another Un Certain Regard screener and Leon's feature debut, urban comedy "Loot" scored a Sundance Selects pick-up for North and Latin America off a South by Southwest grand jury prize in March.

A third and final addition to Un Certain Regard is "Djeca" (Children), a Bosnian war orphan drama from Aida Begic, a Critics' Week winner in 2008 with "Snow."

Brit Candida Brady's docu feature "Trashed," about consumer waste, receives a special screening.

Australian first-timer Wayne Blair's "The Sapphires," a bigscreen version of the Australian stage musical, is a second Midnight Screening.

The Bela Tarr-produced archive footage film "Final Cut - Holgyeim Es Uraim," helmed by Gyorgy Palfi ("Taxidermia"), closes Cannes Classics.

The festival runs May 16-27.