Scots films in running at Cannes

Published on Thursday 23 April 2009 22:08

THE Scottish team that have helped director Ken Loach notch up a series of successes at the Cannes Film Festival were back in the running yesterday.

Looking for Eric, which tells the story of a football-loving postman who receives coaching from his idol Eric Cantona, was one of three British films in contention for top prizes as the festival unveiled its line-up.

It is directed by Loach, with his regular Scottish producer Rebecca O'Brien, and screenwriter Paul Laverty.

The same team produced The Wind that Shakes the Barley, which won Loach the prestigious Palme d'Or in 2006.

Calcutta-born Laverty, a Scottish lawyer and writer, won best screenplay award at Cannes in 2002 with Loach's film Sweet Sixteen.

Director Quentin Tarantino, who made his name when his film Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or in 1994, is to return this year with a take on the Second World War and the Holocaust, Inglourious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt. Film's by top directors Pedro Almodovar and New Zealand's Jane Campion are also in the running. Other British films among 20 in competition at the festival, which opens on 13 May, include Fish Tank, a domestic drama starring Michael Fassbender, who won plaudits for his portrayal of hunger striker Bobby Sands in Hunger.

Fish Tank is directed by Andrea Arnold, who directed the Cannes jury prize winner Red Road, made in Glasgow.

However producers of Donkeys, the Scottish follow-up to Red Road, starring Kate Dickie and Martin Compston, were waiting to hear yesterday whether their film would be screened in any categories at Cannes. Bright Star, a period drama about poet John Keats, is also in competition. Monty Python star Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus will also be screened.