'Captives', 'Winter Sleep' in competition for Cannes top prize

Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan on Friday offered his latest movie "Captives" at the 67th Cannes Film Festival to compete for the Palme d'Or for the best film. In the movie which tells a story of a young girl who went missing, Egoyan examines the breakdown of relations between the relatives of the kidnapped. "The approach is reminiscent of the angle he adopted in 'The Sweet Hereafter' (1997), the turning point in his filmmaking career," commented the official daily of the festival. During the press conference after the screening of the movie on Friday, Egoyan recalled the work of the team and the origins of making this feature film. "The idea for this film came to me when I was on the west coast of Canada. A boy had just tragically disappeared in a park near my home," said the director. "There are still posters with his picture in the park, even though he has been missing for several years. This story got into my head. And the film's story took shape," he continued. On the same day, another feature film "Winter Sleep" by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan was screened in the competition section. With two Grand Prix and a Best Director Award, Ceylan returned to Cannes this year with his seventh full-length feature film, which lasts three hours and 16 minutes. "As with his previous film, selected in 2011, the Turkish director has given us the Competition's longest screening," said the daily. The story takes place at a hotel. Aydin, a former actor, runs the small hotel in central Anatolia with his wife Nihal with whom he has a stormy relationship. His sister Necla is suffering from her recent divorce. In winter as the snow begins to fall in the Anatolian plains, the hotel turns into an inescapable place that fuels their animosities. This edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which opened on Wednesday evening, will last till May 25. A total of 18 films have been selected to compete for the Palme d'Or, the top prize of the annual international film festival, as well as other prizes. The winners will be announced on May 24. Besides the main Competition of feature films, the festival also includes selections of Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Special Screenings, Cinefondation selection of student films all over the world, and Short Films.