CANNES FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES CLOSING FILM

The Cannes Film Festival announced today (Thursday) that French director Julie Bertucelli’s English-language The Tree will be the closing film at the 63rd annual festival on May 23. The film, shot in Australia and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marton Csokas and Aden Young, is adapted from Australian writer Judy Pascoe’s novel, Our Father Who Art in the Tree, in which, following the death of her father, a 10-year-old girl imagines that her father’s spirit lives in the tree growing in her backyard. The film will screen following the announcement of the festival’s annual awards, hosted by director Tim Burton, who will preside over the jury. The festival is due to open on May 12 with the screening of Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.