Penn Endorses Obama, Then Blasts Him

Blockbusters and indies premiere on the Riviera

(NEWSER) - The Cannes Film Festival gets under way today with the premiere of Blindness, a new film by City of God director Fernando Meirelles that stars Julianne Moore. A jury led by Sean Penn will award the Palme d'or to one of 22 films. But as the Telegraph reports, paparazzi will be swarming to two premieres out of competition: Jack Black's Kung Fu Panda and the newest Indiana Jones film. More»

Environmentalist not happy with president's handling of oil spill

(NEWSER) - Another Cannes ruckus: Peter Fonda called President Obama a “f***ing traitor” at the launch of a documentary about the BP oil spill, the AFP reports. At yesterday’s premiere of The Big Fix, Fonda recalled his reaction to the feeling that Washington was trying to silence reporting on the Deepwater Horizon disaster. "I sent an email to President Obama saying, 'You are a f***ing traitor,' using those words ... 'You're a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military—in this case the Coast Guard—what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do.'" Click for another buzzy incident from Cannes . More»

Busy family life has him asking 'Why aren't we doing everything together?'

(AP) - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are veterans at the Cannes Film Festival, but this year, their entire brood of six children accompanied them to France, as if to signify the couple's continuing devotion to their family. He and Jolie also are looking to reunite on screen. Pitt, in an interview with the AP , said "We're not ones to repeat ourselves, but we'd like to, because right now, we're hopscotching with films so one can be with the kids and one's free to work," Pitt said. "And why aren't we doing them together? Why aren't we doing everything together?" More»

Terrence Malick's 'The Tree of Life' divides audience

(NEWSER) - Terrence Malick's much buzzed-about film, The Tree of Life, was screened for critics and reporters at Cannes today to prolonged boos from certain members of the audience. But others countered with enthusiastic applause for the film, which stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn and is only the fifth film Malick has made in a nearly 40-year career, the AP reports. More»

The latest from Woody Allen, Gus Van Sant, Pedro Almodóvar, and more

(NEWSER) - Cannes kicks off on Wednesday, and the Daily Beast rounds up 10 of the most buzzed-about movies featured at the 64th annual film festival:

• The Tree of Life: From filmmaker Terrence Malick, the story of a Texas boy (played in adulthood by Sean Penn) torn between the worldviews of his father, played by Brad Pitt, and his mother, played by newcomer Jessica Chastain.
• Melancholia: Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's version of an Armageddon story, which centers around two sisters (played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg) who are drifting apart.