Resnais Tribute In Cannes Plans

The Festival de Cannes will pay tribute to director Alain Resnais as part of a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of heavyweight French film journal Positif, the festival said Tuesday.

The tribute is scheduled for May 18, when a new print of "Je t'aime, je t'aime" (I Love You, I Love You) will unspool. The film originally was to have been shown in 1968, but that year's festival was halted by the student revolution — an episode of French history that Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci plans to bring to the big screen in "Paris '68" (HR 2/12).

Resnais' groundbreaking first feature, "Hiroshima mon amour," screened at the 1959 edition of the Cannes fest, where it won the Critics' Prize. With its subversion of narrative convention and remarkable visual style, "Hiroshima mon amour" is considered by some the film that heralded the arrival of the Nouvelle Vague.

Resnais, who will be 80 in June, was awarded the Grand Prix, Cannes' runner-up prize, in 1980 for "Mon oncle d'Amerique" (My American Uncle). His other credits include "L'Annee derniere a Marienbad" (Last Year at Marienbad), the English-language "Providence" and, more recently, "Smoking/No Smoking" and "On connait la chanson" (Same Old Song).

The Festival de Cannes has set April 24 as the date when the official selections will be announced. Few rumors are circulating about films that will get a coveted ticket to the Croisette, and the Cannes selection committee still has many titles to view.

The biggest mystery surrounds the possible inclusion of the next "Star Wars" opus, "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones," which previously was tipped as a potential opening film. The movie, which opens May 16 in some European territories, is scheduled to premiere May 17 in France, two days after Cannes kicks off, which would put the two events in direct competition for media coverage. There is now talk of the film being offered a midnight slot at Cannes on May 16.

"At this point in time, no commitments have been made," said Lucasfilm spokeswoman Lynn Hale.