Twenty Features Set for Cannes 2004 Director’s Fortnight
Indiewire.com
by Eugene Hernandez
April 28, 2004
The lineup for the Quinzaine des Realisateurs, also known as the
Director’s Fortnight, was unveiled in France today by new artistic
director Olivier Pere. The sidebar will run May 13-23 in Cannes. Among the
list of 20 feature films are four from the United States and an array of
pictures from around the world. (The complete list is available below.)
Katsuhito Ishii’s “The Taste of Tea” will open the section and Andres
Wood’s “Machuca” will close the sidebar.
The U.S. contingent includes Asia Argento’s “The Heart is Deceitful…
Above All Things,” adapted from JT Leroy’s novel and starring Winona
Ryder, Peter Fonda, and the filmmaker. The three other entries screened at
Sundance earlier this year, including Jonathan Caouette’s “Tarnation,”
which was recently acquired by Wellspring, Jacob Aaron Estes’ “Mean Creek”
which was nabbed post-Sundance by Paramount Classics, and Nicole Kassell’s
“The Woodsman,” which Newmarket acquired.
COMPLETE LINEUP:
Feature Films
” vot’ bon coeur,” directed by Paul Vecchiali
“Ano Tonneru,” directed by Manda Kunitoshi
“Babae sa Breakwater,” directed by Mario O’Hara
“En attendant le dluge,” directed by Damien Odoul
“Gavkhouni,” directed by Behrouz Afkhami
“Je suis un assassin,” directed by Thomas Vincent
“Khab Talkh,” directed by Mohsen Amiryoussefi
“L’Odore del sangue,” directed by Mario Martone
“La Blessure,” directed by Nicolas Klotz
“Los Muertos,” directed by Lisandro Alonso
“Maarek Hob,” directed by Danielle Arbid
“Machuca,” directed by Andres Wood
“Mean Creek,” directed by Jacob Aaron Estes
“Mur,” directed by Simone Bitton
“Oh, Uomo,” directed by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi
“Tarnation,” directed by Jonathan Caouette
“The Heart is Deceitful… Above All Things,” directed by Asia Argento
“The Taste of Tea,” directed by Katsuhito Ishii
“The Woodsman,” directed by Nicole Kassell
“Vnus et Fleur,” directed by Emmanuel Mouret
Short Films
COLLECTION – PORTRAITS
“Capitaine Achab,” directed by Phillipe Ramos
“La Peur, petit chasseur,” directed by Laurent Achard
“Le Dieu Saturne,” directed by Jean-Charles Fitoussi
“Tristesse beau visage,” directed by Jean-Paul Civeyrac
PROGRAMME – ALTERNATIVES
“A Feather Stare At The Dark,” directed by Naoyuki Tsuji
“Frontier,” directed by Jun Miy Azaki
“Odya,” directed by Edgar Bartenev
“Vostok 1′,” directed by Jan Andersen
PROGRAMME – FICTIONS
“Charlotte,” directed by Ulrike Von Ribbeck
“Fill In The Blanks,” directed by Kim Youn-Sung
“La Petite Chambre,” directed by Elodie Monlibert
“Le Droit Chemin,” directed by Mathias Gokalp

Armenian premier urges opposition to back off from referendum demand
Interfax news agency, Moscow
28 Apr 04
YEREVAN
Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan, who leads the Republican
Party, has called on the opposition to withdraw its request to conduct
a referendum on a vote of confidence [in the president] from the list
of its demands.
“If this request is removed from its list of demands, the parties in
power are ready to continue negotiations with the opposition,”
Markaryan told journalists in the parliament.

Armenian military set to taint Azerbaijan’s image – official says
Ekho, Baku
28 Apr 04
“The Karabakh Liberation Organization [KLO] will prevent the
participation of Armenian servicemen in NATO’s Cooperative Best
Effort-2004 exercises on Azerbaijani territory [due in September].”
This is how KLO leader Akif Nagi reacted to Armenian reports that
[Azerbaijani] President Ilham Aliyev had given assurances that
Armenian servicemen could take part in the manoeuvres.
[Passage omitted: Quotes from Armenian news agencies]
“Our position remains unchanged,” Akif Nagi said. “We have said more
than once that Armenian officers will take part neither in the
planning conference nor in the exercises in Azerbaijan. The KLO will
prevent this. I am confident that the Armenians will not be able to
attend these events.”
In January 2004, the KLO posted its activists at the Baku
international airport to prevent the enemy’s officers from entering
the capital.
The KLO leader expressed his regret about the statement of a US
general that “stability in the region allegedly hinges on
Azerbaijani-Armenian cooperation. We think that stability can be
achieved only if the USA and international organizations impose
sanctions on the aggressor – Armenia.”
“We, as the host country of the exercises, will conduct them at the
appropriate level,” the head of the Defence Ministry press service,
Ramiz Malikov, told Ekho yesterday. “If the Armenians want, let them
participate in the manoeuvres, especially as they have been invited by
NATO.” Malikov believes that the Armenian side is actually not very
keen on taking part in the forthcoming exercises. Their goal is to
damage Azerbaijan’s reputation.”
[Passage omitted: minor details]
An independent military expert, Lt-Col Uzeyir Cafarov, told Ekho that
“last time the Armenians were not very eager to take part in NATO
events either. However, they got what they wanted – the Armenians did
not arrive in Baku, but kicked up a fuss.” This case will be repeated
in September as well, the officer said. “They will ardently express
their desire to participate in the exercises, and will not turn up in
the end.”
[Passage omitted: Armenians did not attend other meetings in
Azerbaijan]

Azeri, Armenian leaders decide to continue talks on Karabakh
ANS TV, Baku
28 Apr 04

[Presenter Qanira Atasova] The second meeting between Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has
ended. The presidents said that the meeting was constructive.
It must be noted that after the meeting, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev was scheduled to meet the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen. But
since the co-chairmen participated in the presidents’ meeting, no
further talks will be held. We are going live to Warsaw now. ANS’s
special correspondent Qanira Pasayeva is on the line. Hello,
Qanira. Could the presidents achieve concrete results at the meeting?
[Qanira Pasayeva, over the phone] Hello, Qanira. The talks between the
presidents, Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharyan, on the Nagornyy
Karabakh settlement, which lasted for an hour and a half, have ended.
[Passage omitted: Reported details]
After the tete-a-tete meeting, they did not answer questions. They
said that it had been decided to issue statements only. Here are their
statements.
First, President Ilham Aliyev said that the talks had been held in a
constructive mode. He said that their first meeting was held in
December. Some time passed, the co-chairmen paid visits and dozens of
meetings were held. Some time ago, the foreign ministers of the two
countries held a meeting. Today’s meeting was a continuation of the
talks. Ilham Aliyev said that the talks were continuing and that there
was a mutual interest in continuing the talks in a constructive
mode. The president expressed his hope that the constructive talks
would be continued in the future as well. He said that the Azerbaijani
side was interested in resolving the problem and that one could feel
the Armenian side’s interest as well. So he hopes that some progress
could be achieved through the talks to find a solution to the
problem. That was the end of the president’s statement.
Robert Kocharyan’s statement was shorter. He said that it had been
decided that the foreign ministers of the two countries should
continue the talks. A meeting was set for May. He said that they were
interested in holding more intensive talks. He said that we would
ourselves – he meant the presidents – take the opportunity [to meet]
at multilateral meetings, as he put it in Russian, at political
gatherings. He said they would use every opportunity to meet. His
final statement was that he was pleased with the nature and atmosphere
of the talks. He said – I cannot laud the results, we cannot be proud
of the results, but the nature and atmosphere of the talks were
satisfactory.
These were the statements. Kocharyan declined to answer ANS’s question
as to whether the step-by-step settlement was discussed during the
talks. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen did not answer whether new
proposals or ideas were discussed during the talks. Steven Mann, the
US co-chairman, said it has been decided that if there are statements
to be made, these will be joint statements by the co-chairmen. They
did not make any statements.
A luncheon was also held here. South Caucasus leaders – Robert
Kocharyan, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and the Azerbaijani
president – finished their discussions on Caucasus issues, which
lasted for an hour and a half. But no statement has been made so far.
At the moment, the Azerbaijani president and Georgian President
Mikheil Saakashvili are holding a meeting.
[Presenter] Thank you, Qanira, for the report.

Web site reports conflict between Armenians, Greeks in Georgian district
Yerkir web site, Yerevan
28 Apr 04
At the initiative of several ethnic Greeks of the village of Holeank
in Georgia’s Tsalka District predominantly populated by ethnic
Armenians several dozens of Ajars and Svans have been brought to the
village for permanent residence, which has outraged ethnic Armenian
residents of the neighbouring villages of Odzni and Gushchi.
All the Ajars and Svans to be resettled are criminals, so the
Armenians, who did not manage to settle the issue peacefully, beat up
one of the plan’s organizers, a Greek resident of Holeank. Following
the incident, the would-be settlers left the village.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1 Plus | 23:23:31 | 28-04-2004 | Politics | PACE SPRING SESSION |
COMMISSIONS OF THE ARMENIAN DELEGATION WILL BE DISCUSSED IN PACE IN
SEPTEMBER
PACE decided to postpone the issue of the commissions on the Armenian
delegation to September, 2004.
It was suggested in the preliminary report to cease the commissions of the
Armenian delegation in Assembly in June in case of not fulfilling PACE
demands.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

The Charleston Gazette
AP-ES-04-28-04 0820EDT
Political and business leader gather in Poland to discuss economic
challenges facing Europe
By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press Writer
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Police sealed off parts of the Polish capital as
business and political leaders opened a forum Wednesday on the challenges
facing the European Union after eight former Soviet bloc countries join this
week.
The European Economic Summit brought together hundreds of dignitaries,
including 20 presidents and prime ministers and representatives from leading
corporations, for talks on EU expansion.
The three-day event — organized by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum,
which is best known for its annual summit in Davos, Switzerland — concludes
Friday, hours before midnight celebrations in several cities usher in the
historic expansion.
The 650 delegates will focus on Europe’s economic competitiveness as well as
social and environmental issues, said World Economic Forum head Jose Maria
Figueres.
“All of those are vital components of a better — of a more sophisticated —
Europe as we move forward with enlargement,” Figueres said.
Anti-globalization groups have mobilized against the meeting, viewing the
forum funded by many leading corporations as an exclusive club for the rich.
About 5,000 protesters are expected to march Thursday, organizers say.
Downtown Warsaw shops — from elegant boutiques to fast-food chains —
protected their windows with slabs of wood, corrugated tin and cardboard.
Police helicopters whirred above the city center as officers in riot gear
guarded a barricaded perimeter of several blocks around the conference
venue, a hotel.
But government leaders also can expect criticism from other quarters.
Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels,
said economic dialogue in Europe has been reduced to “a charade” as
countries pay lip service to limiting their budget deficits and economic
reform, but then do little to measure up.
“In economic terms they don’t have to talk to each other a lot — they just
have to go home and do their homework,” Gros said.
Alongside workshops on the benefits of adopting the euro currency and the
competitiveness of the EU countries, one-on-one talks between political
leaders also were planned.
These include a planned meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia,
which have been locked in a dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic
Armenian enclave within Azerbaijan.
Ethnic Armenian forces drove out Azerbaijan’s army from the region in the
1990s and ethnic Azeris fled. Though a cease-fire was established in 1994,
the two sides periodically exchange fire.
Presidents Johannes Rau of Germany, Ion Iliescu of Romania and Mikhail
Saakashvili of Georgia also are expected to address the meeting.
On the eve of the summit, Poland President Aleksander Kwasniewski stressed
the importance of bringing together generally richer Western countries with
the new EU members and countries further east that face difficult obstacles
in their search for prosperity.
“I am convinced that the conference hosted by Poland will show that no new
curtain will appear in our continent — not even a velvet one,” Kwasniewski
said.
AP-ES-04-28-04 0820EDT

Sports Illustrated
Wednesday’s friendly schedule
Posted: Wednesday April 28, 2004 1:36AM; Updated: Wednesday April 28, 2004
3:32AM
All times GMT
Algeria v China Clermont-Ferrand, France
Armenia v Turkmenistan Yerevan
Austria v Luxembourg (1830) Innsbruck
Belarus v Lithuania (1530) Minsk
Belgium v Turkey (1815) Brussels
Bosnia v Finland (1800) Zenica
Bulgaria v Cameroon (1500) Sofia
Czech Republic v Japan (1430) Prague
Denmark v Scotland (1800) Copenhagen
Egypt v DR Congo Cairo
Estonia v Albania (1600) Tallinn
Honduras v Ecuador Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Hungary v Brazil (1830) Budapest
Italy v Spain (1900) Genoa
Jamaica v Venezuela Kingston
Kazakhstan v Azerbaijan (1230) Almaty
Latvia v Iceland (1800) Riga
Macedonia v Croatia (1815) Skopje
Morocco v Argentina (2100) Casablanca
Netherlands v Greece (1830) Eindhoven
Northern Ireland v Serbia & Montenegro (1845) Belfast
Norway v Russia (1800) Oslo
Poland v Ireland (1600) Bydgoszez
Portugal v Sweden (2015) Coimbra
Romania v Germany (1700) Bucharest
San Marino v Liechtenstein (1830) Serravalle
South Korea v Paraguay Incheon
Switzerland v Slovenia (1815) Geneva
Tunisia v Mali Sfax
Ukraine v Slovakia (1615) Kiev
United States v Mexico (0030, Thursday) Dallas
Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited.

RUSSIAN MILITARY SHOULD STAY IN CIS STATES, SENIOR MP SAYS
Interfax-AVN military news agency web site
28 Apr 04
MOSCOW
National security interests require the preservation of Russian
military units in various CIS regions, primarily in Georgia and
Moldova, Viktor Zavarzin, the chairman of the State Duma defence
committee, said on Wednesday (28 April).
“The situation is the most complicated in Dniester region and
Georgia. The obligations regarding Georgia and Moldova, which Russia
assumed at the Istanbul summit in 1999, provide for withdrawing
Russian bases from these countries. However, objective interests
require the preservation of our military presence, primarily in order
to maintain a stable political situation in the region,” Zavarzin told
Interfax-Military News Agency.
“The latest development such as addition of the Baltic states to NATO
and the passing of legal documents allowing quick access of the
alliance’s armed forces to Ukrainian territory only prove this
necessity,” the lawmaker said.
Any legal initiatives in this field “must be discussed with the
Russian ministries of foreign affairs and defence”, he said. “This
workstream is the most important one under current circumstances,” he
noted.
Zavarzin recalled that Russian military units are currently stationed
in Georgia, Moldova (Dniester region), Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan.
“Various forces are against our military presence in nearly all these
countries to a certain degree. I am speaking about both global centres
such as the USA and NATO, and regional political groups dependent on
them,” he said.
Meanwhile, “Russia has a lot of diplomatic, economic, military and
legislative factors that help exercise pressure on these centres and
groups”, he added.
From: Baghdasarian

MOSCOW ACCUSED OF SACRIFICING RUSSIANS FOR OIL AND GAS IN TURKMEN UN VOTE
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
23 Apr 04
Moscow abstained in a recent UN vote condemning human rights abuses in
Turkmenistan, even though the Russophone community is among those
being persecuted. It has thus placed oil and gas deals with President
Nyyazow’s resource-rich country above the interests of its own people,
a national newspaper commented. The following is an excerpt from a
report by the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 23 April:
The UN Human Rights Commission recently passed a toughly-worded
resolution in Geneva, condemning the violation of human rights in
Turkmenistan, with 25 countries voting for, 11 against, and 17
abstaining. The document cites unacceptable “discrimination in
education and employment of ethnic Russians, Uzbeks, and other
national minorities”, “arbitrary arrests, incarceration, and curtailed
freedom to obtain information and self-expression”.
The abstaining countries included Russia, whose citizens living in
Turkmenistan are considered people of second quality and know
first-hand what discrimination is. It seems that a hypothetical
opportunity to take part in the development of Turkmenistan’s energy
resources looks much more attractive to Moscow than the protection of
its own citizens.
The official position of Moscow was voiced by Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Yuriy Fedotov, who declared: “Basically, we proceed from the
fact that so-called ‘country-specific resolutions,’ particularly those
made by the UN Human Rights Commission, can hardly improve the real
situation.”
It is unclear how much attention Moscow paid to the fact that in
appreciation of the support he received from Russia, Turkmenbasy
(President Nyyazow) ordered yet another fountain in place of the
recently demolished Russian Theatre of Drama in Asgabat. It seems that
the Russian-speaking people have become accustomed to absolute
indifference displayed by their historical homeland to their problems
and do not count on help from bureaucrats from the Russian foreign
ministry or the Kremlin.
Russia’s indifference unties Nyyazow’s hands, and as a result the
discrimination of ethnic minorities in Turkmenistan is worsening. In
particular, specialists who graduated from higher education
institutions after 1993 outside Turkmenistan are to be dismissed by 22
May of this year. Members of national minorities are not allowed to
hold positions in financial and military authorities, the judicial
system, or the police and other security services. Teachers and
doctors have been dismissed as well. In an overwhelming majority of
cases, those are Russians, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Armenians, and people of
mixed parentage. Even if one of the parents is Turkmen, more lenient
treatment should not be expected.
Naturally, Nyyazow has not reacted in any way to yet more criticism
from the international community. (Passage omitted)
Notably, Ukraine proved one of the 11 countries sympathizing with
Turkmenbasy. Similar to Moscow, Kiev hopes to sign a gas contract for
25 years. It is unclear, however, whether Turkmenistan has enough gas
for everyone who wants it. (Passage omitted)