After a brief hiatus post-Fantastic Mr. Fox, it's all go for Wes Anderson at the moment. Not only does his new film Moonrise Kingdom, a '60-set slice of lilting Americana, have a new poster, but those cineastes down at Cannes have picked it as this year's festival opener.
Thierry Fremaux, the artistic director of the 65th Cannes Film Festival, announced that Anderson's flick will get all things cinematic underway on May 16.
"Wes Anderson is one of the rising powers of American cinema," says Fremaux, "to which he brings a highly personal touch, particularly in Moonrise Kingdom, which once again is a testimony to the creative freedom in which he continues to evolve. Sensitive and independent, this admirer of Fellini and Renoir is also in his own right a brilliant and inventive filmmaker."
In short, Cannes loves an auteur, and filmmaking voices don't come much more distinctive than Anderson right now. It's his first trip along the Croisette red carpet, but the second American film to open the festival in as many years. Woody Allen's Midnight In Paris did the honours in 2011.
Sowill it join the pantheon of great Cannes openers, and will the director have filmgoers skipping merrily along the Croisette? The signs are good, especially if he takes Steve Zissou's submarine.
Moonrise Kingdom is out in the UK on May 25.