The Directors’ Fortnight, a parallel program borne out of the tumultuous events of May 1968 during the Cannes festival, was launched by filmmakers and film critics who sought to train their own spotlight on a few deserving films. This year, twenty-one feature films will be shown, among which six are by first-time directors, with a strong showing for French and Latin-American features. Michel Gondry will present his new film “The We and the I,” (a U.S. production) which was shot in New York.

Latin America will be well represented with six films, including “La Sirga,” the first feature by Colombian filmmaker William Vega, “No” by Pablo Larrain about the referendum of 1968 in Chile and a documentary named “Fogo” by Yulene Olaizola. The last film by Franco-Chilean master Raul Ruiz (he passed away last August), “La noche de enfrente,” which according to Directors’ Fortnight president Edward Waintrop is “a quintessential Ruiz film,” will be shown during a special screening.

(Michel Gondry photo by REUTERS/Johannes Eisele; below, a still from “The We and the I”)