Montreal: Denys Arcand’s dark social satire Stardom has been selected to close the 53rd edition of the Cannes International Film Festival, May 10-21. Stardom is the first Canadian film chosen to close the prestigious festival (www.cannes-festival.com). The opening night film is Roland Joffe’s Vatal.

The only other official Canadian selection this year is a surprise, Guylaine Dionne’s low-budget, black-and-white directorial debut Les Fantomes des trois Madeleine (The Three Madeleines). The film, produced by Dionne and Francois Landry for Filmo and Michael Mosca of France Film and distributed internationally and in Canada by Equinox Entertainment, has its world premiere May 13 in the high-profile Director’s Fortnight.

Trois Madeleines stars France Arbour, Sylvie Drapeau and Isadora Galwey as three generations of ‘Madeleines’ in a story the young director says is ‘about family – a broken family, perhaps, but one that is nonetheless bursting with hope and poetry.’

Stardom, a spicy and darkly funny tale of a young supermodel’s rise to global celebrity, stars Jessica Pare in her feature debut as a small-town girl turned supermodel. Oscar nominee Dan Aykroyd plays a restaurateur who falls in love with Pare’s character, while Frank Langella plays a Canadian diplomat who ends up marrying her. Also starring are Thomas Gibson, who starred in Arcand’s first English-language movie, Love and Human Remains; director Robert Lepage, who appeared in Jesus de Montreal; Charles Berling; and supermodel Camilla Rutherford. Other Canadian talent on board includes Patrick Huard, Benoit Briere, Sophie Lorain, Macha Grenon and Catherine Begin.

Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution is distributing worldwide except for France and Italy. A fall release in Canada is anticipated.

Stardom is a $12-million Canada/France coproduction between Serendipity Point Films, Cinemaginaire, France’s Cine b. and Alliance Atlantis. Denise Robert and Robert Lantos produced. The screenplay is by Arcand and Jacob Potashnik.

The film was shot last spring on location in Cornwall, Ont., Montreal, New York, Miami, London and Paris. The cinematographer is Guy Dufaux. The production designer is Zoe Sakellaropoulo.

Canadian funding sources on Stardom include Telefilm Canada, sodec, TMN-The Movie Network, Super Ecran and the Quebec, Ontario and federal tax-credit programs.

In the interests of promoting feature film coproduction, Telefilm is again organizing a breakfast program at this year’s festival, says Johanne St-Arnauld, acting director, international relations. The get-togethers take place at the Grand Hotel off the Croisette in an office suite shared by Telefilm and the Ontario Film Development Corporation. The program includes meetings with producers from Scandinavia (May 12), Belgium (May 14), the u.k. (May 15) and Mexico (May 17). Leo Rice-Barker