Denis Villeneuve thrilled at having his film ‘Sicario’ chosen for Cannes

MONTREAL – Quebec film director Denis Villeneuve’s longtime dream has come true.

His star-studded English-language project “Sicario” is headed to the Cannes Film Festival and will vie for the Palme d’or against 16 other films, including Todd Haynes’s “Carol,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “Youth” and Gus Van Sant’s “The Sea of Trees.”

For the maker of films including “Prisoners,” “Polytechnique” and the Oscar-nominated “Incendies,” the selection for the prestigious festival is a thrill.

“It’s a big cliche but Cannes is Cannes,” Villeneuve told a news conference in Montreal on Thursday.

“It’s the biggest and most prestigious festival in the world. Going there is an old dream of mine. I have cherished it for a long time, it’s a dream that had become dormant. I didn’t really believe it anymore.

“I’m really moved that I’ll be able to participate this year with this film and I wasn’t expecting to be chosen.”

Villeneuve’s latest feature is set along the border between Mexico and the United States and follows an FBI agent tackling the brutal world of international drug trafficking.

“Sicario” stars Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin and is set for release in September.

Villeneuve, 47, was particularly happy with the selection — he found out about it three weeks ago — given the difficulty he encountered in funding the venture.

“It wasn’t easy to finance at the outset because it’s a very dark film,” he said. “It’s a dark poem, pretty violent and whose (main) protagonist is a woman. It saddens me, as a director, that it’s not easy, still today, to make films with a female as the main character.”

Villeneuve was asked if he was happy to be representing Canada at the festival.

“Who do I represent here? It’s a movie shot at the Mexican border, in Mexico, in the States, produced by Americans, shot by a guy from Montreal. Myself, I will represent Quebec and Canada, of course. I’m from here, and the movie is about America, but made with a Quebecer’s sensibility.

“I think I was able to make that film because I’m from here. I think the movie would have been different if it had been shot by an American because I feel I was able to do things in this movie that an American, in general, would have made differently. It’s a matter of distance. And I think distance was suitable for that movie.”

Last year, fellow Quebec filmmaker Xavier Dolan competed for the coveted Palme d’Or with his film “Mommy.”

The festival runs May 13 to 24.