Love it or hate it, Cannes is the queen bee of film festivals. The announcement of its lineup is for cinephiles an annual event like no other. After the festival was forced to cancel in 2020 (while films carrying the Cannes Label 2020 like ANOTHER ROUND, SOUL, BEGINNING still went on to do well through the rest of the year), it’s back with a vengeance as artistic director Thierry Frémaux unveiled the highly anticipated official selection today. Let’s take a look:
Competition
“Ahed’s Knee” Nadav Lapid
“Annette” Leos Carax – opening film
“Benedetta” Paul Verhoeven
“Bergman Island” Mia Hansen-Løve
“Casablanca Beats” Nabil Ayouch
“Compartment No. 6” Juho Kuosmanen
“Drive My Car” Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
“Everything Went Fine” Francois Ozon
“Flag Day” Sean Penn
“The French Dispatch” Wes Anderson
“A Hero” Asghar Farhadi
“La fracture” Catherine Corsini
“Lingui” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
“Memoria” Apichatpong Weerasethakul
“Nitram” Justin Kurzel
“Paris, 13th District” Jacques Audiard
“France” Bruno Dumont
“Petrov’s Flu” Kirill Serebrennikov
“Red Rocket” Sean Baker
“The Restless” Joachim Lafosse
“The Story of My Wife” Ildikó Enyedi
“Three Floors” Nanni Moretti
“Titane” Julia Ducournau
“The Worst Person in the World” Joachim Trier
Truth be told not that many complete surprises. Some of our most anticipated titles – MEMORIA, BERGMAN ISLAND, BENEDETTA, THE FRENCH DISPATCH, ANNETTE – were no-brainers and already considered locks in our predictions for Cannes 2020. But while I did expect Sean Baker and RAW-filmmaker Julia Ducournau to feataure in this year’s lineup, I did not see them being included in the holy competition roster. So congrats to both on making this distinguished jump.
Personally I’m also very excited to see the latest works from Asghar Farhadi, Joachim Trier and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, whose WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY blew me away in Berlin just three months ago (and took home the Grand Jury Prize). Notable omissions here include Korean director Park Chan-wook’s THE HANDMAIDEN-follow-up DECISION TO LEAVE, Claire Denis’ FIRE (which will probably turn up in the Director’s Fortnight lineup) and Joel Cohen’s McDormand/Washington starrer MACBETH.
Out of Competition
“Aline, the Voice of Love” Valerie Lemercier
“Bac Nord” Cédric Jimenez
“Emergency Declaration” Han Jae-Rim
“In His Lifetime” Emmanuelle Bercot
“Stillwater” Tom McCarthy
“The Velvet Underground” Todd Haynes
Cannes Premieres – new sidebar
“Cow” Andrea Arnold
“Deception” Arnaud Desplechin
“Evolution” Kornel Mundruczo
“Hold Me Tight” Mathieu Almaric
“In Front of Your Face” Hong Sang-soo
“Jane by Charlotte” Charlotte Gainsbourg
“JFK: Through the Looking Glass” Oliver Stone
“Love Songs for Tough Guys” Samuel Benchetrit
“Mothering Sunday” Eva Husson
“Val” Ting Poo, Leo Scott
Un Certain Regard
“After Yang” Kogonada
“Blue Bayou” Justin Chon
“Bonne Mère” Hafsia Herzi
“Commitment Hasan” Hasan Semih
“Freda” Gessica Généus
“Gaey Wa’r” Na Jiazuo
“Great Freedom” Sebastian Meise
“House Arrest” Alexey German Jr.
“The Innocents” Eskil Vogt
“La Civil” Teodora Ana Mihai
“Lamb” Valdimar Jóhansson
“Let There Be Morning” Eran Kolirin
“Moneyboys“ B.C Yi
“Noche de Fuego” Tatiana Huezo
“Rehana Maryam Noor” Abdullah Mohammad Saad
“Un Monde” Laura Wandel
“Unclenching the Fists” Kira Kovalenko
“Women Do Cry” Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova
Midnight Screenings
“Bloody Oranges” Jean-Christophe Meurisse
Special Screenings
“Babi Yar. Context” Sergei Loznitsa
“Black Notebooks” Shlomi Elkabetz
“H6” Yé Yé
“Mariner of the mountains” Karim Aïnouz
“The Year of the Everlasting Storm” Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Jafar Panahi, Anthony Chen, Malik Vitthal, Laura Poitras, Dominga Sotomayo, David Lowery
The 74th Cannes Film Festival, whose competition jury is chaired by legendary filmmaker Spike Lee, will take place July 6-17, 2021. We will – probably, maybe, perhaps – be on the ground and send back the latest scoop from the French Riviera.
