Cannes delivered an edition for the ages last year that yielded numerous masterworks, not to mention THREE eventual Best. Picture. Nominees. All in all, it was probably the most memorable one I’ve been to of my eight trips so far. Ahead of the lineup announcement today for the upcoming edition, my expectations were somewhat tempered not only because of the last Hollywood strikes whose effects are being felt right now, but also that kind of lightening just seldom strikes twice.
But hey, how can you not be excited to see the likes of Sean Baker, Andrea Arnold, Frances Ford COPPOLA duke it out on world cinema’s highest stage with brand new offerings from their singular minds? Here’s a quick rundown of who else got invited to the party:
Competition
“The Girl With the Needle” dir: Magnus von Horn
“Parthenope” dir: Paolo Sorrentino
“Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie” dir: Kirill Serebrennikov
“Oh Canada” dir: Paul Schrader
“Wild Diamond” dir: Agathe Riedinger
“Beating Hearts” dir: Gilles Lellouche
“Kinds of Kindness” dir: Yorgos Lanthimos
“All We Imagine as Light” dir: Payal Kapadia
“Caught by the Tides” dir: Jia Zhangke
“Marcello Mio“ dir: Christophe Honoré
“Grand Tour“ dir: Miguel Gomes
“The Substance” dir: Coralie Fargeat
“The Shrouds” dir: David Cronenberg
“Megalopolis” dir: Francis Ford Coppola
“Anora” dir: Sean Baker
“Emilia Perez” dir: Jacques Audiard
“Bird” dir: Andrea Arnold
“Motel Destino” dir: Karim Aïnouz
“The Apprentice” dir: Ali Abassi
Besides Baker, Arnold and Coppola, I’m probably most intrigued to see Lanthimos’ latest collaboration with now two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone, Audiard’s Mexico-set musical starring Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez, Swedish director Magnus von Horn’s follow-up to the very promising Sweat, and the rare debut in Cannes competition, this time from French female director Agathe Riedinger. Also, could this be Sebastian Stan’s year? After winning the lead performer prize at Berlin for A Different Man, he’ll give us his Donald Trump in Ali Abassi’s potentially controversial new film. We shall see.
Out of Competition
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga“ dir: George Miller
“Horizon: An American Saga” dir: Kevin Costner
“The Second Act” dir: Quentin Dupieux – opening film
“She’s Got No Name” dir: Peter Chan
“Rumours“ dir: Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Guy Maddin
Cannes Premieres
“Le Roman de Jim” dir: Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu
“Rendez-Vous avec Pol Pot” dir: Rithy Panh
“The Matching Bang” dir: Emmanuel Courcol
“Everybody Loves Touda” dir: Nabil Ayouch
“C’est pas moi” Dir: Leos Carax
“Miséricorde” Dir: Alain Guiraudie
Un Certain Regard
“The Damned” dir: Roberto Minervini
“L’histoire de Souleymane” dir: Boris Lojkine
“September Says” dir: Ariane Labed
“The Village Next to Paradise” dir: Mo Harawe
“Black Dog” dir: Guan Hu
“Who Let the Dog Bite?” dir: Lætitia Dosch
“Vingt Dieux !” dir: Louise Courvoisier
“Le Royaume” dir: Julien Colonna
“The Shameless” dir: Konstantin Bojanov
“Norah” dir: Tawfik Alzaidi
“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” dir: Rungano Nyoni
“My Sunshine” dir: Hiroshi Okuyama
“Santosh” dir: Sandhya Suri
“Viet and Nam” dir: Truong Minh Quý
“Armand” dir: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
Midnight Screenings
“Twilight of the Warrior Walled In” dir: Soi Cheang
“I, The Executioner” dir: Seung Wan Ryoo
“The Surfer“ dir: Lorcan Finnegan
“The Balconettes“ dir: Noémie Merlant
Special Screenings
“Le Fil” dir: Daniel Auteuil
“Ernest Cole, Lost and Found” dir: Raoul Peck
“The Invasion“ dir: Sergei Loznitsa
“Apprendre” dir: Claire Simon
“La Belle de Gaza” dir: Yolande Zauberman
As always, more titles will be added in the coming days. For now, the most prominent omissions include The Artist director Michel Hazanavicius’ WWII animated feature The Most Precious of Cargoes, Golden Lion winner Audrey Diwan’s re-imagining of Emmanuelle, Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, Cannes favorite Arnaud Desplechin’s Spectateurs, The Wailing director Na Hong-jin’s Hope.
The 77th Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25, 2024. Stay tuned for our daily dispatches from the Croisette.
