After hailing the previous competition as "particularly successful," with films that "were box-office hits," and offering his thoughts to Argentine critics, filmmakers and artists currently suffering under the cultural policies of ultraliberal president Javier Milei, Thierry Frémaux put an end to the suspense. At a press conference held on Thursday, April 11, at the UGC Normandie movie theater in Paris, in the presence of festival President Iris Knobloch, the general delegate revealed the official selection for the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival (to be held from May 14 to 25), whose jury will be chaired by actress and Barbie director Greta Gerwig. The selection is not yet complete. "But by midnight, our eyes were stinging a little," said Frémaux, who, like every year, allowed himself a little extra time.
Nineteen feature films (out of 2,000 screened) have been selected for the official competition to date. The festival will open with Quentin Dupieux's new comedy Le Deuxième Acte (The Second Act), starring Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard. Then the steps of the Palais des Festivals will host a succession of cinema veterans and young filmmakers. One of the most anticipated attendees is American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, who has just celebrated his 85th birthday. He will return to Cannes for Megalopolis, a film that has been 40 years in the making and is heralded as a mammoth undertaking with a budget of $120 million and five months of shooting. It will bring together, among others, Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito and Nathalie Emmanuel. In a month, this film will be in the running for the Palme d'Or, which the director has already won twice, for The Conversation, in 1974, and Apocalypse Now, in 1979.
David Cronenberg will also be in competition for The Shrouds, starring Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger. The film evokes "the loss of a loved one," according to Frémaux. Despite the strike by screenwriters and actors in the United States that lasted several months, the Americans will have a special place in this year's competition. The competition also features Paul Schrader (Oh, Canada) and director Sean Baker (Anora).
Five women directors in competition
In attendance in 2022 for Tchaikovsky's Wife, Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov returns to the official competition with Limonov: The Ballad (based on Emmanuel Carrère's 2011 novel Limonov). A regular in the race for the Palme d'Or (A Touch of Sin, 2013; Mountains May Depart, 2015; Ash Is Purest White, 2018), China's Jia Zhangke isn't breaking his habits and will be there with his new film, Caught by the Tides.
You have 56.57% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.