Ragesh Dipu
The Cannes Film Festival unveiled the lineup for its 72nd edition on Thursday. The competition section has movies by Terrence Malick, Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, Jim Jarmusch, and Dardennes among others competing for the coveted Palme d’Or. The festival also boosts the number of female filmmakers in the official selection to a record 13 with four among them in the competition. Jessica Hausner’s ‘Little Joe’ and Céline Sciamma’s ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire,’ the two surprise entries this year. Festival director Thierry Fremaux and president Pierre Lescure revealed the lineup during a press event in Paris. The Festival is to be held from May 14 to May 25. Lescure didn’t forget to pay his tribute to Agnes Varda, citing the official festival poster, which is a homage to the late director.
The press conference was noted for the conspicuous absence of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.’ Reportedly, the movie is still in the editing line. Artistic director Thierry Frémaux hoped that Tarantino will manage to complete his star-studded movie in time to premiere at Cannes. The lineup also omits Netflix and Amazon features. This is the first time in four years the Festival strikes out films from the streaming giants.
This year’s lineup is almost saturated with high-profile films and filmmakers. Pedro Almodóvar arrives with ‘Pain and Glory’ and the latest movies of past Palme d’Or winners Ken Loach, ‘Sorry We Missed You,’ as well as Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, ‘The Young Ahmed,’ also find their slots in the competition. Marco Bellocchio comes with ‘The Traitor.’ The number of Americans filmmakers is up this year. Terrence Malick presents ‘A Hidden Life,’ Ira Sachs comes with ‘Frankie’ and Jim Jarmusch introduces ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ at the festival. The Zombie flick ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ has been picked up as the opening night film earlier.
Canadian sensation Xavier Dolan returns to Cannes with his ‘Matthias and Maxime.’ French director Arnaud Desplechin has ‘Oh Mercy!’ in the competition. Pointing at the festival lineup Lescure commented that while the festival does not select a theme, this year it seems to be ‘romantic and political.’ He added that the entries are very political because the artists are really interested in political topics.
Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu chairs the main jury for the competition. Lebanese director Nadine Labaki leads the Un Certain Regard jury this year. Revered French actor Alain Delon will receive this years’ honorary Palme d’Or. Delon is best known for his roles in the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Visconti, Jean-Pierre Melville, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Check out the full lineup unveiled on Thursday below.
Opening Night Film
The Dead Don’t Die, Jim Jarmusch
Competition
Pain and Glory, Pedro Almodovar
The Traitor, Marco Bellocchio
Wild Goose Lake, Yinan Diao
Parasite, Bong Joon-ho
Young Ahmed, The Dardenne Brothers
Oh Mercy!, Arnaud Desplechin
Atlantique, Mati Diop
Matthias and Maxime, Xavier Dolan
Little Joe, Jessica Hausner
Sorry We Missed You, Ken Loach
Les Miserables, Ladj Ly
A Hidden Life (previously known as Radegund), Terrence Malik
Nighthawk, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Juliano Dornelles
The Whistlers, Corneliu Porumboiu
Frankie, Ira Sachs
The Dead Don’t Die, Jim Jarmusch
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Celine Sciamma
It Must Be Heaven, Elia Suleiman
Sybil, Justine Triet
Out of Competition
Rocketman, Dexter Fletcher
The Best Years of Life, Claude Lelouch
Maradona, Asif Kapadia
La Belle Epoque, Nicolas Bedos
Too Old to Die Young, Nicolas Winding Refn (TV series screening 2 episodes)
Special Screenings
Share, Pippa Bianco
Family Romance LLC, Werner Herzog
Tommaso, Abel Ferrara
To Be Alive and Know It, Alain Cavalier
For Sama, Waad Al Kateab and Edward Watts
Midnight Screenings
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, Lee Won-Tae
Un Certain Regard
Invisible Life, Karim Aïnouz
Beanpole, Kantemir Balagov
The Swallows of Kabul, Zabou Breitman & Eléa Gobé Mévellec
A Brother’s Love, Monia Chokri
The Climb, Michael Covino
Joan of Arc, Bruno Dumont
A Sun That Never Sets, Olivier Laxe
Chambre 212, Christophe Honoré
Port Authority, Danielle Lessovitz
Papicha, Mounia Meddour
Adam, Maryam Touzani
Zhuo Ren Mi Mi, Midi Z
Liberte, Albert Serra
Bull, Annie Silverstein
Summer of Changsha, Zu Feng
EVGE, Nariman Aliev
