The official selection for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival was announced on June 3, 2021 by Thierry Fremaux and Pierre Lescure.
This 74th Cannes film festival, which will be chaired by the American Spike Lee, was still full of mysteries before the announcement of the official selection. With the exception of a few persistent and sometimes contradictory rumors, not much was known except the assured attendance of Annette by Leos Carax in opening and in competition accompanied by the very sulphurous Benedetta de Paul Verhoeven et The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson.
There remained this hope of discovering a famous “planetary blockbuster” teased by the general delegate of the Cannes festival in several interviews (across the Atlantic in particular). Finally, it was not much since Thierry Fremaux spoke of a projection on the beach and did not reveal the name of the film in question. The mystery therefore remains unresolved but one thing is certain, it is not a question of Die can wait, ni de Dune as stated by Thierry Fremaux.
Annette will open the ball, but then?
Big names were expected for this eagerly awaited return to the Croisette, which will be done with three former Palme d’Or winners: Jacques Audiard, Nanni Moretti and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. They will also be accompanied by many names already passed through the festival in addition to Leos Carax, Wes Anderson and Paul Verhoeven therefore: Justin Kurzel, François Ozon, Asghar Farhadi, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Bruno Dumont, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Kirill Serebrennikov, Joachim Trier, Catherine Corsini or even Sean Penn (which we hope will avoid a The Last Face).
And alongside these prestigious names, there will also be eight new faces in this competition. In addition to the presences of Mia Hansen-Løve, Juho Kuosmanen, Sean Baker (the director of The Florida Project), Joachim Lafosse, Ildikó Enyedi, Nabil Ayouch and Nadav Lapid, we especially remember the selection of Titanium of Julia Ducournau.
The director of Grave could set the Croisette ablaze with his new feature film which would eye, according to the first echoes, towards the very gory slasher.
Titanium might damn shake
In short, a very nice selection in perspective which announces a pretty crazy Cannes. The full list of all selected films is available below. Note also the establishment of a new category, Cannes Premieres, which will include many leading names in cinema.
Official competition:
- Annette by Leos Carax (overture)
- A hero de Asghar Farhadi
- Everything went well by François Ozon
- Three floors by Nanni Moretti
- Titanium of Julia Ducournau
- The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson
- Red Rocket de Sean Baker
- Petrov’s Flu de Kirill Serebrennikov
- France by Bruno Dumont
- Nitram by Justin Kurzel
- Memory by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
- Languages de Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
- The Olympics by Jacques Audiard
- The unquiet by Joachim Lafosse
- The divide by Catherine Corsini
- Julie (in twelve chapters) by Joachim Trier
- Cabin No. 6 de Juho Kuosmanen
- High and loud de Nabil Ayouch
- Ahed’s knee by Nadav Lapid
- Drive my car de Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
- Bergman Island de Mia Hansen-Løve
- Benedetta de Paul Verhoeven
- The Story of My Wife de Ildikó Enyedi
- Flag Day by Sean Penn
The Olympiades will mark the return of Jacques Audiard
The following films are also officially selected in the parallel sections:
In some perspective :
- The Innocents by Eskil Vogt
- After Yang by Kogonada
- Commitment Hasan by Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu
- Lamb by Valdimar Johansson
- Fire night de Tatiana Huezo
- Good mother by Hafsia Herzi
- Work de Alexey German Jr.
- Blue Bayou de Justin Chon
- Moneyboys de CB Yi
- Freda by Gessica Généus
- Loose points de Kira Kovalenko
- A world the Laura Wandel
- The Civil by Teodora Ana Mihai
- Women do Cry de Mina Mileva et Vesela Kazakova
- And there was a morning by Eran Kolirin
- Great Freedom de Sebastian Meise
- Gaey Wa’r de Na Jiazuo
- Rehana Maryam Noor de Abdullah Mohammad Saad
Out of competition :
Matt Damon is going to fart
Cannes Premiere:
Val Kilmer, at the heart of the documentary Val
Midnight sessions:
- Blood oranges by Jean-Christophe Meurisse
Special sessions:
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