Who will compete for the Palme d’Or alongside Wes Anderson, Leos Carax and Paul Verhoeven? Cannes festival unveils this Thursday an official selection which promises to be very rich, after the cancellation of last year’s edition.
The President of the Festival, Pierre Lescure, and his general delegate Thierry Frémaux held their traditional press conference this Thursday, June 3 from 11 a.m. to present the outlines of this 74th edition, which will be held from July 6 to 17.
A presentation broadcast live video by the festival and its partners:
As a preamble to this presentation, Thierry Frémaux explained behind the scenes of this selection which took place over a year and a half. Globally, we still see 1800, 1900 movies. By flirting with the 2000s. We obviously passed them. And this plethora of films was not just quantitative. It is also qualitative. As if, perhaps, the particular conditions of writing, gestation, even shooting and editing of films, had enhanced the creativity of our artists ”.
In the films sent this year, there are masks
, films shot entirely with smartphones
, films where people behave like whistleblowers
. The selection includes 61 titles. In 2019, there were 57 films.
Read also: Cannes Film Festival: Ozon, Audiard, Cotillard and Gainsbourg… What to remember from the selection
The 24 films in competition
A hero, by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi; Everything went well, by François Ozon; The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson; The Olympics, by Jacques Audiard; The Unquiet, by Joachim Lafosse; The divide, Catherine Corsini; Julie in twelve chapters, by Joachim Trier; Cabin No. 6, de Juho Kuosmanen; High and loud, du Marocain Nabil Ayouch ; Ahed’s knee, by Nadav Lapid; Drive my car, du Japonais Ryusuke Hamaguchi; Bergman Island, by Mia Hansen-Love; Benedetta, de Paul Verhoeven , My wife’s story, d’Ildikó Enyedi; Three floors, by Nanni Moretti; France, by Bruno Dumont ; Annetteby Leos Carax; Languages, de Mahamat-Saleh Haroun ; Memory, of Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Nitram, by Justin Kurzel; Petrov’s Flu, de Kirill Serebrennikov; Red Rocket, de Sean Baker ; Titanium, by Julia Ducournau and Flag Day, by Sean Penn.
The films of the “Un certain regard” selection
A world, the Laura Wandel ; The Innocents, d’Eskil Vogt; After Yang, from Kogonada; Commitment Hasan, d’Hasan Semih Kaplanoglu ; Lamb, by Valdimar Johansson; Fire night, de Tatiana Huezo; Good mother, of Hafsia Herzi; Work, par Alexey German jr. ; Blue Bayou, de Justin Chon; Moneyboys, de CB Yi et Freda by Gessica Généus.
Special sessions
H6 by Yé Yé; Black Notebooks, by Shlomi Elkabetz; The Sailor of the Mountains (le Marin des montagnes) by Karim Ainouz; Jane by Charlotte, by Charlotte Gainsbourg (actress and singer’s first film about her mother Jane Birkin).
Spike Lee, chairman of the jury
This year the festival will be chaired by Spike Lee. The director of Malcom X is the first African-American to hold this office. In 2018, his film BlacKkKlansman: I infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan received the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.
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American director Spike Lee, here in October 2019, will chair the festival jury this year. ? © AFP / Robyn BECK
We already knew that three films would be part of the official selection. First of all, Annette which will mark the return to the screens of filmmaker Leos Carax. Presented at the opening of the festival, this rock musical, whose soundtrack and script are signed by the legendary American group Sparks, brings together two stars: Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver.
In a completely different genre, Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, She), a filmmaker whose films have a scent of scandal, promises not to leave indifferent with Benedetta a film about a lesbian nun in the 17th century, played by Virginie Efira.
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Paul Verhoeven, sulphurous director, will be back on the Croisette. © REGIS DUVIGNAU
Bill Murray in a film shot in Angoulême
Finally, the American Wes Anderson will present The French Dispatch, a film shot in Angoulême.
This feature film was already ready for last year and could provide its quota of stars on the red carpet: in addition to Bill Murray, the director’s favorite actor, the cast brings together Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Adrien Brody, and on the French side, Léa Seydoux and Mathieu Amalric.
Here is the trailer for The French Dispatch:
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American Wes Anderson will present “The French Dispatch”, a film shot in Angoulême © AFP Archives
The press conference was also an opportunity for Cannes to detail its environmental projects and commitments.
And of course, to reassure about health measures, an essential prerequisite for the return of the stars. For the moment, the epidemic indicators in France allow to envisage a serene summer, but until the end, the uncertainties related to Covid-19 will weigh.
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