They are 19 on the starting line. But in the end, only one will remain. Discover all the films selected in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 and in the running for the Palme d’Or which will be awarded on May 27 by Ruben Östlund’s jury.
The 2023 Cannes Film Festival begins… today! The opening is, of course, scheduled for May 16, with the presentation (out of competition) of Jeanne du Barry by Maïwenn. But the selection was announced this Thursday, April 13, made up from some 2,000 films seen by Thierry Frémaux’s teams, a sign of the vitality of world cinema according to the general delegate.
Among the lucky winners, the 19 opuses that will compete for the Palme d’Or, awarded on Saturday May 27 by the jury of Ruben Östlund, the latest winner to date thanks to Without filter. Within a selection “renewed, punctuated by great authors”the top category of the Festival mixes this year “young filmmakers who come rarely or for the first time, and veterans.”
On the veteran side, Wes Anderson and his bloated cast (“they will come to a hundred”, jokes a Thierry Frémaux who is probably not that far from the truth). The tireless Hirokazu Kore-Eda, back just one year after Les Bonnes étoiles. The Italians Nanni Moretti and Marco Bellocchio. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Wim Wenders and Todd Haynes. Or Ken Loach, the only candidate to be able to run for a third Palme d’Or with his new latest film.
STRONG PRESENCE FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
Filmmakers accustomed to the Competition who will notably supervise the very rare Jonathan Glazer. Karim Aïnouz, who will come accompanied by Jude Law and Alicia Vikander. Kaouther Ben Ania or evenRamata Toulaye-Sy, whose Banel and Adama will be the only first film in the Competition. Two names that illustrate the strong presence of the African continent, in all the sections, mentioned by Thierry Frémaux, who underlined how much a selection could change the life of a film.
Of the 19 films selected in Competition, and pending future additions, six are directed by women. Against five in 2022 and only three in 2021. Parity is not yet in place in the competition, but there is better. And perhaps one of these five directors will become the third in the history of the event to put her name on the Palme d’Or list, after Jane Campion and Julia Ducournau.